in Bethesda, Maryland. Since 2001 he has lived in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., with his wife, Arlene Reidy, an attorney, but in a column published August 10, 2017, announced that the marriage had collapsed. He has since made several references to a girlfriend in online chats, and at least one column, and in his chat of June 2, 2019, revealed that his girlfriend was Rachel Manteuffel, a 36-year-old editor and fellow writer for the Washington Post. He has two children, Molly Weingarten, a veterinarian, and Dan Weingarten, a cartoonist. Weingarten has stated he is an atheist. He is an amateur horologist. Controversy On August 19, 2021, Weingarten published a column in The Washington Post titled "You can’t make me eat these foods". The column outlines many foods Weingarten dislikes, including hazelnuts, sweet pickles, and "Indian food." It stated that Indian food is "the only ethnic cuisine in the world based entirely on one spice." Padma Lakshmi shared the article and criticized both Weingarten and The Washington Post for publishing content with racist undertones. Celebrities of South Asian descent Meena Harris, Mindy Kaling and Salman Rushdie also publicly criticized the piece. On August 23, the Post appended a correction to the top of the original article piece: “A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Indian cuisine is based on one spice, curry, and that Indian food is made up only of curries, types of stew. In fact, India’s vastly diverse cuisines use many spice blends and include many other types of dishes. The article has been corrected.” Works and publications Books Selected articles See also Barney & Clyde References Further reading External links Gene Weingarten at The Washington Post 1951 births American atheists American columnists American humorists American male journalists American newspaper editors Detroit Free Press people Living people New York University alumni Nieman Fellows Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing winners The Bronx High School of Science alumni The Washington Post people Miami Herald people