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| Mimi Sheraton | |
Mimi Sheraton, the food writer and restaurant critic "who chronicled culinary scenes in New York and around the world with a discriminating palate and deft prose that captured the nuances of haute cuisine and plumbed the mysteries of chicken soup," died April 6, the New York Times reported. She was 97. In addition to her work for the Times and several magazines, Sheraton wrote 16 books, including restaurant guides, cookbooks, a memoir, and "a farewell of sorts," 1,000 Foods to Eat Before You Die (2015). She calculated in 2013 that she had eaten 21,170 restaurant meals professionally in 49 countries.
Sheraton was the first woman to review restaurants for the Times (1976-1983), which noted that she "pioneered reviewing-in-disguise, dining in wigs and tinted glasses and using aliases for reservations, mostly in high-end places where people would have otherwise known her from repeat visits and lavished their attentions on her."
"The longer I reviewed restaurants, the more I became convinced that the unknown customer has a completely different experience from either a valued patron or a recognized food critic," she wrote in Eating My Words: An Appetite for Life (2004). "For all practical purposes, they might as well be in different restaurants."
Sheraton also reviewed foods served in schools, hospitals, and prisons, and consulted with those institutions to improve their menus. Her frequent trips abroad prompted her to write about the cuisines of Germany, France, Italy, China, Russia, and Vietnam, and on markets and specialty foods. For her book The Bialy Eaters: The Story of a Bread and a Lost World (2000), she "scoured Europe, Israel and Argentina for authentic versions of the Jewish round breads sprinkled with onions and spices," the Times wrote.
Her other books include The Seducer's Cookbook (1963), The German Cookbook (1965), Is Salami and Eggs Better Than Sex? (with Alan King, 1985), The Whole World Loves Chicken Soup: Recipes and Lore to Comfort Body and Soul (1995), and The New York Times Jewish Cookbook (2002 with Linda Amster).
Workman Publishing tweeted: "We are devastated to share another loss this week--the legendary writer, food critic, and author of 1,000 Foods to Eat Before You Die, Mimi Sheraton. Mimi was a pioneer, shattering glass ceilings throughout her storied career. She was the first female food and restaurant critic for the New York Times, traveled the world reviewing food, and consulted with hospitals, schools, and prisons to improve their menus. Sharp-witted, funny, and with a palate that appreciated food in all forms from haute cuisine to street food carts, Mimi was a brilliant writer and a titan. We will miss her dearly."