Food Criticism With Besha Rodell

The Dave Chang Show

The Ringer

Society & Culture, Arts, Food

4.8 • 8.6K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2025

⏱️ 116 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dave and Chris opine on food criticism and what the ideal food critic would be like. They are then joined by Besha Rodell, the author of 'Hunger Like a Thirst' and a former anonymous food critic. She has an amazing résumé and gives insights into what it is really like to be a food reviewer. Besha, Dave, and Chris discuss food criticism as it has been and its platonic ideal: from honest reviews to what reviewers should be looking for when critiquing a restaurant. Check out Besha's book here: https://celadonbooks.com/book/hunger-like-a-thirst-besha-rodell/. Check out Besha's reviews on The Age here: https://www.theage.com.au/goodfood/search?text=besha+rodell. Follow Besha on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/besharodell/?hl=en. Read the Ruth Reichl review Dave mentions here: https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/10/arts/restaurants-174793.html. Read the Pete Wells review on Guy Fieri's Times Square location here: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/dining/reviews/restaurant-review-guys-american-kitchen-bar-in-times-square.html. Read the Pete Wells review on Locol here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/dining/locol-review-oakland-california-pete-wells.html. Read the article Dave mentions on closing a restaurant here: https://www.eater.com/2020/1/8/21028493/restaurant-closure-process-thirty-acres-mean-sandwich. Read Besha's review of Dolly here: https://www.theage.com.au/goodfood/melbourne-eating-out/everyone-got-excited-about-dolly-but-the-food-absolutely-baffling-20231005-p5e9zv.html Send in your questions to [email protected]. Subscribe to the show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thedavechangshow.. Subscribe to Recipe Club on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@recipeclubofficial. Submit your favorite food moments in your favorite movies to majorfoodporn.com. Join our community Discord on majordomo.com. Host: Dave Chang Guest: Roy Choi Majordomo Media Producers: Kelsey Rearden and David Meyer Spotify Producer: Felipe Guilhermino Editor: Stefano Sanchez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Day Chang here, stay tuned to listen to a food critic.
0:04.4	Spill the beans about being a food critic.
0:06.9	And you may learn something that you did not know before about how, I'm just going to say it, food criticism is a fucking show.
0:15.0	Or it's not.
0:17.5	At the very least, listen to one of the good ones the great ones becher rodell talk about her life
0:22.5	her journey and um why she's in australia and not in america anymore
0:32.5	welcome to the dave change show part of the ringer podcast network presented by major
0:35.1	dim media thank you y'all a tonneal as. You can watch or listen to us on YouTube or Spotify.
0:41.5	Join with Christine today, and we are going to interview Bessha Rodel.
0:46.3	She is currently the art critic, not the art critic, the food critic, art and food, same thing.
0:50.8	At the age, which is one of the newspapers of choice in melbourne
0:55.8	in australia she formerly of la weekly formerly of the new york times and she has a new
1:01.9	book that's out today or out now hunger like a thirst food stamps from food stamps to fine
1:10.2	dining a restaurant critics finds her place at the
1:13.5	table she did not live a life that you probably might expect of a traditional food critic
1:19.4	and she's one of the few people that writes about food that sort of has lived it from the inside
1:24.7	as well so really excited to have her on board.
1:27.8	And we'll get to that right now.
1:31.2	But first, Chris and I are going to talk a little bit about what makes a good food critic
1:35.6	and we're not going to get anywhere about it.
1:37.4	This episode is brought you by Borilla Albronzo.
1:40.3	Think of your favorite pasta dish, carbonara, pomodoro, perhaps caccio-epepe. With Borrella Albronzo, your favorite pasta dish, carbonara, pomadouro, perhaps caccio pepe.
	...

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