Ruth Reichl (; born 1948), is an American chef, food writer and editor. In addition to two decades as a food critic, mainly spent at the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' and ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', Reichl has also written cookbooks, memoirs and a novel, and been co-producer of
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
's ''
Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie'', culinary editor for the
Modern Library
The Modern Library is an American book publishing imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Modern Library became an ...
, host of PBS's ''
Gourmet's Adventures With Ruth
''Gourmet's Adventures With Ruth'' is a cooking program that is produced by WGBH-TV and aired nationally on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The show follows former '' Gourmet'' magazine Editor in Chief Ruth Reichl ar ...
'', and editor-in-chief of ''
Gourmet
Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by refined, even elaborate preparations and presentations of aesthetically balanced meals of several contrasting, of ...
'' magazine. She has won six
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.
Reichl’s critically acclaimed, best-selling memoirs are ''Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table'' (1998), ''Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table'', ''
Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise,'' ''Not Becoming My Mother'' and ''Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir'' (2019). In 2009, she published ''Gourmet Today'' a 1,008 page cookbook containing over 1,000 recipes. She published her first novel, ''Delicious!'' in 2014, and, in 2015, published ''My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life'', a memoir of recipes prepared in the year following the shuttering of ''Gourmet''.
Early life and education
Born in 1948 to Ernst, a typographer, and Miriam (''née'' Brudno), her
German Jewish
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
refugee father and an
American Jewish
American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from diaspora ...
mother,
Reichl was raised in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
and spent time at a boarding school in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
as a young girl. She attended the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, where she earned a degree in sociology in 1968
and met her first husband, the artist Douglas Hollis. In 1970 she earned an M.A. in art history, also from the University of Michigan.
Career
Reichl and Hollis moved to
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
, where her interest in food led to her joining the collectively owned Swallow Restaurant as a chef and co-owner from 1973 to 1977, and where she played an important role in the culinary revolution taking place at the time. Reichl began her food-writing career with ''Mmmmm: A Feastiary'', a cookbook, in 1972. She moved on to become food writer and editor of ''New West'' magazine in 1978, then to the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' as its restaurant editor from 1984 to 1993 and food editor and critic from 1990 to 1993.
She returned to her native New York City in 1993 to become the
restaurant critic
The terms food critic, food writer, and restaurant critic can all be used to describe a writer who analyzes food or restaurants and then publishes the results of their findings. While these terms are not strictly synonymous they are often used int ...
for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
.''
In 1999 she left the ''Times'' to assume the editorship of ''
Gourmet
Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by refined, even elaborate preparations and presentations of aesthetically balanced meals of several contrasting, of ...
,'' which she helmed until it closed in 2009''.'' During her tenure, the magazine sold 988,000 copies per month (as of March 2007) and commissioned works like
David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and university professor of English and creative writing. Wallace is widely known for his 1996 novel '' Infinite Jest'', whi ...
's “
Consider the Lobster
''Consider the Lobster and Other Essays'' (2005) is a collection of essays by novelist David Foster Wallace. It is also the title of one of the essays, which was published in ''Gourmet'' magazine in 2004. The title alludes to '' Consider the Oyst ...
”.
She is known for her ability to "make or break" a restaurant
with her fierce attention to detail and her adventurous spirit. For Reichl, her mission has been to "demystify the world of fine cuisine" (CBS News Online). She has won acclaim with both readers and writers alike for her honesty about some of the not-so-fabulous aspects of haute cuisine. Through an outsider's perspective, she harshly criticized the sexism prevalent toward women in dine-out experiences, as well as the pretentious nature of the ritziest New York restaurants and restaurateurs alike.
Despite her success and tales of how she used to disguise herself to mask her identity while reviewing, she is quite open about why she stopped. "I really wanted to go home and cook for my family," she says. "I don't think there's one thing more important you can do for your kids than have family dinner".
[
She has been the recipient of six ]James Beard 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. In 1996 and 1998 she won for restaurant criticism; in 1994 for journalism; and in 1984 for ''Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America. She has also won'' several awards granted by the Association of American Food Journalists. She was also the recipient of the YWCA's Elizabeth Cutter Morrow Award, celebrating the accomplishments of strong, successful women. Reichl served as host for three Food Network Specials titled "Eating Out Loud" which covered cuisine from each coast and corner of the United States, in New York in 2002, and Miami and San Francisco in 2003. She also frequents Leonard Lopate's monthly food radio show on WNYC
WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that di ...
in New York.
From 2011 to 2013, Reichl appeared as a judge on seasons 3, 4 and 5 of the Bravo reality television show ''Top Chef Masters
''Top Chef Masters'' is an American reality competition series that aired on the cable television network Bravo, and premiered June 10, 2009. It is a spinoff of Bravo's hit show ''Top Chef
''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition te ...
''.
In 2021, Reichl joined Substack
Substack is an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters. It allows writers to send digital newsletters directly to subscribers. Founded in 2017, Substack ...
to begin publishing a newsletter about food writing.
Personal life
Reichl is married to Michael Singer, with whom she has one son. They live in Spencertown, New York
Spencertown is a hamlet in the town of Austerlitz, Columbia County, New York, United States. Its ZIP code is 12165.
The Daniel and Clarissa Baldwin House, Pratt Homestead, Spencertown Academy, and St. Peter's Presbyterian Church and Spencer ...
.
Books
*''Mmmmm: A Feastiary'' (cookbook), (1972)
*''Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table'' (memoir) (1998)
*''Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table'' (memoir) (2001)
*''Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise'' (memoir) (2005)[
*''The Gourmet Cookbook: More Than 1000 Recipes'' (2006)
*''Not Becoming My Mother: and Other Things She Taught Me Along the Way'' (2009)
*''Gourmet Today: More than 1000 All-New Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen'' (2009)
*''For You, Mom. Finally.'' (2010; first published under the title ''Not Becoming My Mother'')
*''Delicious!'' (novel) (2014)
*''My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life'' (2015)
*''Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir'' (2019)
]
References
External links
Gourmet Today edited by Ruth Reichl (October 2009)
An eG Spotlight Conversation with Ruth Reichl (November 2005)
Princeton Public Lecture Series Appearance (streaming media) - March 6, 2007 - "Watch What You Eat-A History of Eating"
ruthreichl.com
PBS Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie
CBS Article and interview - May 18, 2005 - "Garlic and Sapphires"
New York Times Chapter 1 excerpt - April 10, 2005 - "Garlic and Sapphires"
ReviewsOfBooks.com - "Garlic and Sapphires"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reichl, Ruth
1948 births
Living people
American food writers
American magazine editors
American people of German-Jewish descent
American restaurant critics
American women journalists
Jewish American writers
American women critics
Women food writers
Women cookbook writers
Los Angeles Times people
Critics employed by The New York Times
University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni
Writers from Berkeley, California
Writers from Los Angeles
Writers from Manhattan
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American women writers
James Beard Foundation Award winners
MacDowell Colony fellows
Women magazine editors
People from Greenwich Village
21st-century American Jews