Food Critic Job Description

To become a food critic one must possess the qualities and skills beyond just the desire to eat out a lot.  The food critic job description is more than just eating and providing an opinion.  Having a good palate and love for food is a start and these qualities are two of the main factors that you should have. You must be willing to taste everything, even the most undesirable food. You must also have good writing skills in order to make a good review that readers would like to read.

• Writing

A food critic is always expected to write reviews. Food critics are given a task to try out new opening restaurants or cafes, try a different dish they offer and write a description of how the food tasted and what you liked or disliked about the food.  This includes the presentation.  This review is needed in order to give readers a taste of what you experienced. It is important that when writing an article or review for certain dishes that you give the readers an in-depth experience starting from the presentation up to the time it sunk into your teeth and touched your palate. In writing, you may also be required to do interviews with the owners or chefs.

Your writing must be descriptive while providing a lot of information.  It is not enough to just say whether you liked a dish or not.  You must be able to let people know why you feel the way you do.

• Research

As a food critic, you are required to conduct wide research to identify restaurants or cafes that most readers may want to read about. You also have to do research to gather information and facts that will support what you write in your reviews, including concrete basis, background checks and accurate information about the restaurant, chef or ingredients of a certain dish in order to make your writings factual. That is why being a food critic necessitates having a good reporting skill.

You will need to have a lot of contacts or connections to the restaurant and food industry as these people can offer tips that you may include in your reviews. They will also make way for you to know the latest restaurant openings or latest food delicacies that the public wants to learn about.

• Administrative Duties

Other than eating various foods, writing about it and reporting reviews to the public, a food critic may also be required to maintain lists of restaurants, type of foods they offer, and price ranges. Since the job entails dining out to restaurants and usually given an amount in order to pay for the food they will eat, some employer may require critics to do administrative tasks like keeping track of expenses, which will include keeping receipts, documentation of people involved in a meal and paying with credit cards.

The job description of a food critic will sometimes depend on the employer. Large newspaper or magazines may hire people that will do some tasks especially the administrative ones. But when learning how to become a food critic, you must not limit yourself alone to eating, writing and reporting. You must also be able to do tasks that employers may want you to do. The more tasks you do, the more you may paid.