I 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?