POINT BLANK What works against these food bloggers is that they think they know everything about food and cooking based on their search results from Google. I challenge them to work in a hot kitchen for 16 hours daily, turning out meal after meal and then let someone criticize their preparations. If you read the reviews of these bloggers, one often comes across statements like ‘This dish was not the way my mother/ aunt/grandmother made it’. How can one compare food cooked in a kitchen on a mass scale by a professional chef to something a lady would cook for her family in her kitchen? The produce, the quantity, the time taken,the number of people involved in both these scenarios are so diverse that their outcomes can’t be weighed against each other. The Rise of a Legion If bloggers have been elevated to demigod status, it is probably because of PR managers of restaurants who encourage them review restaurants. Most food bloggers take their role of ‘critic’ literally – they think they are playing that role well only if they run down a restaurant. If a meal was mediocre,why not revisit the place before writing it off? One meal is insufficient to judge a restaurant. Give the place and the chef another chance.
a professional kitchen. So who gave them the right to deride a restaurant’s menu?
and your wife’s haircut and said all your opinions were stupid, how would you feel?” This is what Marco Pierre White famously asked in his Recently, I was working on a TV book,‘White Heat’. In my opinion, food show where one of the chefs a ‘good’ food critic should idealis a young chap who won a food ly have worked in the hospitality competition and now calls himself a industry for a while and should ‘chef ’. To my horror, forget cooking, know the challenges of working with finite produce within a fixed span of time and delivering food that is consistent in taste, presentation and quality. A ‘true’ critic doesn’t run down an establishment but suggests areas where the establishment can Most food bloggers improve. The ‘best’ critic is ultimately the paying diner, who will give the take their role of best word-of-mouth publicity for a ‘critic’ literally – they restaurant.
think they are playing that role well only if they run down a restaurant.
My advice to bloggers is to imagine writing in a hot, muggy room with lot of noise and then ask a chef to critique your writing. Will you be willing to accept their criticism about your writing the way you expect them to handle your censure about their food?
Reviewing a restaurant or dinner is not about enjoying a free meal he couldn’t even chop vegetables or showcasing your writing skills. properly! Yet, he calls himself a It’s about being honest to yourself celebrity chef. Another blogger, who and the people who will read your earlier worked for a wine magazine, articles, and by extension, the exiscalls herself a wine expert. This, tence of the establishment you have despite never working in a winery or reviewed. ■ creating wines!
The other culprit behind this disturbing trend is the popularity of A Real Critic television chefs and food show “If I came to your house for dinwinners. Most have never worked in ner, criticized all your furniture
Michael Swamy
A graduate of Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in London, Chef Michael Swamy has worked at Taj Group of Hotels in Mumbai, Bombay Brasserie in London, Boutique Hotel Te Aroha in Danachuli, The Bowl House chain of restaurants in India and Kuwait Airways. He writes on food and travel for Yahoo! India and his book ‘The East Indian Kitchen’ won the Gourmand award in 2012. As food consultant, he managed the food team food for Master Chef India’s Seasons 1 and 2. He also managed food shows like ‘Twist of Taste’ and ‘Ravinder’s Kitchen’ for international TV channels. CaLDRON February 2014
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