Attacking Food Bloggers

It is possible I am looking at things with a bit of a tunnel vision. If you believe so, I apologize for that… However, what is the deal these days with almost everybody attacking food bloggers? No, I am not referring to personal verbal attacks – I am too thick skinned for those (if you browse some posts, you will notice I do get attacked once in a while). Instead, I am referring to the concept itself of food blogging and (damn I hate this term at times) social media… While it hasn’t broken down into a holy war, in the same sense of Windows vs. Mac vs. Unix, vi vs emacs, C vs. C++ vs. Java vs. C# or some other ideological war, it is starting to get somewhat annoying…

OK, probably “attacking” might be too strong but, as a food blogger, I can’t help myself feel that way. Don’t get me wrong, I can take criticism but, given its frequency… OK, how about I include two examples:

• An article in Gremolata about people tweeting in restaurants.
• An article in The Globe and Mail calling some of us snobs.

Now, not that some of the points on those two articles aren’t valid. For example, I do take pictures with my SLR and, lately, I have been using my flash a bit too much; however, I try to minimize disruption to any other restaurant customers. After all, when I went to Burgoo, I did not use the flash. Now, I do use my iPhone while I am in the restaurant but I do not tweet. In fact, I have asked fellow bloggers not to do so either during our meals (more on the lines to avoid the restaurant finding out we are there, more than anything else). As for why I use my iPhone, well, when you dine out alone so often, you need something to spend your time while waiting for your entree…

While those issues mentioned above might be minor, there are two points that really bug me, probably pisses me off might be a more suitable word. These are…

1) Food bloggers being snobs. As I have mentioned in the past, I hate the term foodie. Somehow, that is akin of punks calling themselves hackers (where they are rather crackers). OK, probably not everybody gets that one. How about scratching a chalkboard? Yes, it is that painful… OK, I am digressing here. More than anything else, I hate to be called snob. For the most part, I believe I am your average person and, if it wasn’t because that might be contradictory, I might even say I am humble at times. I look at food as a necessity, where I am fortunate to have relatively easy access to (not that I am getting it for free, at least I have a job that pay the bills). I grew up with the idea that my parents worked really hard to put food on the table and, as a result, I learned to appreciate it for what it is. I don’t care if it is the finest ingredient in the world, I don’t care if it is the finest restaurant in the world: if it is bad, it is bad. As an odd reflection of this thought, more often than not, fine dining restaurants disappoint me more than mom-n-pop places. It is not about romanticism – it is about expectations (and probably the hole that fine dining place left in your wallet).

2) Food bloggers being critics. I have never considered myself a critic; in fact, I have deflected any such naming, as I abhor fallacy by authority. Just because you have worked in a restaurant does not give you any absolute power, knowledge or ultimate word, as you still have personal likes/dislikes and other similar idiosyncrasies. (In fact, among the worst “reviews” I have read are those who have worked in restaurants… As part of the wait staff). I write about my experiences in a restaurant as a regular diner, without any assumptions or expectations, and that is about it. I do not expect anybody to agree with it and there are chances other’s people experience will be different to mine. The fact is that on this day and age, (almost) everybody has a say. Restaurants, be used to it. True, it might be your livelihood; however, at the same time, it is my hard earned $$$ I am spending. Understand people’s comments and thoughts and take them as criticism. If you can’t take it, probably you are in the wrong line of business, given a restaurant is a (semi-)public place. And, in the case of social media, some restaurants have taken it both ways – in some cases, taking advantage of it by inviting food bloggers to events to promote themselves. (On that note, as I reminder, I do NOT blog about those events). The “problem” I believe is that writers of traditional media is feeling the comparison. No, you shouldn’t. Food bloggers is about personal thoughts and most of us do not have professional training in Communications. It is up to readers to make the distinction.

Granted, I don’t believe these apply to me but, when people generalize, it hits you as well. That brings the question of where the bad rap comes… Well, like in a typical 80/20-esque rule, there will always be some spoiled apples in the barrel. There will always be a jackass snob who believe the most expensive dish is the best or the “only worthy” restaurants are located in some geographical areas of town (and try to convince their readers that’s the absolute truth). Likewise, there will be bloggers who are actually blaggers, i.e., writers paid or have a relationship with the restaurants and write solely with the intent of promoting them – but without disclosing this relationship. And then there are people who have jumped into the social media bandwagon and write “just because” and for free stuff. While I firmly believe most readers are smart, that bad feedback theorem still hits: that of negative feedback moves (and piles up) faster than good ones…

Back to myself, as I have mentioned above, I have a really thick skin and will take almost all criticism. Now, if you hate me for some reason, I will paraphrase what Anita wrote once: If you are hated for what you are doing, it means you are doing something right.

Tagged under: Random