This is why journalists and restaurateurs hate bloggers. All that unregulated opinion that’s happening just now because of Monday’s Out of the Frying Pan chatfest. It was my first exposure to the loathing.
First, I’m going to praise blogging. Foodfest creative director Matt Preston tonight told me that as a result of the publicity blogs gave to the conference another 40 tickets were sold.
And to blow my own blogging trumpet, it is because I read Noodlepie that I found that the I Love Pho exhibition wanted to go on tour. I put Matt in contact with Cuong from the Casula Powerhouse in NSW and so it has come to be at the Footscray Arts Centre as part of the festival.
I’m not here to bury Stephanie, a blogger and deputy on The Sydney Magazine. I know where she is coming from is her views that journalists are better than bloggers. I certainly feel vulnerable as I only make money if I can sell my words to magazines and newspapers. But I’ve yet to be paid anything to write for a website. And I may just make enough money this year from this blog to make up for the one article I won’t be writing for The Bulletin because it closed.
I want to defend the skills of editors, writing accurately to a deadline and pulling it all together in an engaging package.
But the truth is, just like stockbroking, management consulting, cabinetmaking, plumbing, cooking or nuclear physics, anyone with the intelligence can do it.
Desktop publishing unleashed a revolution and many dreadful newsletters and magazines. Blogs offers cutting edge technology that makes it simple to publish online in addition to being a social movement. Some blogs are boring and many are good.
Check out this magazine website built using Movable Type’s blog technology to see what you can do.
What did we really learn on the day? I discovered from Juliette that Tim White (Mr Cookbooks, not wine) described me as tall and looking like somebody who could be a friend of Anthony Bourdain. I think I’m flattered.
I observed that writer Bénédict Beaugé looked like he’d been out drinking the night before with Anthony Bourdain (who isn’t here as far as I know) and how many Australian panel members have been refused alcohol.
That Hugh Grant William Sitwell, the editor of a glossy magazine that is quite good but only survives because it is sponsored by Waitrose, annoyed a few people.
Chef Gabrielle Hamilton kills flies, is kinda cool, has a good website and has her finger on the pulse. (Think simple food, casual restaurants and the politics of food.) Perhaps I even fancy her a bit.
I heard from sevenish textures of chocolate Oriol Balaguer that the Llama is a quadruped (it may as well have been as the translation from Spanish was bloody awful) and that he was upset that a blog has a picture of something he no longer makes.
And that Stephanie loves blogging and is prepared to expose far more about herself emotionally that I. While I’m confused because I also support Vida who took Stephanie down a peg or two over her blogger attack.
The star of the Future Food, Future Media session was Claude’s Chui Lee Luk. She had good commonsense advice, spoke fluent English and has a brilliantly simple and elegant website.
Beaugé admitted he had no idea what he was going to do with his web presence which I quite like. The same goes for publisher Luc Dubanchet who admits his site is out of date. It is an excellent example of the worst excesses of flash animation.
I think I’ve made my views clear on Balaguer. Despite winning awards for his site, it is annoying because of the flash animation.
That leaves Gilles Choukroun. His website should be applauded for being content rather than design driven. You can read about his meals chez Ben Shewry au restaurant Attica, et le second, chez Robin Wickens dans son restaurant Interlude. All I know is that my poor French is better than the annoying rock music on this site.
I think that leaves Helen Razor (I’ve given up trying to find her blogs because it’s time for bed) who I wish would have moderated us a little less. But seeing her with Matt Preston on the podium made me nostalgic for her days doing breakfast radio with Mikey Robins on JJJ.
Check out the posts and comments on Stephanie’s Elegant Sufficiency, Confessions of a Food Nazi, Duncan’s Syrup & Tang for a full picture of the debate.
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This story has not only travelled the world but it has done so with break neck speed, all this thanks to what? Bloggers of course!!!! The old S & S reaction… Speed and snowball… you only get that with blogging!! Vida x
Thanks for adding yet another side to this every growing episode, I think it will take me another week to plough through some of those links
I’ve just linked a similar but different commentary from England last year on eyedropper – where a food blogger went to a seminar put on the by the food writers guild (do we have one, bloggers are expressly forbidden from joining the UK chapter!) all about food blogging. The bewilderment from the professionals and the debate that followed in comments is precisely why I love this medium as a method of communication. What came through so much more clearly, though perhaps it was implied but not spoken by Stephanie (who I’d prefer to have a drink with than batter with a rolling pin) was the financial aspect. “What do you mean you do this for free? We might loose our jobs!”.
Enough introspection for me now (yeah sure) I am itching to get back into the kitchen and start cooking again!
Good one, Ed! Another set of interesting perspectives. Many of us do feel deep down that there is some validity in what Stephanie Wood *tried* to say, but the vehemence (and scorn?) with which she expressed herself was enough to damage any goodwill amongst many in the audience, I suspect. As for the panellists with Flash sites… The translation of Oriol Balaguer was mostly good (I could follow enough of the Spanish to get the gist sometimes) — the main problem was that Balaguer didn’t have a hell of a lot to say. Gilles Choukroun was very much the same, probably more so. Not much point having panellists who can’t greatly contribute to a panel theme. I don’t know if they needed more briefing or perhaps just needed their PR people on the panel instead!
Clearly there’s been a bit of both (burying and praising) going on. More burying though. Stephanie’s comments have provided all the grist that this litle mill requires. Debate is an important part of being taken seriously and from what I gather, that’s precisely what bloggers want – to be taken seriously and listened to.
Agreed that Helen Razer could have done a little less ‘moderating’.
I think I love Gabrielle Hamilton, too.
Brief though the meeting was, it’s great to be able to put a face to a name.
Maybe we should thank Stephanie for stimulating such a passionate debate! It does, however, seem a little naive to generalise about the quality of blogs when online readers can pick and choose and ultimately filter out the crap ones, as we all do with traditional media. I’ve personally been fascinated by the recent growth of food blogs to the point where we seem to have reached saturation point in Melbourne but I do find them incredibly interesting and stimulating as well as being valuable sources of food goss. The trad media is probably paranoid simply because of both the unfettered growth and popularity of blogs and the fact that the information can be incredibly fresh, something they currently can’t compete with. I think we’ll be seeing a lot more integration between both forms of media with the trad media attempting to absorb some of the more successful blogs out there by acquisition in an attempt to maintain relevance and an edge in this new, online cuthroat world….the commercialisation of (good) blogs is, I’m afraid, just around the corner.
Davy, We just have to learn to live with clutter and to become experts on feed tehnology and online searches. Somehow I manage to block out everything to do with sport. It’s not that difficult to ignore things. I’m not sure we should be afraid of the comercialisation of blogs but i suppose one day i hope I may make some money from one.
Lucy, sorry I meant to say great to meet you as well. It was brief but i expect there’ll be time in the future with other food and blogger events.
Ed,
Thanks for highlighting the cat fight. As a wine blogger, it still amazes me, how seriously food bloggers take things. I think Stephanie raised at least one very valid point – not enough alcohol is being consumed!
Edward, in my case you are right a whole month off the grog. It has always surprised me how little food bloggers mention wine and reminded me that I should mention more.
I’ve just finished read all the posts and all the comments on this and thought ‘what can I say?’. Then I saw wino sapien’s comment and realised nothing more needs to be said.