Food Critic Quits Career After Shocking Medical Diagnosis

Pete Wells, a noted New York Times food reviewer, has opted to resign after a medical evaluation raised worries about his health.

Throughout the past twelve years, Wells—who was once considered America’s most feared food writer—has indulged in some of the heaviest dinners in New York and beyond.

He went to the doctor because he was worried about his health after a physical revealed that his overeating was the root cause of his weight and other ailments.

Food critics typically bring a large group of people with them on many trips to the restaurant to test as many meals as possible. If special features, like the greatest locations to purchase pizza or hamburgers, are included, reviewers can wind up eating the same thing for weeks on end.

San Francisco Chronicle food critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan ate Peking duck at various restaurants around town for an article on one that served the delicacy.

In 2020, research was published in the Journal of Nutrition that indicated that, according to the American Heart Association’s criteria, half of the meals in full-service restaurants in the US and seventy percent at fast-food joints were of poor nutritional quality. When people dine out, they want something tasty, and that usually implies something salty and fatty.

Though he is now stepping down, Wells remains hypervigilant. He maintains a plant-based diet, plays tennis, and walks his dog to stay in shape. He also makes sure he doesn’t show up hungry by eating fruit or another nutritious snack before going out to dinner.

Even on her days off, Lyndsay Green, a reviewer for the Detroit Free Press’s eating and restaurants section, tries to eat healthily by stocking up at a nearby farmer’s market. Many chefs now provide gluten-free or vegan alternatives and are getting inventive with non-alcoholic drink menus, which, in her opinion, indicates that menus are becoming healthier. If restaurant reviewers are honest about their personal needs—for example, if they were to provide a guide for new parents—they would be helping their readers, according to Green.

Not all restaurant critics have transformed in the past several years, Wells included. Adam Platt, who similarly blamed the strain on his health, left his position as a food critic for New York magazine in 2022. In 2019, Wyatt Williams announced his resignation as a restaurant critic for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, citing a lack of appetite as his reason.

Women appear to have a longer tenure in the field, as pointed out by Fegan and Wells.

After a distinguished six-decade career in the culinary industry, Mimi Sheraton, a former restaurant reviewer for The New York Times, passed away last year at the age of 97.

Before stepping down in early August, Wells will file a couple more reviews.