The flood of stories reacting to yesterday’s announcement of Sam Sifton’s departure as Times dining critic is flowing, and over on his blog, Baohaus’ Eddie Huang has a rather insightful take on what Sifton’s tenure has represented: food as pop culture. “While other people knocked the decision [to hire Sifton] because he wasn’t a ‘food guy’, I thought it was the perfect choice,” he writes. “While Sifton clearly has an expert level of knowledge in matters of food, his real contribution is that he saw food in its proper cultural place as a part of the STYLE section … His reviews recognized that food in NY shares a space with art, music, fashion, and film.” As the Times gears up to select its next critic, it will be interesting to see whether they choose another generalist like Sifton or opt for a more traditional food person. Readers, any guesses? [Fresh Off the Boat, Related]
