New Delhi, July 13 -- A seafood bibimbap at Miss Korea BBQ on 32nd St. A hand-pounded guacamole at Rosa Mexicano at Union Square. The simplest and best pork taco I've ever had from a Mexican cart near the steps of the National Museum of the American Indian. A Brazilian family selling home-made relish, and two gruff Italian brothers selling arancinis and gnocchis at a bi-weekly street market in Jersey City. A chicken-rice plate from a halal cart on Broadway, run by an Egyptian, who was thrilled to bits because I bid him farewell with, "Shukran Habibi."

The big news of the fortnight in The New York Times' storied food section was that its secretive food critics would now identify themselves-before writing reviews that could make or break a...