Portrait of Craig Claiborne

Birthday profile

Craig Claiborne

Craig Claiborne, American journalist, author, and critic (died 2000)

Born
September 4, 1920
Died
January 22, 2000
Zodiac sign
Virgo
Birth year
1920

About Craig Claiborne

Craig Claiborne (1920 – 2000) was an American restaurant critic, food journalist, and book author. A long-time food editor and restaurant critic for The New York Times, he was also the author of numerous cookbooks and an autobiography. He made many contributions to gastronomy and food writing in the United States. == Early life == Craig Claiborne was born in Sunflower, Mississippi, on September 4, 1920. He was raised on the region's distinctive cuisine in the kitchen of his mother's boarding house in Indianola, Mississippi. He essayed in premedical studies at the Mississippi State College from 1937 to 1939. Finding it to be unsuitable, he transferred to the University of Missouri, where he majored in journalism and got his Bachelor of Arts. Claiborne served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and the Korean War. After deciding that his true passion lay in cooking, he used his G.I. Bill benefits to attend the École hôtelière de Lausanne (Lausanne Hotel School) in Lausanne, Switzerland. == Career == Returning to the U.S., he worked his way up in the food-publishing business in New York City, as a contributor to Gourmet magazine and a food-product publicist, finally becoming the food editor of The New York Times in 1957 following the newspaper's first food editor, Jane Nickerson.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

The world when Craig Claiborne was born

Craig Claiborne was born in 1920. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1920

  • #1 song"Swanee" – Al Jolson
  • Top movieThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
  • Best-selling bookThe Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentBabe Ruth sold to the New York Yankees
  • Top headlineWomen win the right to vote with the 19th Amendment
  • Technology milestoneFirst commercial radio broadcasts
  • Defining fadFlappers and the Jazz Age
  • Notable inventionBand-Aid adhesive bandages
  • World population1.86 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWoodrow Wilson
  • Sports championCleveland Indians (World Series)
  • U.S. population106.0M

1920 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Craig Claiborne's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19202026
Gas$0.30$3.45/gal
Average home$6,296$435,000
Average income$3,269$67,500
Movie ticket$0.15$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population106.0M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.