I pay for the stuff I write about. I pay for the brands I buy at shops I might mention in recipe posts. Exceptions are when friends treat me. In those cases they do not have a stake in the restaurant in question. At the most I might feel awkward as I might not want to hurt the feeling of a friend who was generous enough to treat me to something which didn’t turn out to be good for no fault of theirs. Would be bad manners or churlish if I did so. Plus it’s personal and I do not really need to share it with the world at large. So I keep quiet about it.
If I have been hosted by a restaurant or business establishment then I mention that. I just wish that journalists would do that too.
Meryment quotes A A Gill and says “A.A. Gill, who was in Australia at the same time as White, is more direct. “I don’t read them; I would never read them,” he asserts. “As if I have the time.” “
Having tried to read Gill’s book when a friend gave me his book all I can say is that the feeling is mutual.
Shubhranshu Das personal tale … facts are passe
Finely Chopped Hmm I have been reading some POVs on how bloggers can afford to write what they want while publications need to be objective, factual, well rounded, ‘owes it to the reader’ etc. Most read as advertorials to me. Guess this debate would apply to other critics too – music, cinema, sports, books
Poli Gupta I would always go for the personal review
Shubhranshu Das What applies to the publication applies more so to the blogger, they are immediately identifiable and can be held directly accountable for deviations in experience, reccos etc…
Finely Chopped My take Shubhranshu is that people catch on if you are fake or if your tastes don’t match that of the reader so guess you are right. Plus you identify with the style of the blogger/ writer
Pallavi Sharma Personal take for sure.
Finely Chopped Must admit that we are a bit a biased sample here as we read blogs. My problem is with media reviews which sound disturbingly close to advertorials
A tad late, but here's my re-post as requested:
I agree with Rhea Mitra-Dalal. What kind of silly concept is a grace period for restaurants, anyway? If you wanted to try things out, you should have done a trial run behind closed doors. If you've opened your doors, be open to criticism as… well.
And I'd definitely go by a food blogger's review. Any day. Like you said, it's not rocket science; it's food! And if there's a foodie out there whose views I associate with and whose taste I think is similar to mine, I'd rather make my decision based on his/her experience rather than reading a sold-out journo's article. Hmph. 🙂
Brilliant post! made for an excellent read and answer to the Sanchez-kind. Before getting into food blogging I read alot of blogs like yours & Rushina's to know what I was getting into ].I think food bloggers are much more credible because a)they dont get paid to this they do it out of their passion and love for it b)they are the more serious ones and those that are not get filtered out cause they wouldnt feel like posting after a point of time due to again point a). So I think it's hightime Chefs and restaurants take us seriously. Or not even that as a blogger I don't care if I meet the chef or am treated like God the way the Rashmi Uday Singhs are treated at a restaurant or not. I just want to eat and give an unbiased opinion/account. And am free and entitled to do so as per my fundamental right of freedom of speech!