Off Topic: Seeing the world through the eyes of Jonathan Gold Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Off Topic: Seeing the world through the eyes of Jonathan Gold Consider the falafel. Feature by Christian Donlan Features Editor Updated on 19 Oct 2021 If people ever ask what I do for a living - and after I've navigated the follow-up issue of whether I play games all day; I was once asked that while having a lumbar puncture - I generally say that I spend a lot of time thinking about how to describe things. Games are complicated pieces of technology and thought, and, in truth, anyone can have an opinion about something. So description seems to be the bit of the job that I find the most challenging and rewarding: what is something trying to do and how does it feel? What is it? I'm not brilliant at this - which is why it's both challenging and rewarding. But I am always on the look out for people who do this description business well. And sooner or later, I always turn to Counter Intelligence, the only book from Jonathan Gold, the late, great restaurant critic from Los Angeles and the only person to ever win a Pulitzer from writing about food. Even before reading any of his work, Gold struck me as an enormously appealing man. At first glance, with his Sipowicz build and frazzled hair, his fondness for old leather jackets, he could be mistaken for a roadie, perhaps for some legacy US band like Santana. On second look there is something almost aristocratic in that face, something of George the Fourth, or perhaps even General Washington. Gold travelled around LA in his pick-up truck finding the best in what he called "ethnic food". He reviewed the big places when he had to, but he was happiest, it seems, in a mini-mall, eating great Ethiopian dishes, say, and telling the rest of the world about what he had discovered. Subscribe to Eurogamer to read this article Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More Features Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Feature What games get wrong about horses And what they could do about it. 28 Feature Shout out to all the Overwatch supports - where would we be without you? Merci. 55 Latest Articles Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 4 Genshin Impact Path of Gleaming Jade dates, login event rewards Including other anniversary rewards and how to claim them. Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store