From the newsrooms of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. This is the morning edition. I'm Samantha Selinger Morris. It's Monday, May 12th. For nearly 20 years, Becca Ruddell has used all kinds of schemes to hide who she is. And it's worked as a renowned anonymous food critic for The New York Times, the L.A. times and our mastheads, she's stripped away the artifice and marketing from restaurants offerings in
order to judge their real value. And in doing so, she's reached the top of her industry, earning a James Beard Foundation Award, the so-called Oscar of the food world. Today, Becca Ruddell joins me to discuss why she's unmasking herself now and the confronting epiphany she's had about Australia since returning seven years ago. Becca, can you just start off by telling us how you got into food writing?
Yeah, I got into food writing because I was working in hospitality and going to school for. Writing and literature. And, uh, you know, it was at a time when restaurant critics were. Mainly these kind of older white guys who, like, had been the, the real estate reporter or the. You know, Rome correspondent or somebody who had like a, um, an inn and wanted to get off of. Their beat, you know,
or something along those lines. And most of the restaurant criticism was about fancy restaurants for wealthy people in big cities, and there was very little kind of exploration of immigrant food or things that were not at that fine dining level. And so, you know, yeah, I grew up with, um, great food. My family all great cooks. It's like, what are you having for dinner is still the best thing that we talk to each other about when we talk. Um,
but they didn't understand my restaurant obsession at all. And they. Yeah, they really thought that I was a crazy person for being kind of this, you know, 20 year old Ratbag waitress living in New York City and like, you know, saving up my pennies to go eat at Danielle or taking the subway for two hours to get to Queens to find some Egyptian chicken hearts or whatever. And again,
now that's a pretty, um, common cultural, um, obsession. Like young people are really into food now, but that just was not the case when I started out.
And you've been writing for 20 years. So just tell us, why have you aimed to remain anonymous for all that time?
Yeah. I mean, I think that we forget, um, how long ago, 20 years was because I didn't make a decision to be anonymous at that point. Everybody was anonymous. There wasn't any social media, and certainly cell phone cameras weren't around. Um, so and anonymity and food criticism was by far the standard at that point in time. So it was before it was, you know, this massive thing where everybody had their photo online. I just never did. And so I started really right before that changed. And um,
and anonymity was the standard for restaurant critics. So I just followed that standard.
And why was it such a precious tool, though? Tell us about why it's been so useful.
Look, there is a lot of good arguments to be made that a restaurant cannot change the nature of who they are when you walk in the door. Um, and I think that that is true. They can't change the food. They can't change how, you know, they could maybe put their better server on for you or, you know, make sure that nothing bad happens to your table, um, give you the nice cut of meat, those types of things. But for me, it was much more about being able to not make people anxious to, like, have a, um,
a meal that was very similar to anybody else. Um, and to, you know, No, not have that kind of strained interaction. I think the other real thing is that, you know, there are certain restaurants, especially at the very high end, that, um, a regular person might feel a little bit uncomfortable in. I think many readers can kind of imagine if you go to, you know, a kind
of three hat type of experience. Um, and I spent a lot of my career, you know, I still I shop at op shops, like, I'm not a fancy person. So going to those types of restaurants kind of looking like the person who, um, couldn't afford to be there
and therefore was probably there for a very special occasion. Right. Um, getting treated exceptionally well in those circumstances, um, even looking like the least VIP customer is, to me, the mark of an actually, like, world class restaurant when they try to make even the least important guest feel really special and wonderful. I'm going to lose that ability because they're going to try to make it wonderful for me no
matter what I look like, probably. And then there's the opposite, which is the more obvious one, which is that, you know, there was certainly I think this was more an issue in Los Angeles than I hope it would be in Melbourne. But there was a long time in LA where I was reviewing at the same time as Jonathan Gold. And Jonathan was a very easily recognizable dude. And, um, and
he had very different experiences to me. Um, and I think that that kind of like understanding when a restaurant is sorting people by importance and giving you two different experiences, even though you're both paying the same amount of money. Um, that's helpful too. Um, but look, really the main thing for me is just I would love to just be able to experience the restaurant the way that anybody else does. And I think that that is really helpful. And I'm
going to keep trying. I mean, um, last night was my first night out after my photo had come out in a restaurant that I know that they follow me on Instagram. I know that, you know, they're probably looking out for me. They know that they're going to be reviewed soon. Um, I don't know if they recognized me or not, but, you know, I did certain things to try to make that less likely. I'm not going to go into what those things are. I don't want to
give away my playbook. But, um, but, you know, I'm hoping to still kind of stay under the radar as much as possible.
Okay. So I want to get into how your life is going to change dramatically. I would have thought, by unmasking yourself, but I just want you to take us through, I guess, how difficult it has been to remain anonymous for so long, because you have said that being anonymous is by far the most complicated and silliest part of my job. So how silly does it get? And tell us about some close calls.
I mean, again, it happens all the time has happened since I started. You know, one of the I reviews that I wrote in Atlanta within the first year of being a critic, the manager came up to the table and said, hi, are you Bashar Adel? You know, and I played dumb and said, oh, who's that? And you know, which I don't do anymore. If somebody says hi, I'm just like, hi, you know.
And I'm just curious, were you with anyone at the time? Were you were like, no, I'm not.
I was, I was with my family. Yeah, I was with my family.
And were your family like, nothing to see here?
Yeah, they were, but they used to. I mean, they kind of. I have a 21 year old son who was a toddler when I started. Um, and, uh, they're used to it. Him and my husband just both are kind of like, I roll, like, my kid will be like, oh, they're gossiping in the corner. I think you've been made. I mean, I think that the silliest part of it is that kind of inherent. Either way you play it, it has a whiff of self-importance. So, you know, um, I have credit cards in multiple different names. I have
multiple different emails, all of that stuff. But the stuff that's embarrassing is when you are going to your kid's school and they want to take photos of the class with their parents. And I'm like, no, sorry, I can't be in the photo. You know, my best friend got married, uh, a couple years ago. I was the maid of honor, and I had to be like, you know, I would love to do this, but you got to keep your wedding photos off the internet. Then, you know, at least
the ones with your bridal party in it. Again, it's making her day about me and my job. Like, that's it's just it's embarrassing. And it also puts attention on me. It kind of presupposes that I want to tell everybody, oh, I'm a restaurant critic, you know, which I'm just like, I just can't be in the photo. Like, can we just leave it at that? You know.
And wasn't there a campaign of sorts to out you in LA?
There was. Um, so eater is, uh, now a very respected publication that I've written for and, um, you know, James Beard Award nominees came out and I think it got a bunch of them, as they usually do. But back in the day, they were a little bit more like kind of the TMZ of the food world. They kind of dabbled in that for a while, and they actually had a, um, like a column basically that was called To Catch a Critic, and they were trying to out restaurant critics. Um, a couple years later, they got
their own anonymous restaurant critics. But for a little while, um, they were they were trying to out restaurant critics. And when I arrived in Los Angeles, it was kind of at the height of that. Um, the woman who was the editor of Ida La at that point was kind of into the reality TV world and stuff. So she was really into that kind of like, um, you know, high stakes, high drama stuff. And so they found a photo of me from a panel I had been on, and they put it on the website, and it was
before I had even reviewed anything in LA. It was like, right when I got there and, um, yeah. And luckily the photographer asked them to take it down and they took it down. So it was only up for a little while. It was pretty blurry, and it was a very unflattering photo. Um, and then a couple of weeks later, they found a photo from a newspaper I'd worked for in North Carolina years before, and it was actually a photo that I had taken of one of my mother
in law's friends. Um, but it had a photo credit that was mine, and they thought it was a caption. So they put up that picture, which is amazing because it was like this, you know, 55 year old southern woman with a mullet. It didn't look anything like me, and it made me feel really good because I was like, well, if they think that, that's what I possibly could look like, having seen the other photo, then I could look like any white lady between like 20 and 70, basically.
And I betcha you moved back to Melbourne, where you were born about seven years ago. So what was it like until now? Of course, trying to be anonymous here. And did you have any close calls? Complaints. You know, what was it like trying to be anonymous here compared to other places?
I mean, the interesting thing is, I think that every other city that I've lived in, the chef community in particular, actually really appreciated it, the anonymity and, um, you know, I think that a lot of them do here too. They, they understand why it, it it helps and is important and kind of all of that stuff. Um in Australia. I have had a lot more, um, kind of resistance to the whole idea of restaurant criticism as an act,
almost as an act of journalism, honestly, you know. Um, and there's I think that there's something in Australian culture of overall that is, um, you know, you don't criticise people. You only say the nice thing. Um, and I think that the part of the reason for that, especially in the arts, is that Australia hasn't been given the respect that it deserves internationally for its food, for its art,
for its literature. And so, you know, there's this kind of culture of boosterism where, you know, we all want to say, yes, Australia is fantastic. Um, let's let's celebrate it and not say anything bad about it ever, you know? But the reality is that I don't want to blow smoke. I don't I don't want to tell people. I don't think it helps to tell people that, you know, if their mum, their girlfriend or boyfriend, their the owner of the restaurant, everybody is going to be like, this is amazing.
Your restaurant is so good. And yeah, you need that feedback too. But I'm not your mum, so I think it's okay for one person to say, yeah, really good. This is what's great about it. These are the things that I, you know, struggled with and that I think could be actually done better. And, and my whole hope is that, you know, they either take that advice and get better or it makes them think. And they're like, nah, she's wrong. I'm sticking to my guns. This is what
I meant to do. And and there's value in that too, you know?
We'll be right back. So better now you after so long. I think you were one of the last remaining anonymous food critics. But now you are revealing yourself. So why? Why are you showing your face now?
So I have a book coming out. It's coming out June 17th in Australia. And I want I want to promote the book. I mean, it's a purely selfish reason. I have to say, you know, my bosses at The Age were not thrilled about it. They really wanted me to keep the anonymity, which I totally understood. We had a long back and forth about it, but I think they finally understood that for me, my life's work is not just this. This is a huge part of my life's work, and it is has been my life's work
for the last 20 years. But I have more in me, you know, I have I have more to me, I think, than just being an anonymous restaurant critic. And I'm really proud of this book. And my publisher really wanted me to promote it. They wanted me to be able to go out and do events. Um, and, you know, I'm leaving, um, to, to go to the US to do a kind of mini book tour. And, and people are really excited about
those events and that's really lovely. And so the, um, the, the real upside for me is that I hope that I can connect with my community and with readers in
a more genuine way. I mean, I have a pretty good pen pal relationship with a lot of readers, but like, um, you know, getting to meet people in person, getting to sign books in person without this, again, the kind of silliness of a disguise or, um, some kind of way of hiding myself, which we definitely discussed as a possibility, but I just couldn't bear the kind of, again, inherent self-importance of playing that game anymore. I just felt like there has to be a reason that this is this
is the reason. So time's up.
Is there anything you're anxious about? I guess because I heard you say in an interview that you are very anxious about showing your face. You know that it's been a lovely blessing not to have your physical appearance, to be part of your brand in any way. And I've got to ask, like, are you worried about bumping into any of the chefs who, you know, whose reviews I'm thinking about? Bar patron by Rockpool. I'm going to quote here, uh, one of their tacos was wildly disappointing. The salsa tasted
of cumin and water. That's obviously, you know, not even by far the harshest. But like, are you worried about bumping into Neil Perry?
I'm not worried about bumping into Neil Perry at all. I think Neil Perry is one of those operators who actually is, is really smart and has been around the block to, you know, and would not have taken he wouldn't have liked that review, but I don't think that it would have made him hate my guts. I could be wrong, you know? But, you know, I'm I'm not worried about bumping into chefs who I have reviewed. I mean, um, I think, you know, that has happened again in the past.
You know, I have I have met people who I've given harder reviews to. I mean, it's actually funny, again, in Los Angeles, more than I've experienced here more often. What would happen and what happened when I left LA is a lot of chefs reached out to me who I had been kind of harsh with and said, you know, it was actually really helpful. I mean, that's that's not everybody, but it certainly was my relationship with a lot of the chefs in LA who I did that thing of saying,
you are very talented. This is a really interesting thing that you're trying to do, and here are the places where you know, your ego or some idea that you're sticking to or whatever is getting in the way, you know. And I mean, Curtis Stone was one of those people. He's talked about it quite publicly, where he had this restaurant, Gwen, that opened in Hollywood, and it was a prefix and it was a steakhouse, and a prefix was not right for being a steakhouse. It was too weird of a concept.
And I said that and he was really disappointed. And then he was like, you were right. And I changed it. And it's better now, you know? So that's the relationship I hope to have with any chef, really, honestly or any operator that I've, um, written about. Um, but I also don't really plan on going out and like, being buddies with all of these folks. I'm still going to try to keep a kind of low profile. I'm not
going to go to media dinners. I'm probably not going to become like the face of good food in the way that some previous critics have. Um, I don't go to the awards just because it just I don't want to I don't I don't want to socialize with folks that I am writing about. It just feels like a bit of a conflict. So I'm going to continue to, to do that.
And now that we're talking about, you know, relationships between you and various restaurateurs, we've got to talk about your review in April of Melbourne restaurant Attica. This is obviously an internationally renowned establishment. It's your last anonymous review for good food. But it would also have to be I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, please. One of your most controversial.
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah. So tell me what this was all about and why you saved this one for last.
The timing was actually completely random. Um, I had always wanted to review Attica in the 20th year that Ben Shourie had been operating it. I had planned on doing that for years ago. Um, and then I had a friend in town from LA who was eating at all of the kind of great Melbourne restaurants, and he wanted to go to Attica. And so I said, yeah, let's go. The downside of the timing is that Ben and I
had just kind of had this kerfuffle. He has a book out in which he takes aim at restaurant critics in particular, really is unhappy with The Good Food Guide.
I'm just going to interject here, he wrote in his book. I believe that it was damaging to the mental health of his staff, I think when reviewers are there. So he was sort of really taking issue with being reviewed, right?
Yes, absolutely. And he said that he doesn't consent to being reviewed. And a lot of people have brought that up, especially on social media in the weeks since that review. That is the thing that keeps coming up is like, well, this guy didn't consent to this review. And you know,
that isn't how journalism works, unfortunately. You know, and I and I think it's this kind of double edged sword because food people want to be taken seriously as artists, as tradespeople, as business people, and in which case they get held to the same kind of journalistic standards as we would judge a book or a piece of art or or any other business, you know.
Well, just because the listeners might not have read this particular review, I do have to put one quote in because I haven't been there. But when you wrote that it has a map of Australia made from fish, I was like, I'm in. And then and then you said, and you said, and it tastes good. You're like a map of Australia made from fish is funny. And because
it tastes good, it's also very fun. But when it's delivered with all the humor of a mathematics dissertation, you wonder if you misread the joke so that that's your problem there, wasn't it?
Yeah, absolutely. And it's not a huge problem. I mean, again, this is a very strong two hat restaurant in my mind. And, you know, I think it's it's it's an experience that you just will not forget. It's absolutely worth having. Um, but, you know, I think it's worth pointing out, especially at an era in which, um, Australian hospitality at that high end is just so good right now and so fun.
And because. Attica is part of the reason that that is the case, like they were some of the first people to bring in that style of service, and it's just gotten less fun and less warm over the years. And I'm not sure why.
And I guess just to wrap up, why is critiquing what we eat important?
I think that, you know, food, especially in a city like Melbourne or Sydney, is such a huge part of what makes a city a joyful place to live on a day to day basis. Because of that, it's really important to support our hospitality industry. And I think, again, very self-serving, but I believe it having good criticism in a city helps to maintain the health of that city's food scene. It just it creates a conversation around it. It creates, you know, people, people are People excited about it.
And obviously there are a lot of voices out there. There's a lot of social media, a lot of TikTok, a lot of people in this space at this point, all of which is like super valid. And I am very happy that all of those voices exist. But I think it's a real public service on the part of a media organization to pay somebody to do it professionally so that, you know, that that person hasn't been bought off, isn't getting a free meal out of it. I mean, I'm so lucky because I get to say, oh, okay,
here's this restaurant. Let me look at the history of the chef. Let me look at the history of this kind of cuisine. Let me look at how this cuisine has progressed in the world and in this city. You know, there's a lot of research that goes into it. So I just again, it's a self-serving thing, but I think it's important.
Well, you're exposed now. Yeah, literally and figuratively. And we're privileged that you've done it here. So thank you so much for your time.
Thank you so much for having me.
And if you'd like to read more, Becca Odell's memoir, Hunger Like a Thirst, comes out in Australia on June 17th. Today's episode of The Morning Edition was produced by Josh Towers and Julia Carcasole. Our executive producer is Tammy Mills. Tom McKendrick is our head of audio. To listen to our episodes as soon as they drop, follow the Morning Edition on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Our newsrooms are powered by subscriptions, so to support independent journalism,
visit The Age or smh.com.au. Subscribe and to stay up to date. Sign up to our Morning Edition newsletter to receive a summary of the day's most important news in your inbox every morning. Links are in the show. Notes. I'm Samantha Selinger. Morris. Thanks for listening.