"Food writing is as diverse as it is deep. The genre can encompass critiques of high-profile restaurants and expositions on little-known ethnic restaurants, but also includes examinations of the inequalities in our food system and propositions of how to make it more sustainable. Food writing can take the form of cookbooks, memoirs, newspaper columns, blogs, academic articles, and even novels. One thing becomes clear when considering the genre altogether: Food is never just a form of sustenance."
"Rather than using his position as a writer to flex his muscles and vehemently condemn restaurants that didn't meet his standards, he poetically enmeshed his experiences at eateries into the broader experiences of life itself. As Helen Rosner, a James Beard award-winning food correspondent for The New York Times, put it: "Gold was never cynical, always precise, but a precision that had a wildness in it.""
Food literature encompasses critiques of high-profile restaurants, explorations of little-known ethnic eateries, examinations of food-system inequalities, and proposals for greater sustainability. Forms include cookbooks, memoirs, newspaper columns, blogs, academic studies, and novels. Food functions as cultural expression, memory, identity, and social glue rather than merely sustenance. Jonathan Gold exemplified a critic who connected dining to broader life, avoiding cynicism and harsh condemnation while illuminating how meals form and bind communities. Gold's approach illuminated cultural norms and values through vivid, precise, and humane culinary observation. Readers encounter recipes, insightful observations, and humor that heighten appetite and understanding.
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