Not Your Ordinary Kitchen Remodel

View of Professional KitchenI finally made some forward progress on the Food Critic and the Chef story last night. As you an see, I don’t have a working title for it yet. Nothing has jumped out and grabbed me.

I’m probably going to completely overhaul what I have written so far. I keep reading and learning new and interesting little tidbits about what it’s like to be either a professional food critic/reviewer (as opposed to an opinionated food blogger) or a restaurateur when dealing with either one.

Did you know that for about $1,000 you can take a 6-week course on the craft of food writing? The French Culinary Institute in NYC even has a Dean of Food Journalism who teaches their course. I also learned that while it sounds glamorous to eat out nightly, the reality is that critics and reviewers aren’t always sitting down to the best meals. Apparently, they have to put up with some horrendous food and service unless they’re recognized and even then it’s not a sure thing.

Which is a whole ‘nother kettle of fish lately. Apparently, in the age of Google, anonymity isn’t as easy as it used to be. While some of the food bloggers cum journalists are embracing this, many of the old school types cringe at the thought of their identities being outed and cling to their tried and true ethical standards of not accepting free meals in trade for more favorable reviews. Apparently, it’s quite a jungle out there with many differing opinions on the whole debate. Just Google “food critic blog” for a sampling.

So… what does all this mean for my hero and heroine? It definitely sounds like there’s some more conflicting interests to play up and I probably need to make sure that the heroine has a stronger background in the culinary arts and an explanation for why she’s not using those skills in her day job and why her fridge sits empty. Are she and her rival critic going to come down on the same side of the fence on the debate?

4 thoughts on “Not Your Ordinary Kitchen Remodel

  1. You’ve caught my curiosity – are you writing a novel?
    Food Critiques, chefs and all the rest that goes with the restaurant world is always full of intrigue, tensions etc. Good Luck

  2. Kimberley, the food critic story as planned is just that… a short story. It’s currently stalled at around 3700 words of probably 6k total. The story I just finished yesterday (2400 words) was much better planned and although I’m still a little short on details managed to work as a story.

    When I get the food critic story to the point where it’s readable, I’ll let you know! The whole drama and intrigue of that world is what caught my attention for a story idea in the first place!

    Thanks!

  3. Good luck on your writing. The education at the “French Culinary Institute” I would imagine is valuable experience. But I think all critics should experience working in a restaurant from the kitchen to a server. It would be a humbling experience, but give a better eye to management of operations. http://hotcookies.net

  4. Thanks, John.

    The story has changed a lot since this post. The heroine actually grew up in her family’s restaurant, so I think she has the experience from that side (even if I don’t 😉 ) I just thought it was interesting they had a course that specific, I guess it shouldn’t surprise me since they have them on very specific cooking techniques as well.

    Thanks for stopping by!

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