“Are You a Food Critic?”

A couple of weeks ago, I went with a friend to a local restaurant (which will remain un-named to protect the innocent and, as a result, will not be blogged). After ordering the drinks, I bring out my dSLR (click here for my gear) to take a picture of them. Not long after, our entrees are brought and, of course, I start snapping pictures of them, too. Now, my friend is aware of my hobby so she is fine with it – as long as I don’t take pictures of her (I did once and felt her wrath). Anyway, back to the topic: not long after, somebody walks up to our table and identified himself as the manager/owner of the location and asks “are you a food critic?” (not exact question but it was on those lines).

Am I a food critic? I will answer on that question from two perspectives, the first one is my personal perspective – I don’t think so. In fact, I don’t consider myself a foodie, despite the fact that a lot of things I do falls along the lines of what a foodie is (according to Wikipedia):

“Although the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, foodies differ from gourmets in that gourmets are epicures of refined taste who may or may not be professionals in the food industry, whereas foodies are amateurs who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation, and news. Gourmets simply want to eat the best food, whereas foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food. For this reason, foodies are sometimes viewed as obsessively interested in all things culinary.

“Foodies are a distinct hobbyist group in the United States… publishing and reading food blogs (a number of people photograph and post on the Internet every meal they ever make or consume)…”

Why not? In my opinion, I am just a blogger that just happens to blog about what I eat and what I cook. And, of course, I will visit other sites and write comments on ther posts. However, in no way, I consider myself “obsessively interested“. I have other hobbies (like playing Magic: The Gathering – which I have for over a year tried to quit, and an amateur photographer with really low-end gear – again, check my equipment link). To people who have known me for a long time, knows I have a really odd attention span – a topic I will not delve into -, so there is an odd possibility one day, I might wake up and choose to nuke this blog. Unlikely it will occur in the near future so, to my readers, no need to worry.

Likewise, I don’t think I can be a food critic, specially because this is not only about eating food but also some aspects of the operations. For example, while I do have some experience working in the kitchen, there are still a lot of other things that I don’t know about the hospitality and F&B, specially on the management side. But, even if I had, there is the writing side. In fact, given my sub-par writing skills (a couple of times, I have had to go back to fix the spelling in a post after it has been published), I am not sure I could be taken seriously for that purpose.

This brings the second perspective: Had I been a food critic or had the manager/owner asked instead “are you a food blogger?”, why should I (truthfully) answer that question? I think fellow blogger Foodosopher from Eat.Sleep..Dream…Food put it best when he wrote about West Restaurant. From that post:

‘When I expressed my disappointment, a manager was called over immediately. She asked me what issues I’d had, and I went through a (likely unnecessary, overly descriptive) rundown of my issues with each dish thus far. My dining companion, and the manager, both looked a bit shocked, but she asked if I was “in the industry”? I gave her a non-committal answer, since the question was irrelevant, and really shouldn’t have any bearing on the quality of food or service you receive.‘

Now, back to my visit and that restaurant. I told the manager/owner a fib about why I take pictures. Whether he bought it or not, I don’t know, I don’t think I care. At any rate, I stopped snapping pictures and had my dinner with my friend. So, to my fellow bloggers, my question is what do you do when asked such question? What is your perspective of the potential better treatment in the case you said you were a food critic/blogger? And, to restaurant owners/managers/staff, why do you feel the need of asking such question? If I pay for my meal, shouldn’t I be allowed do what I want with the food (which includes taking pictures), as long as I don’t bother other customers?

Tagged under: Random • Vancouver