The health toll of being a food critic
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
With the restaurant critic for The New York Times, Pete Wells, leaving his post for health-related reasons, we decided to check in on the well-being of the dean of Austin food reviewers.
Why it matters: It's a glamorous job, but week after week of restaurant food takes a physical toll that is seldom discussed, Wells writes.
- Wells decided to leave his job in part after a doctor's visit, where he learned that "my cholesterol, blood sugar and hypertension were worse than I'd expected even in my doomiest moments."
The intrigue: "It's the least healthy job in America, probably," Adam Platt, former restaurant critic for New York Magazine, told Wells.
- Platt said he's dealing with gout, hypertension, high cholesterol and Type 2 diabetes after his years of reviewing restaurants.
What they're saying: Matthew Odam, the Austin American-Statesman's food critic since 2011, said he was told that his cholesterol "was higher than it needed to be" several years ago.
- He decided he was "not going to have a breakfast taco in the morning or a burger at lunch unless I'm eating someplace new for work."
- Also, while working, "you don't have to eat everything on the plate."
Between the lines: "I eat out probably three to four nights a week and then some lunches," says Odam, who also writes features and news stories about the restaurant scene. He says Wells "probably eats out twice as much."
- "I'm not having to eat at big, heavy French restaurants — my meals aren't as rich as his," Odam adds.
Zoom out: It's not just our bodies. As we've reported, research shows that rich and processed foods affect our brains too.
- Food can even be addictive, like alcohol or nicotine.
The bottom line: "This has as much temptation as any job," Odam tells us.