A critic on food stamps has a lot to tell us

If you only read one food-related story today, this would be a good one to pick. It appears in Pacific Northwest, the Sunday magazine of The Seattle Times. The writer is Ed Murrieta, a former food critic whose income vaporized, sending him to the food-stamp line with millions of other Americans.

He writes:

“When I was the restaurant critic at the Tacoma News Tribune, from 2004 to 2008, I enjoyed a $1,300 monthly expense account, on top of the middle-class salary that financed a house overlooking Puget Sound. I gave that up to start my own business, and when my entrepreneurial dream fizzled along with the economy, my food budget — my total income — plunged to $200 a month.

As I search for work without success (I’ve applied for restaurant-critic jobs at alt weeklies in Seattle, San Francisco, Denver; communications jobs with state and city agencies; and jobs as butcher, baker, line cook and carpet cleaner) I find neither shame nor deprivation in food stamps.”

Check out this excellent story, here.

–Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett