History

Although founded in the summer of 2005, Rick's Food Critique actually traces its history all the way back to the ancient days of February of 2004. I was but a wee high schooler at the time, and I started to have a great deal of fun writing a cafeteria critique for my school's monthly student newspaper, the Periscope.

This vintage shot comes from a Rick's Cafeteria Critique that appeared in Carlisle High School's January 2005 Periscope. The rare photo shows your intrepid food reviewer with his chicken in happier days.

The columns continued until the spring of my senior year, when a regional newspaper wrote a feature story on the critique. The Associated Press followed suit. Then came radio and television interviews. Fox News featured me. The media swooned.

All of the hubbub eventually faded, and the critique was dealt a powerful blow when I graduated from high school. Without a cafeteria to review, yet unwilling to sacrifice the joys of writing about food, I turned to the powerful new technology known as the interwebs to publish my thoughts. I wasn't burning my way through a Julia Child cookbook, but surely someone out there in the virtual ether wanted to hear my thoughts on affordable, simple foods!

The critique continued as I finished college and moved into a professional career. Hopefully the writing even improved somewhat.

Reviews carry on to this day. Over the years they've come to feature a little less fast food and a bit more fare you'll find on your grocery store shelves, but the mission remains the same: to review the food you can afford, the food you actually eat.