To Save His Life, Our Food Critic Reset His Appetite

The Daily

The New York Times

News, Daily News

4.3 • 107.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 March 2026

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For 12 years, Pete Wells had his dream job: working as the chief restaurant critic for The New York Times. The job’s journalistic mission required Wells to eat out most nights and taste nearly everything on any given restaurant’s menu. He didn’t realize it at the time, but the excessive eating had taken a toll on his body. Then came a health crisis, followed by his doctor’s advice to “stop doing what you’re doing right now.” In 2024, Wells gave up his post as restaurant critic and set out to remake his entire relationship with food. On today’s episode, Michael Barbaro speaks with Wells about the realities of life as a restaurant critic, and what he’s learning about the joys of home cooking, mindful eating and grocery shopping for the diet he intends to follow.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, Pete.
0:02.4	Hi, Michael.
0:04.1	Take a seat, make yourself comfortable.
0:07.1	A former restaurant critic bearing gifts.
0:09.4	I've brought you a present.
0:11.8	Tell me about this present.
0:13.9	It's a six-pack of little mini boxes of California raisins.
0:20.1	And I thought we could each eat one.
0:23.5	Rizant.
0:24.7	Just one?
0:25.8	One raisin.
0:26.7	Okay.
0:27.5	What are we up to here?
0:28.7	This is something that's called the raisin exercise.
0:34.9	Sometimes it's called the raisin meditation because it comes ultimately from a Zen
0:41.1	Buddhist perspective on eating. Okay. And the world of mindfulness. So...
0:48.0	I hadn't anticipated that that could ever revolve around a raisin. It can revolve around anything.
0:53.5	We could be doing this with an M&M.
0:55.8	From the New York Times, I'm Michael Bavarro.
0:58.2	This is the Daily on Sunday.
1:00.6	I'm going to open this box of raisins.
1:02.4	Recently, I sat down with former Times restaurant critic Pete Wells for a very small meal.
	...

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