Food critic who ate at over 46,000 restaurants in 60 countries shares his best meals

Three times a day, 365 days a year, for over 50 years, Fred Magel went out to eat.

A lifelong bachelor, Fred didn’t even have a kitchen in his Oak Park, Illinois (USA) house, but dining out wasn’t so much a necessity as it was a passion and a career – as food grader/critic, he had dined at over 46,000 restaurants in 60 countries over five decades, and still holds the record for most restaurants eaten at in a lifetime.

“I dine to live, and not live to eat,” he once said in a letter to Guinness World Records in the 1970s, emphatically maintaining that it’s not all about the food, but rather the whole dining experience. 

He spent his entire life driving and flying around the United States on behalf of the Food and Restaurant Association, grading and comparing restaurants and their service, and representing American tastebuds abroad as an international food critic – at times even running into danger like a hungry Indiana Jones. 

“When Mr Magel describes a meal – you can almost hear the cutlery clinking in the background – you invariably find your thoughts drifting back to the clock…and to dinner,” said Guy Halverson in a profile of Fred in People. 

Born in the Chicago suburbs in River Forest, Illinois, the extraordinary circumstances of Fred’s early life meant he was almost destined to be a food critic. His father, Milt Magel, owned a popular restaurant-ballroom in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Fred loved to watch their customers dance to the Big Band music and slurp up oysters and other finger foods. 

Perhaps sensing his son’s passion for the food industry, when Fred was a teenager in 1928, Milt set him up with what would become his life’s work.

“I was 14 years of age, and my father gave me one of his old Model T Fords, an allowance, and a list of restaurants in Detroit,” said Fred, in an old interview with the Journal-Standard. “He said ‘All I want is a report. You let me know what you think.’”

And 50 years, 49 States, 36 cars, and 60 countries later, Fred had officially dined out more than anyone else in the world. 

“As far as I know, I’m the only person who breaks his record 3x a day,” he once said to Guinness World Records.

Over the span of his life, Fred would eat at approximately 1,000 restaurants a year, interrupted only by his stint in the US Army during WWII. Officially, his career spanned food sales – at times serving as an essential critic for the Duncan Hines guide to American cooking, and later as a food and TV marketing expert. The bulk of his reviews as “dining champ,” however, came as a field representative for the Chicago & Illinois Restaurant Association.

Armed with a notebook signed by his favourite chefs (which was once stolen by Russian guards because they thought it was foreign intelligence), when roaming the seven seas, Fred would score restaurants based on his seven C’s: 

• cuisine “of fine quality” 
• colourful decor (specifically, comfortable chairs) 
• cleanliness
• coffee (must be hot, and of a good blend) 
• condiments (must be fresh, and served in the original container so people know what they’re getting – he had way too much sour ketchup in his travels so he added it to the list) 
• the courtesy/concern of service, and company – who you are with.

He also later added ‘culture’ to his list, referring to if the customers think of dining as an art – are they appreciative of the experience? Is the environment of the restaurant comfortable? Are people well-behaved?

And while some of his “C’s” clearly may be linked to the dining habits of 1960s Americans (hence the necessities for fresh coffee and ketchup), some of Fred’s advice is still the norm in dining culture today, perhaps because he helped add his voice to the culinary canon.

“The pleasure of dining out must be learned, and should be generated by families going out frequently,” he told the Dispatch. And while economic circumstances were different at the time, no, he doesn’t think fast-food outings count. “Youngsters not exposed to the art of fine dining are being deprived of a cultural experience and it will be regretted later in their lives.” He also was very adamant that diners must treat waitstaff with respect, and put the bulk of the responsibility on the diner not to bring their problems to the table.

His politeness and respect for others helped him in his dining experiences in America, as well as trickier situations abroad. While touring, he dined with celebrities, statesmen, and kings. He wrote letters with Ronald Reagan, was almost bayoneted by a Russian guard in occupied Vienna (saved luckily by the last-minute gift of his wristwatch), was held up, lost thousands in traveller's cheques in Jamaica, walked through over 150 pairs of shoes, and had his car engine die in a sandstorm in an American desert. 

That was one of at least 60 cars he had “gone through” over the course of his adventures, as seen in an advert he did for spark plugs:

Header and image credit: Alamy

But it was all worth it, for the food. His best meal? At the Palace Hotel, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in 1950, where they served “French onion soup with a crust of cheese this thick, a salad with genuine Roquefort [cheese], a filet mignon with mushrooms and herbs they wouldn’t identify, and a strawberry mousse with fresh strawberries that was half whipped cream. I can still taste it,” he sighed, to the Dispatch.

He also enjoyed the Commander's Palace and the Rib Room in New Orleans, the Wrigley building in Chicago (with the “best whitefish in the Midwest”), and Haussner’s in Baltimore. And he spent his record-breaking 46,000th meal at one of his favourite places – Zehnder’s in Frankenmuth, Michigan.

And at the end of the day, Fred was very proud of his work, and knew every experience was worth the hassle. His one wish was that everyone else could enjoy dining out like he does, and at every opportunity, he encouraged people to skip the home-cooked meal and try something new.

“Just look in the yellow pages of your phonebook,” he said to the Commercial News. “Every industry ties in with dining out - even the florist, the dress makers, the barber. Everybody gets a piece of the dining-out dollar.

“People think that when they’re going out to eat, they’re spending money that they shouldn’t. Actually, they’re picking themselves up by their own bootstraps.”

And that’s the excuse we needed to hear before treating ourselves to lunch. Thank you, Fred, and rest in peace.

Header image: Alamy