Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and food critic Jonathan Gold examined the difference between citizen and professional journalism at the University’s annual Richard W. and Laurie Johnston Lecture Thursday at the John E. Jaqua Academic Center for Student Athletes, contending that personal reviews of restaurant customers often overshadow the work of professional journalists.
“The all-powerful critic doesn’t exist anymore,” Gold said. “Even as an all-powerful critic, I still have to contend (with) Yelp, people on Facebook (and) Urbanspoon.”
With the development of broad tastes alongside the rise of Internet-driven civic journalism, Gold used local reviews on Yelp for Marche Cafe as a model. The presence of customers on the Web, the critic said, means opinions are typically uninformed and based on collective ratings rather than refined evaluations.
In a broad sense, Gold believes critics are evaluators, providing context and culture for their restaurant reviews.
“The critic has several functions in the general discourse,” Gold said. “(Critics are) filters (who) sit back in the snowdrift of culture and come up to two or three examples each week important enough to discuss.”
Gold said critics are more effective when they are specialists in the area in which they work, which is how they instill meaning into what they have to say. With a profound background and experience, he reasoned, any review will bring meaning. Whereas nonprofessionals bring a random assortment of opinions, Gold said it doesn’t give as much depth of opinion to those listening. However, critics need to be careful of certain assessments and avoid focusing on pedantic details that may harm a restaurant’s reputation.
“(A) slug in the lettuce is not that big of a deal,” Gold said. “What it means is that there are no pesticides.”
University senior Andrew Creasey believes a critic has a more “refined palate” than the everyday customer, and said Gold’s lecture offered a way for journalists and fellow novice critics alike to learn how to coexist with citizen journalism and the rise of food bloggers.
“It’s establishing a strategy for professionals to get an audience in the midst of a (citizen) population,” Creasey said.
Eugene resident Judi Baumgartner attended Gold’s lecture to learn what skills are needed to be a food critic. She said she weighs the opinions of reviewers and customers equally, allowing her to explore new avenues of food.
“I think that my friends tend to like the same things I do,” Baumgartner said. “But I get introduced to something new by food reviewers.”
For more than 25 years, Gold has chronicled Los Angeles’ culinary offerings, writing for Gourmet magazine and the Los Angeles Times. He is currently the restaurant critic for the LA Weekly and believes critics’ futures are bright.
“We are starting to see a definite uptick in publication; things are popping up,” Gold said. “Nobody knows what the next step is going to be, but I hope there’s a place for us all.”
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