PLACE YOUR HOW TO BECOME A FOOD CRITIC
Are you always ready to try out new restaurants and food experiences? Would you like to share your opinions about them with others and help people find their new favorite eateries? A food critic career could be your exciting future. In this article, we show you how to become a food critic to help you decide if it’s right for you.
What Is a Food Critic?
Food critics, also known as food writers or food journalists, specialize in trying and communicating opinions about food and overall dining experiences at pretty much any sort of eatery worth the public’s attention. Depending on your target audiences, you may write reviews about anything from haute cuisine restaurants, to bistros, pubs, food trucks and food stands. As a type of journalist, your responsibility is to relay your dining experiences in the most vivid and objective way.
To understand how to become a food critic, be aware that this job generally requires a lot of traveling and working during evenings and weekends.
What Does a Food Critic Do?
Knowing how to be a food critic means you understand the role’s responsibilities. Here are the most important:
• Travel to chosen establishments.
• Maintain confidentiality about your profession so you experience the restaurant as any other guest would.
• Sample a variety of dishes and beverages and prepare reviews.
• Collect or request original pictures.
• Write articles for food or lifestyle related magazines, newspapers, and online publications.
• Offer unbiased opinions about flavors, presentation, and service.
• Provide comparisons with similar plates across different restaurants.
• Deliver articles to deadlines.
How to Become a Food Critic
The first thing you need to know about how to become a food critic is that there aren’t any specific requirements or single education path for joining the profession. However, as an aspiring food critic, you may find it beneficial to:
• Obtain a bachelor’s degree in journalism, communication, or English. This will help you build a strong writing foundation.
• Go to culinary arts school or acquiring firsthand experience working in restaurants to learn about the industry.
• Reading famous food critics’ work to understand what you are expected to produce and how they describe and rate dishes and experiences.
• Start a food blog or social media page to providing amateur reviews of restaurants in your free time to build your audience.
• Look for internship or entrylevel opportunities. Don’t be afraid to send out your portfolio to magazines and publications as well.
If you’re still asking “how do you become a food critic?”, keep in mind that earning credibility in this industry takes time. At the beginning of your career you may need to put a lot of your personal time and resources into building your reputation. The most important things are to be passionate about your writing and network as much as possible with potential employers.
Invest in crucial food critic skills, such as:
• superior writing skills
• deep knowledge of food industry standards and culinary arts
• objectivity
• analytical thinking and attention to detail flexibility
• ability to meet deadlines
How Much Do Food Critics Make?
Each food critic salary can look very different depending on your education, experience, audience, and personal brand. Famous food critics can make six figures at the height of their careers. A food blogger pro with millions of followers, on the other hand, makes $9169 a month on average, thanks to highly profitable advertisement and collaboration opportunities.
However, not every food critic is Jay Rayner, nor every food blogger, David Lebovitz. Because this is a niche industry, to get a better idea of the average food blogger salary, it’s wise to consider those of the closest professions, which are:
• journalists: $40,556 per year
• writers: $24.6 per hour (around $51,192.60 a year)
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the top-paying states for writers and journalists alike are:
• New York
• District of Columbia
• Connecticut
• Georgia
• New Jersey
• California
• Massachusetts
Curious about how to become a food critic and get paid fairly in your city? Check out Monster’s Salary Calculator to find out how much writers and journalists earn on average in your area. We’ll also provide you with helpful insights on the best skills to pursue to advance in your career.
How to Find Food Critic Jobs
Learning how to become a food blogger might sound complicated, but we assure you that with a well-written food journalist resume, entering this industry is easier than you think. Remember, a good resume doesn’t necessarily list every single credential and accomplishment, but more importantly, it must answer to the company’s needs.
Keep it simple and add only the information that is in line with the job you are going for. This applies also to your resume layout. The easier your resume can be scanned, the higher your chances of grabbing recruiters’ attention. Finally, write a food journalist cover letter to go along with your resume and portfolio. Explain what interests you about the job offer at that specific company and what your long-term goals are.
Where Does a Food Critic Work?
Just like journalists or writers, food critics often freelance and collaborate with different magazines, newspapers, blogs, or websites. A smaller subset of food critics have full-time contracts with one employer, which tend to be large specialized publications.
Due to all the mystery and intrigue that characterizes this job, clear data on where you would most be in demand hasn’t been collected. However, we recommend looking in the following states where both writers and journalists are in high demand, such as:
• New York
• California
• Texas
• Florida
• Georgia
As far as the best metro areas to pursue this career in, the highest number of opportunities are in:
• Los Angeles
• New York
• Washington D.C.
• Atlanta
• Miami