Off the Shelf: Costumes and Criticism

Over the weekend, I finished reading Ruth Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise, and the speed with which I finished it is really a testament to the fact that I couldn't put it down.  I picked up the book thinking it would be a quick, fun read after finishing The Taste of Place, which was fairly dense and academic.  Well, Garlic and Sapphires was both quick and fun to read, but it turned out to be much more than that. 

Ruth Reichl was the restaurant critic at the New York Times for much of the 1990s, and went on to become the Editor in Chief of the now-defunct Gourmet magazine.  She also has written a number of books; Garlic and Sapphires focuses mainly on her tenure at the New York Times.  Reichl writes about the lengths to which she went to disguise herself while dining out, and the alter-egos she devised are impressively complex.  In addition to donning wigs and costumes, she developed back-stories and full personalities for herself.  These disguises allowed her to experience restaurants as "everywoman" would, since she almost invariably received significantly better food and better treatment when she was recognized at a restaurant.  Her experiences in a restaurant both as herself and incognita would inform her ultimate review. 

Costuming became more than just a way to do her job better, however, and in some ways the book becomes a sociological and psychological study.  In developing and living as different personalities, Reichl experiences firsthand the differing treatment that different types of people (women, specifically) receive from society at large.  Furthermore, it is fascinating the extent to which donning a costume allows her to express previously hidden aspects of her personality.  It seemed that wearing a disguise changed her behavior, almost without her having to consciously think about it.

Finally, the book reveals Reichl's inner (and in some cases external) struggle with her own profession.  At some points, she considered herself a sell-out for getting paid to eat in and write about extremely expensive restaurants, in a world where so few people can actually afford to eat in those types of establishments.  She also consciously focused on smaller restaurants and ethnic restaurants, in addition to the restaurants that she was "expected" to review, and this approach won her some critics.  Her use of disguises allowed her to experience restaurants as (most of) her readers would, and it seems that Reichl in some ways viewed herself as the "protector" of the everyman; she wanted to endorse restaurants at which everyone would be treated well and receive good food. 

The narrative in the book is interspersed with some of Reichl's restaurant reviews from the Times, along with her own recipes.  It is a joy to read, and gives an entertaining and informative look into the life of one of America's foremost arbiters of food.