I'm Only Here for the Food!

To those who have not been following the different blogs in Vancouver, a quick catch-up note: The most blogged about “event” in the last two weeks has been the Open House of a Japanese restaurant in Downtown Vancouver called Irashai Grill. While I received the invite, I chose not to attend, despite Sherman was trying to convince me to join them during the Long’s Noodle House dinner. After all, I had already blogged about this place some time ago and my thoughts were on the negative side (you can read my post here). Of course, since it has been the “talk”, there ought to be blog posts about it, right? Well, check the links below:

• Sherman’s Food Adventures
• Eat, Snap, Repeat
• Eat’n About
• 604 Foodtography
• Foodie Adventures in Vancouver
• Chowtimes

Don’t worry… While it won’t open a new window, this post will still be here so, go ahead, read them to your hearts content… Are you back? OK, good… ^_^

Basically, the experience falls into three categories:

• Those who went to the lunch thought it was quite good.
• Those who went to the Open House thought it was, to quote somebody, a “gong show”.
• And then there is the post from Chowtimes, which ended up being more of a private invite.

Of course, regardless of what happened, and in an “there is no such thing as bad publicity”-esque way, this PR campaign did what it was supposed (?) to do: generate buzz. OK, so far so good. And what is the purpose of this post, again? Good that you are still interested in the topic as I am just getting started… To begin, I would like to make a quote from Kevin of 604 Foodtopgraphy regarding Ben and Suanne’s of Chowtimes visit:

“This obviously wasn’t a normal dining experience, and it seems like no food blogger has had that at Irashai yet.

“All that’s been happening is the special foodie lunch, the openhouse, and this. This might seem a little rude, but did you pay for this meal? If so, that’s great.. but you still got obvious special treatment. That totally makes the review biased.

“I’m arguing the fact that food bloggers should remain anonymous, or at the very least be treated like any other regular customer, just so we can report a true experience of the restaurant. This way, any regular person can go in and experience what we experienced, wi (sic)”

Well, Kevin, I am not trying to single you out but… I did visit Irashai Grill way before this Open House and out of my own pocket – again, the link is here. However, putting that aside, I think Kevin made a really good argument about who we are and what we do, though I do disagree in one aspect: We (or at least *I*) do not review restaurants. There is a difference between what Alexandra Gill and Mia Stainsby (food critics for The Globe and Mail and Vancouver Sun) do and what we do. Everybody: Just because you blog about food does not make you a food critic/reviewer. There are a lot involved behind the scenes of food and beverage operations than just serving food. Unless you are familiar with a lot of these details, some statements might not be accurate/applicable/fair. At least, writing about it serves you as a stepping stone, as Alexandra Gill puts it in this article. I might be digressing here but regardless of us being professionals or not, some professional chefs think we are a force to reckon with. As per Rob Feenie in an interview with Sharon of Only Here for the Food (which, by the way, has no relationship with this blog, despite the name similarities. It is sheer coincidence! Sharon, if you feel there is a conflict, drop me an email!)

“The thing that I’ve loved about the evolution over the last few years of food and wine…something I was telling the students this morning or this afternoon – whether it’s an opinion or a comment about food – it’s subjective. Whether its bloggers or writers, everyone should understand that people have the right to their opinion and the right to talk. The importance of it is getting the voice out, and it’s the extended part of the media of any kind of city. Bloggers in some cases are just giving their two cents worth and sometimes you’ll have bloggers making comments that make more sense than some of the food writers. It’s important for everyone to have an opinion.”

This is the reason why I say my posts are just that, humble posts, and never a review… (On that note, you will notice that Mia Stainsby always add this note at the end of her articles: Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone).

And, now, to the other point, that of impartiality and preferential/special treatment. To fire off, I will highly suggest everybody check this article (this is not the first time I make reference to it but is a fine article worth reading it again). Is it unfair Ben and Suanne were given special treatment? Maybe. Is it unfair bloggers were invited to the Open House but not any John/Jane Doe (though this might be a joke, as well, considering some reports that people just “signed in” minutes before the Open House when this was a RSVP event)? Again, maybe is unfair. However, that is not the point. Again, the fact is that there was a PR campaign and Ben and Suanne were chosen for this purpose. After all, when you have been hanging for a long time among the top bloggers in the Vancouver leaderboard (as per Urbanspoon), there ought to be perks, right? Just ask Matt of Vancouver Slop, who ended up in TV… I am digressing here… What matters here is that, as a reader, you should not take everything written at face value, the same way you shouldn’t take house hippos. In the case of Ben and Suanne’s visit to Irashai Grill, if you consider their opinions were skewed due to it being a private invite rather an average experience, then follow your instincts.

So, going back to the original question, what is the purpose of this post? What I am trying to bring up here is that, despite we are not journalist (who have their own code of ethics), we ought to be responsible of what we write (think of that famous Spider-Man quote). We can’t just go other and write what ever we want. While I do not suggest going to the extreme with an code of ethics like the one suggested here; something like the one suggested by eGullet sounds manageable, in my opinion. Would I myself subscribe to such ethic code? Not necessarily. My professional life requires me to have certain standards so I am well aware of what I can/should/shouldn’t write. But, if you find something I have written is incorrect, inaccurate, odd, suspicious, et al, please correct me, as I am responsible of it – and you ought to do so with other blogs too. Am I trying to tell my fellow bloggers they should follow such standards? Such suggestion would be hypocritical since I don’t follow it myself at 100%; instead, my suggestion is that of us be aware of such standards exist. Past that, just make sure you have fun blogging.