The Aughts-Era “Foodie” Is Dead
A longtime restaurant critic reflects on what we’ve gained and lost in 30 years of dining.
Welcome to Best Food Blog, a writer-run publication about eating by journalists Ali Francis, Anikah Shaokat, Anna Hezel, and Antara Sinha. You can check out everything we’ve published so far here. Today, longtime restaurant critic Robert Sietsema reflects on the state of the “foodie.”
When I began my professional reviewing career at the Village Voice in 1993, it seemed like nobody wanted the job. Eating out all the time when you might rather have stayed home or hung with friends didn’t seem so glamorous then, and constantly keeping track of what you’d eaten and then describing it could turn tedious. At any rate, the position certainly entailed a skill set that few then possessed. I had no experience, apart from having written the bimonthly food fanzine Down the Hatch for the previous three years. Yet, I sailed right into the job and fell in love with it.
It’s hard to believe, but there were not as many restaurants back then, or as many critics, either. There was no Yelp, Instagram, or TikTok. Professional reviewers mainly covered expensive French and Italian restaurants. Expensive meant you might pay $100 for a meal, including tax, tip, and even wine.
