Ruth Reichl on the joys of Paris and reality of being a restaurant critic

What’s your writing process?
I am a writer who hates to write. I will do anything to avoid writing. But my new book The Paris Novel was such a pleasure. I don’t know what happened, but I would pick up my computer every day and walk out to my studio and say to my family: “Now I’m going to Paris.” I just wrapped myself around those characters.

Which restaurants are in your Paris address book?
All of Paris is a pleasure to me. Even though my novel is set in the eighties, many of the restaurants mentioned, like Robert et Louise and L’Ami Louis, are still places I eat at every time I go. Another place I like is Pierre Gagnaire. He’s the most astonishing chef. He’s had three stars for a million years and keeps challenging himself, reinventing his cuisine.

Can you share a piece of life advice with us?
The only way to stay young is to keep doing things you don’t know how to do. I don’t like doing things that scare me, but I feel like it’s the only way to live.

What experiences helped shape your attitude to food?
When I lived on a commune in California in the seventies, there were 20 people every night for dinner. Everybody would pitch in with the cooking then we’d sit down and could be there for hours, talking about everything that was happening in our lives. It made me see that food is what brings people together. 

It’s holiday season; what’s your strongest memory of eating abroad?
One meal that has always stayed with me was back before smartphones allowed you to look everything up. My son Nick was about 10 and we were in this beautiful seaside town, Sperlonga, between Naples and Rome. We had reservations for a famous restaurant but as we wandered up whitewashed steps, we saw a fisherman carrying a basket of fish. We followed him into a tiny restaurant. Nick begged, “Please let us eat here.” I gave in and it was one of the most wonderful meals of my life – squid salad with tomatoes, raw scallops splashed with lemon juice, trembling fresh oysters as lovely as orchids. One of my great joys in life is to wander around and stumble upon a place – getting lost is such an adventure.

What do you think is the biggest food challenge facing the world?
The disconnect between where our food comes from and what’s on our plate terrifies me. There’s little appreciation of the journey to bring it to us and the sacrifices that farmers and producers make. We’re not very far from our agrarian roots: 100 years ago, everybody knew where their food came from. Now there are kids who don’t know that apples grow on trees. And that’s a real problem.

Being a restaurant reviewer is a ‘dream job’ for many; what’s the reality?
I loved every part of being a restaurant critic. Particularly the connection to readers. You felt like you were part of people’s lives in some way that mattered – it wasn’t an adversarial relationship in the way it is now. When I started in the seventies, there were a tiny handful of us who cared about food. Whether you were a chef or a writer, we were all in it together, saying: pay attention to food, it matters, our food could be so good. Seeing the changes in the food world since then is thrilling.

Do you have a favourite seasonal treat to enjoy in the summer?
It’s tomato season and my go-to comfort dish is spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce – there’s nothing like it in high summer. You’ve got basil, you’ve got tomatoes and you don’t really need much else. Pasta, delicious sauce, serve it up. I like it very simple. To go with it? I love chablis when it’s hot – it’s the perfect summertime drink.

The Paris Novel – an adventure of discovery starring food, fashion and art – is out now in paperback (Magpie £9.99). 

Read more delicious. interviews with food legends including Ainsley Harriott and Madhur Jaffrey.