Sunday, November 22, 2009

Life of a food critic

There's a fascinating story in Saturday's Washington Post about the Post's food critic, Tom Sietsema (pronounced Seets-ma).

Aside from a schedule of constant eating (which is fun until you HAVE to eat rather than want to), I was particularly impressed by the Mossad-like obsession with ensuring anonymity:

To ensure he doesn't get special treatment, Sietsema is obsessive about anonymity. He's used elaborate disguises in elite restaurants such as the District's Citronelle and the Inn at Little Washington in Virginia. He has a dozen aliases and sometimes feigns a foreign accent. Concerned about restaurants using caller ID, he may have friends make the reservation. He has nine credits cards with different names so restaurants can't identify him through receipts. Sometimes he pays cash. He even took acting lessons to alter his physical demeanor. It can help, he said, because "people get used to seeing you in a certain way."

James Bond's got nothing on him.

Full story is worth the read.