Trevor White (food critic)

Trevor White is an Irish publisher, food critic and museum director. Born in Dublin, he studied at Trinity College, Dublin, worked at Food & Wine magazine and launched The Dubliner magazine in 2001. Ten years later he created the civic initiative "City of a Thousand Welcomes" and a new museum, The Little Museum of Dublin.

The Dubliner

The Dubliner covered Irish culture and its contents included opinion pieces, political and social commentary. It also included reviews of restaurants, books, music, comedy, theater, movies and art. It was targeted at a Dublin audience, however it soon became available in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.^[1]

The magazine was admired; Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair described it as "a fantastic publication" but according to White it was "an instant failure", and within a few months it was close to bankruptcy.^[2] He struggled to keep The Dubliner afloat for the next eight years"^[3] before selling The Dubliner—and its 100 Best Restaurants Guide—to magazine publisher Michael O'Doherty in November 2008.^[4]

The period is recounted in The Dubliner Diaries, published by Lilliput Press in 2010.

The Dubliner 100 Best Restaurants

White also published The Dubliner 100 Best Restaurants Guide, and it became the best-selling restaurant guide in Ireland.^[5]

City of a Thousand Welcomes

In 2011 he launched a civic initiative called City of a Thousand Welcomes. It is a greeting service that sees volunteer Dubliners welcome visitors to the city by bringing them out for an informal chat over a free cup of tea or a pint. It was hoped that the initiative would attract 1000 volunteers to sign up as Dublin Ambassadors within three months. The Irish Times reported that the target was reached within 24 hours.^[6]

In July 2011, The Boston Globe reported that "one of the goals of the project… is to stamp out… cynicism and encourage Dubliners to embrace their history of connecting with others by welcoming them."^[7]

Little Museum of Dublin

In 2011, White also announced plans to open a new museum in Dublin on St Stephen's Green, and invited the public to loan or donate artifacts for the museum,^[8] to be called "The Little Museum of Dublin". It will relate the political, social and cultural history of Dublin in the 20th Century.^[9]

Works

White is the author of Kitchen Con (2006), a social history of restaurant criticism and The Dubliner Diaries (2010), a portrait of the Celtic Tiger.

Personal life

He is married to Susan Jane Murray, a noted nutritional cook who writes a regular column for The Sunday Independent and features on Tom Dunne's show on Newstalk.

External links

• The Little Museum of Dublin

References