Comments on: Foodie backlash

By: Food Bloggers: You’re Doing it Wrong | Prick With A Fork

Food Bloggers: You’re Doing it Wrong | Prick With A Fork — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:27:01 +0000

[…] glowing praise. Over at Corridor Kitchen, it was recently posited that the restaurant industry is down on food bloggers; I can’t imagine why. When was the last time you saw a food blogger say they had a lousy night […]

By: Lau

Lau — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:06:09 +0000

I think you’re right. Yeah, there are many food bloggers who *do* want to be professional food writers. More power to them , I say (and what’s so scary about that?). But many of us don’t. At all. Our aims are totally different and I don’t think the same criteria apply.

I’m not talking about things like stealing content or misrepresenting yourself either – those things are never ok, in journalism, blogging, in life. But we don’t always review, we don’t always critique, and I don’t see why that is not ok.

By: SarahKate

SarahKate — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:18:56 +0000

Really good post. The thing is, I don’t think any of us bloggers are claiming to be experts. We’re simply documenting our own experiences and sharing them with people who have similar interests. Folks who don’t get this, or who take the whole thing (and themselves!) too seriously, need to take a deep, cleansing breath!

By: Gaby

Gaby — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 06:12:01 +0000

Great post Lauren. I think people tend to generalize and attack what they don’t understand.

By: kitti@thescreamingartichoke.com

kitti@thescreamingartichoke.com — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 06:09:25 +0000

I had a comment on a post recently that suggested they wouldn’t trust my judgment (sic) unless I was a chef. It was full of obscenities and 3075 characters long. My friends think I’m crazy for spending hours and hours a week writing my blog (although they love reading it), but I had to wonder who was crazier, me, or the guy who spent 5 minutes reading my writing and then the next 10 abusing me about my opinion. The review, as most of mine do, outlined the positive points of the restaurant, threw in a few photos and ended on a happy note. I was being criticised for not being negative about the restaurant, somebody’s livelihood, and one of Sydney’s top eateries still to this day. Who forced him to read my blog? Certainly not me.

I’m not one to destroy the reputation of somebody who has put their heart and soul into a restaurant. I give honest reviews and try to find the positive in every visit, although you’ll get the picture if it’s not a “rave” review where the others are. Certainly, I’d love to have a place of my own one day and I hope that bloggers, diners and chefs alike would treat it with the same respect.

At the end of the day, everyone has their own opinion, and you can’t please everyone. Reading scathing reviews can be amusing but I feel happy to not be part of it. I always write assuming that one day the chef will read my words, and keeping in mind how they’d feel about it.

Ultimately, I love food. Ordering it, reading about it, photographing it, talking about it, writing about it… The list is endless. Take it or leave it.

Great article. x