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The Guardian’s food critic Jay Rayner takes a mature look at the divide between amateurs and the pros on the Word of Mouth blog (yes he blogs) after a we get a slagging from the Montreal Gazette:
“More intriguing is the notion in the piece that there is a great divide between amateurs reviewing restaurants online, and the professionals taking a newspaper’s dime to do it…
…Increasingly, though it seems to me that to distinguish in this way between the pros and the amateurs is false. It’s true that there are an awful lot of food bloggers out there photographing their dinner. But the ones that work, the ones who get the readers, are those who can also write well.”
The Age’s food critic and restaurant gossip columnist John Lethlean takes a somewhat immature approach:
“Etxebarri remains the ultimate insider’s restaurant. But word is getting out,” says Oliver Schwaner-Albright of Men’s Vogue. “Find out more about the restaurant (and a great deal more besides) at Stephanie Wood’s food-related website
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
For me, John’s pieces in Saturday’s Age, read much like a blog, the gap between him and us really doesn’t seem that far. I just hope that he doesn’t feel as if he has painted himself into a corner with those comments. If you’re reading this John, come on in, the waters just fine - really. You’ll be joining in with some other fine journalists too, even the writer you so proudly championed in Epicure, Anthony Bourdain has a blog.
Neil, I get that bloggy feeling when I catch him on a Saturday too. Shame none have really endorsed blogging yet.
I noticed that comment in Epicure, too. Quite bitchy, really. And why does he call Stephanie’s blog a website? It’s a blog, isn’t it?
Is this all a case of trying to protect one’s turf? Unlike film reviewers, food reviewers carry so much more power before blogs started to really arrive. You can ask you friends whether they have watched a movie or not and if it’s good. But it’s rare that your friends will happen to have tried some restaurant you want to go to. Hence reviewers opinions are so important. But nowadays, a look at numerous blogs will probably give more accurate descriptions of the dish with lashings of photos to boot as well.
Does it seem that the blogs that focus on restaurant critiquing/dining out are the ones that are coming under fire here? As Thanh says, maybe it’s a case of protecting turf. Or even a touch of the Anton Ego’s… a notion that “us” hoi palloi who aren’t “professional” have no right to write?
Blogs like mine, which have more of a focus on cooking and home-cooked meals aren’t being slagged off as pretending to be Donna Hay (not that I’d want to be, BTW!). No-one is spending time worrying that PG’s Kitchen is less relevant/informed/valid than Vogue Cooking.
Maybe it’s the source, rather than the medium… dining.. particularly “FINE” dining has always been seen as a bastion of the rich and famous, the “in” crowd, the intelligentsia, the gliteratti. Those who are privileged enough to know enough to **insert gasp** REVIEW AND PASS JUDGMENT (i.e food/restaurant critics) ergo, are those things and more by association…
And all of a sudden, the great unwashed masses are DARING to give an opinion??
Anton and his mates in their ivory towers must be shivering in loathing and fear!!
Congrats too, ed, on the UK’s Guardian Unlimited online travel section mention.
Let’s face it, there is a lot of rubbish out there in the internet and in the blogosphere. But there’s also a LOT of bloody good writing, interesting commentary and up-to-the information.
I think blogs still have an image problem with many people. They still suffer from the perception that it’s all navel-gazing, personal diarising, of the minutiae of people’s lives. Which is of course, simply not true anymore and an outdated opinion.
However, I come across it every day. From friends (who’ve never looked at my blog), work colleagues and the various people I meet. At times I’ve taken to calling my blog a”website” - simply to get away from that perception.
Old media in particular are protective of their turf and their role as “experts”. It’s gonna change, but here in Aus - if you have a blog, you’re still a super-early-adopter.
Gotta agree Ed, Lethlean makes his money out of people who read his schtick. He is losing lots of friends by making sweeping generalisations and constantly patting himself on the back…. Therefore, he is losing money. Not my problem, nor yours.
I’m starting to think that part of the issue is that the divide between amateurs and professionals is collapsing: the better bloggers are starting to pick up magazine/newspaper work and the (very occasional) book deal, and this leaves journalists unsure of where they stand, when most journos still think that food blogging is about documenting what you had for lunch that day.
I’m a bit surprised when anyone makes a call on the lack of professionalism amongst bloggers and say, fails to notice that the NZ Herald sent somebody allergic to fish to review a seafood restaurant.
Our own discussion- debate to post about at the Bloggers Banquet sounds like a marvelous idea to me. Can’t wait for that one!
He’s missing the point of blogging isn’t he? Most of us aren’t professing to be writers or restaurant critics and in fact I would rather read a review on someone’s blog rather than trusting John as I find the experience to be more real.
Thanks for writing something about it. I was spitting nails (on the inside!) when I read this on the weekend
Phil,
I would go one further and say that the divide has collapsed! not all bloggers are journalists and writers, nor do they want to be, but the good bloggers are IMHO better than the average journalist. the writers I am coming in to touch with are covering a wider range of issues and perspectives rather than plain old restuarant reviews.
I think that the standard of writing in SMH Good Living (fairfax) took a free fall when Matthew Evans left. I barely read it now with the spelling mistakes and even at times repetition of paragraphs that Simon Thomsen includes. I no longer find the reviews informative, interesting or even independent and am sick to death of hearing about the “Banc club” great though they may be.
the fact of the matter is that a good writer is a good writer whatever the medium. printed material journalists are concerned more with outdated standards and archaic concepts of what constitutes good food writing.
as an example, under “home cooking” (for want of a better title) there is a range of perspectives that the old media doesn’t come close to touching on - purple goddess addresses how to do it with a household full of adolescents, a couple of dogs, and a budget, Jules Clancy (the stonesoup) presents beautiful food with raw emotion and intelligence accompanied by beautiful anecdotes on life, and the great big veggie challenge certainly takes overcoming fussy eating to a new level - the biddies on the taste forum (delicious, superfood ideas, bla bla) choke on such creativity!!!
the same comments and examples could apply to a range of subject matter that really should be covered in good living / epicure but isn’t, and is explored with a greater amount of intelligence online, by people who are educated and passionate (have you ever read chew on this on smh.com.au? i think, most of the time, it’s terrible!)
I could go on, but this is not my blog!!!
Look at this from Lethlean today!!!!
“Another item he insisted on (instead of rice) was the light, white, pan-fried and slightly risen bread called spring onion pancake (large, $7), something I’ve never seen before. ”
If he has never had a spring onion pancake (at a chinese restaurant) what the hell is he doing reviewing food. This is an absolute disgrace.
A food writer in Adelaide thought panko was a region in another country, not a Japanese breadcrumb.
Just give it a few years, guys. Survival of the fittest! Hopefully the good bloggers will weed the bad professional writers out and force others to step up their game. And even if they don’t, we food bloggers have something that professional food writers don’t–a community of other food bloggers that support each other and love to interact.