T-R PHOTO BY DORIE TAMMEN - Author and former Des Moines Register food critic Wini Moranville discussed her latest book, “Love Is My Favorite Flavor: A Midwestern Dining Critic Tells All” at the Marshalltown Public Library on Saturday afternoon.

The Friends of the Marshalltown Public Library sponsored an author visit and book signing with Iowa native, food critic, and journalist Wini Moranville, on Saturday afternoon at the MPL.

Moranville shared excerpts from her new book, “Love is My Favorite Flavor: A Midwestern Dining Critic Tells All.” She peppered this with interesting stories from her years as a young server in a variety of Des Moines restaurants. They included Baker’s Cafeteria, a wonderful family-owned restaurant similar to the Bishop’s Cafeterias that some may remember, the Meadowlark Room in the Merle Hay Mall Younkers store, the highly-regarded Tea Room in the downtown Younkers department store, the Soup Kitchen, a groovy 1970s vegetarian restaurant operated by hippies in the Drake University neighborhood, and even a Country Kitchen.

A college degree and her love of food and writing led Moranville to work in publishing and journalism. She enjoyed overseas press trips which expanded her horizons beyond the Midwest, allowing her to experience food, wines, and dining in many other cultures.

Her jobs as a server taught her much about workplace environments in general. More specifically, though, her experiences encouraged her to consider what made both serving and dining experiences either good or bad — for both workers and diners.

This was a great background for her next career move. In 1997, Moranville was hired as the restaurant reviewer for the Des Moines Register, a position she held for 15 years.

Restaurant reviewers are frequently asked to share their best and worst moments. Moranville described her visit to “Thai Flavors,” a rather nondescript restaurant in a Des Moines strip mall. There, she discovered a wonderful family-run restaurant where she least expected it, and where the staff shared with her their love of dishes from their homeland. Her positive review of the restaurant in the Des Moines Register brought many new diners eager to discover what they’d been missing. Moranville’s joy in retelling this story was evident.

What wasn’t so fun was having to write reviews about disappointing, less-than-stellar dining experiences. While negative reviews were hard to write, Moranville felt a real obligation to be honest with her readers. Maintaining their trust was vital. She typically dined more than once at restaurants she reviewed. Sometimes a bad night for a restaurant is just a one-night problem. Oddly, sometimes even a negative review would increase business for a restaurant.

If Moranville said that a restaurant served mediocre food at cheap prices and in large quantities, readers also flocked to those places. Moranville tried to lead readers into new, more adventurous dining experiences, and her joy when she succeeded was obvious, but not everyone was looking for that.

Register readers would occasionally respond to Moranville’s reviews with letters to the editor, also known as “Nastygrams” in the newspaper business. She rather enjoyed hearing what readers had to say, either negative or positive.

Sometimes though, it could get truly nasty. A disgruntled reader had actually threatened to kill a previous restaurant reviewer’s horse! On one occasion, Moranville was advised by her editor to notify the police of a threatening letter she received from a reader. The officer who read the letter was dismayed by it, but told her she would probably never hear from them again. She didn’t — until 14 years later when she received another letter in the same handwriting, containing a senseless personal insult.

The increasing popularity of social media and websites like Yelp have changed things in recent years. Moranville said that online responses to negative reviews have become brutal, nonsensical, and of course, eternally present on the internet. One has to wonder if that contributed to her decision to leave the job at the Register.

Fortunately, Moranville continues to share her joy, covering the Des Moines food scene through an online Substack newsletter, “Dining Well in Des Moines.” Aside from writing hundreds of articles for nationwide food publications and websites over the years, she has also authored two cookbooks: “Everyday French Cooking: Modern French Cuisine Made Simple,” and “The Little Women Cookbook.” All three of Moranville’s books were available for purchase at the library program, and she was happy to autograph them for buyers. This writer is thoroughly enjoying her wonderfully-written book, “Love is My Favorite Flavor,” and just may try some basic French dishes at home in the coming weeks.