Alan Richman (born January 25, 1944) is an American journalist and food writer. He was a food correspondent for '' GQ'' magazine, and has won 16

James Beard Foundation Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

s for journalism.

Early life and education

Richman is a graduate of the General Honors Program at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a cadet in the

Army ROTC The Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (AROTC) is the United States Army component of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. It is the largest Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program which is a group of college and university-based offic ...

, rose to the rank of captain on active duty and served two tours in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, including one in

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

, for which he was awarded the

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

. He also served in the earlier U.S. invasion and occupation of the Dominican Republic.

Career

Richman began his career as a sportswriter in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in the 1970s, covering the

76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Ea ...

for the ''

Philadelphia Evening Bulletin The ''Philadelphia Bulletin'' was a daily evening newspaper published from 1847 to 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the largest circulation newspaper in Philadelphia for 76 years and was once the largest evening newspaper in the United ...

''. He later worked as a sports columnist and, using a pseudonym, as restaurant critic for the ''

Montreal Star ''The Montreal Star'' was an English-language Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed in 1979 in the wake of an eight-month pressmen's strike. It was Canada's largest newspaper until the 1950s and remained the dominan ...

''. Richman began writing for ''GQ'' in 1986. Richman has won 16

James Beard Foundation The James Beard Foundation is a New York City-based national non-profit culinary arts organization named in honor of James Beard, a prolific food writer, teacher, and cookbook author, who was also known as the "Dean of American Cookery." The prog ...

Journalism Awards for excellence in culinary writing, including two in 2009 for Magazine Feature Writing Without Recipes and Writing on Spirits, Wine, or Beer. He won a

National Magazine Award The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

in 1995 for three articles that appeared in ''GQ''. In 2004,

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

published ''Fork It Over: The Intrepid Adventures of a Professional Eater'', a collection of Richman's essays about food and dining. Richman served as the dean of food journalism at the

French Culinary Institute The International Culinary Center was a private for-profit culinary school headquartered in New York City. In 2020, it merged into the Institute of Culinary Education, also in New York City. It was founded as The French Culinary Institute by D ...

in New York City, teaching "The Craft of Food Writing". In 2006, Richman caused a controversy after criticizing the cuisine of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

and questioning the existence of the Creole ethnicity. In 2009, celebrity chefs

David Chang David Chang (Korean: ; born August 5, 1977) is an American restaurateur, author, podcaster, and television personality. He is the founder of the Momofuku restaurant group. In 2009, Momofuku Ko was awarded two Michelin stars, which the restaur ...

and

Anthony Bourdain Anthony Michael Bourdain (; June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian who starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the human condition. Bourdai ...

criticized Richman for "his insistence that celebrity chefs actually cook in their own restaurants." Bourdain's latest book, ''Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook'', contains a chapter entitled "Alan Richman Is a Douchebag" expounding on his view of Richman. In the same chapter Bourdain also said, Alan Richman is so loathsome he lacks "the gravitas required to be called an asshole".

References

External links

''GQ'' Contributors Page

* ttp://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a10857.asp/ Interview with Alan Richman {{DEFAULTSORT:Richman, Alan 1944 births Living people American male journalists American food writers University of Pennsylvania alumni United States Army officers United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War Writers from Philadelphia 21st-century American non-fiction writers James Beard Foundation Award winners Sportswriters from Pennsylvania The Boston Globe people 21st-century American male writers