Paul Levy, a 30-year veteran of UK food writing, says he's grown tired of the macho posturing of today's crop of food writers: The food writing that's in vogue today consists chiefly of a bellow of bravado. It's a guy thing, sure, but (with a few honorably hungry exceptions) these scribblers mostly ignore what's on the plate. They view themselves as boy hunters and despise sissy gatherers, thrive on the undertow of violence they detect in the professional kitchen, and like to linger on the unappetizing aspects of food preparation. The gross-out factor trumps tasting good as well as good taste. The perps? Anthony Bourdain and Bill Buford I could see. But the New Yorker's Adam Gopnik? Please. Levy posits... More

Though much hand-wringing was done about the waning anonymity of food critics last month and in various publications (including here on Serious Eats), Regina Schrambling manages to write a new take on the issue in the Los Angeles Times by going big-picture and surveying all the recent unmaskings. In the article, Schrambling (Gastropoda) points to instances of food critics either getting outed (Craig LaBan, Philadelphia Inquirer; Jonathan Gold, L.A. Weekly) or outing themselves (blogger-cum–newspaper critic Danyelle Freeman; legions of food bloggers who don't necessarily try to hide their mugs). Google, she writes, has led to a new openness, though Schrambling doesn't really opine too much on whether that's good or bad, instead gathering the thoughts of those affected as well... More