Food critic has various kinds of job opportunities available. Some of them are listed below:

• As a restaurant reviewer
• As a chef
• As a food editor
• As a sommelier (wine taster)
• As a freelance food editor
• As a staff food writer
• Syndicate food columnist
• As a host in television media for food show.
• Can publish his articles on web
• Travel guide publisher
• Recipe writer

As a food writer the person writes about the food. It is the best job among all other jobs because in this job you get a chance to eat the food of various places which ranges from the neighborhood haunt to the luxurious restaurants and the publication house where you work pays your bill. This is interesting job but at the same time it is more responsible job to because it guides the readers about the place. A person can also work as a freelance means a person who is self employed or work for some assignment only. In this, the person gives his statement for the food. As a sommelier the person tastes the wine and he is the best judge for the wine. He tells that what’s the taste of the wine and how old it is. Person who is fond of traveling and food he can work with the television show and be host over there and travel different places. By this he discovers different places as well as different food and its specialty and guides the people to choose the food who travel over there. Food critic may be syndicate food columnist. Can work as a food editor who writes columns in weekly or lifestyles of newspaper. Person for becoming a food critic can choose any of the above profession according to his choice. He can write content on web about the culinary. The job opportunity in the field of print media is mixed, as many of the newspapers do not have the sufficient amount of budget with them so they don’t have this column. The career opportunity of food critic is much wider and is better in the television media as compared to print media.

Salary of the food critic depends upon the area of work he chooses in the field of food. The salary of the food critic is:

• $54,185 to $99,140
• At the time of publication the average salary for the food critic is $69,590
• A food critic gets the substantial amount of salary for writing the article for the publication house, reviews and critiques.
• The freelance food critic gets the payment according to the article written and according to the contact with the publication house after submitting the article and the reviews.
• Food critics employed by the specific publication have their own fixed salary and food critics get the salary according to it. While those who are working for the large publication houses get more salary. It is generally based upon that for which type of publication house you are working. If it is small you get less salary as it has less fund to pay and if you are working for the large firms you get more salary.

   SALARY FOR FOOD CRITIC FOR VARIOUS BRANCHES:

• Publication editor earns: $33,940 to$ 52,309
• News paper editor earns: $ 32,000 to $67,160
• Magazine editor earns: $29,479 to $59,279
• Book editor earns: $33,500 to $55,183
• Chef earns: $35,840
• Sommelier earns: $34,000 to $149,000
• Restaurant critic earns: $40,370

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS FOR FOOD CRITIC
Food critics get the additional benefits when they work for the large firms they are as follow:

• Dental insurance
• Life insurance
• Health insurance
• Retirement accounts
• Gym membership
• Computer allowance

Reimburse for the relevant meal

Food critic is a person who is specialized in writing criticisms on food items being made. He analyzes the food and restaurants and then publishes his findings in his column. He generally writes in the weekends or in the lifestyle column of the newspapers. He is a person who judges the food and writes on it. For food critic various synonyms are there like the food writer and restaurant critic. The work of the food critic is to go to the restaurant and eat the food and publish the result of it so that the readers come to know where to spend the money and where not to spend. It is a very responsible job. Whenever the food critic visits the restaurant then he has to pay the bill for his food and not take the bribe for writing the false result in the column. They are the persons who share their experience in the column with the readers and give the exact information related to the restaurant and its food. They analyze the atmosphere of the restaurants and the food of it.  After visiting the restaurant the food critic rates it and gives his opinion. This is a very responsible work for him because many of his followers read his column. Food critic must be unnoticed and unbiased. He must write the actual fact in his column.

To be a food critic takes a lot of time. Food critics pursue the professional degree; some of them work in the restaurants, study in culinary schools, and also participate in farming. They do this thing to gain more insight into food industries and their ways of production. Food critic has the knowledge of every aspect of certain food that how it is harvested and the history of the food also. He should have a good taste and very well developed palates and also specialized in certain particular areas like in French traditional cuisine, fusion cuisine, and French cuisine. When the food critic gathers the experience, he can write articles and publish it in columns. The professional integrity is very much required for the food critic. Many of the critics make reservation on fake names and visit the restaurant so that he can come to know about the kind of food that’s being served by the restaurant to the ordinary customer. They make frequent visits so that they can make the fair and the balanced report about the offerings by the restaurant. There should be the avoidance of the commercial consideration such as gifts from the restaurateur, offer for the free food, and very important for the food critics, bribery and favoritism is not implied in the profession of the food critics.

The food critic plays the very important role and has a great responsibility because he gives the professional advice to the readers about the food of the restaurants. He writes articles about the food and the atmosphere of the restaurant so that it becomes easy to the people to get the idea where to spend the money and where not to. So its a very interesting job too as you get paid for eating the food and give the result about the food but only few people get hired for this job as this job have lots of responsibilities.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF FOOD CRITIC:

• Reviews should be conducted anonymously

• Food critic must visit the restaurant as a ordinary person
• Reservation must be made on the other name not on the real name of the food critic
• Meal should be paid by the critic in cash or by credit card in the name other than the critic
• Call for the reservation should be made outside the publication house because many of the restaurants have the caller id and can be blocked since the telephone number is from the publication house.
• Food critic when recognized by the restaurateur then the food critic must notice that how the other tables are getting the services. Servicing means that if there is any discrimination between serving him and others.
• Food critic must visit the restaurant twice. It gives the proper knowledge to him about the food, atmosphere and the serving of the restaurant because service may vary like the lunch of Monday can be vastly different from the dinner on Saturday night
• The food critic must be able to analyze the service, quality and ingredients used in the food and the attractiveness in the presentation of the food.
• Food critic must sample the food of full range from the starters to the appetizers. So that he can give the fair and true judgments about the all items serve in the restaurants.
• Food critic must bring guests with him so that he can get the chance to get taste the different items.
• Food critic needs to make a visit to the restaurant multiple times and can order the same food so as to check the consistency of the food.
• Food critic must pay the bill and the publication house finances money for the food, so that he need not spend money from his pocket.
• He must be a good writer so that he can write about the actual report of the food.
• The report should be true and contain the actual facts
• In some cases having the detailed knowledge of food and its history does the evaluation of food.
• He gives ratings regarding the food served in the restaurants, which range from four stars to no star. The four stars meaning the food served is of extraordinary taste. Three stars means excellent food. Two star means food is good. One star means fair food and no star means below average food is being served there.

ROLE OF THE FOOD CRITIC:

• He writes about the food in the restaurants.
• He writes about the service, quality, and presentation of the food, which the restaurant is providing.
• By reading his experience in the restaurant the readers get the idea where to spend their money.
• In reviews he must cover the restaurants from the neighborhood locale to luxurious venues.
• Offer the readers dining choices in variety of price ranges, cuisines and style.

For becoming a food critic the critic must be good in his creative writing skill or degree in journalism. The food critic must have the detail knowledge of food and the history of the certain food items. He must have the in-depth knowledge of both writing as well as food; knowledge is not sufficient to become a food critic. The knowledge should be balanced. For becoming a food critic the basic thing, which is required, is that you must have good writing skills and good food judgment. There is no degree that is given in the field of food critic. Any bachelor’s degree or high school degree is enough.

 EDUCATION REQUIRED FOR FOOD CRITIC:

• Degree in journalism
• Hotel management degree or culinary courses and knowing the art of cooking is an advantage
• Bachelor of science degree in food technology
• Bachelor in hotel management
• Bachelor of hotel management, Bachelor of journalism and mass communication

                            SKILLS REQUIRED FOR FOOD CRITIC:

• Food critic must have the passion for the food.
• Relevant training and experience in culinary school, food industry and restaurants.
• He must have the knowledge of the food and the certain history of food served to him.
• He must have the good writing skills which should be unbiased and with constructive criticism.
• He must have the proper knowledge of the food and have developed palates.
• Must have professional integrity.
• Must have effective communication skills.
• Must have excellent presentation skills.
• Food critic must be honest and fair in writing his result report.
• If the food is not good in the restaurant then a wise critic gives recommendation and suggestion that how food can be prepared better.

For becoming a food critic additional qualification is not required. The critic must be good in his writing skills as well a good judge of food. It is the best profession among all professions where you get your pay for judging the food and write about the food. The food critic must have the good writing skills so that he gives the best report regarding the restaurant. The most important thing that should be taken under consideration that he must have the developed palates so that he can judge the food perfectly as compared to the ordinary people. He should have good communication skills and analyzing skills. The food critics have the knowledge of certain foods and he gives the detail report on it. The report contains those things, which give the actual evaluation of the food served in the restaurants.