Comments on: What is a foodie?

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:46:21 +0000

*as if* anyone on the internet even had a real job

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:50:00 +0000

Jaime– Thank you! I do this because I love food and hope I can turn other people on to local restaurants. I’m so glad that I’ve sent at least one person someplace I like!

Kelly– Hi, fellow knitter! I’m not sure why chefs would want to alienate their clientele– but if they want to cater to what they deem to be foodies, they might have a couple of problems getting customers in the door!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:42:00 +0000

I really liked that issue, but I caught that little comment and it bugged me too (found it a bit snooty). I was raised by the most accomplished cook I’ve ever met, do moderately OK in the kitchen, did a couple stints in restaurants, and I know good service. Thus, my initial reaction was, ‘eff you, pal’ (especially because 7:30 is about the time I usually want dinner and I’m a firm believer that for sanitation reasons, hot kitchen sex should take place in one’s own home .

I started to wonder if this person was thinking, ‘give me more people that are here for the food, and less for the social scene’? Because maybe I could see that, but it seems like an assumption on their part. And who knows… couldn’t that be how you end up fostering ‘real’ foodies in the long run?

Oh, and personally, love Ruhlman and think Batali needs to get over himself when it comes to food bloggers (but I heart him on Iron Chef).

Great blog!
kellymo from Ravelry

By: Julie

Julie — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:34:00 +0000

Valeree, have you checked out Cincinnati Salon?

By: valereee

valereee — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:31:00 +0000

Julie, I think that’s called a ‘salon’ then.

A salon — that’s what I want to host! Not a modern cocktail party. Small talk, Bleah! I want an Algonquin Round Table.

By: Julie

Julie — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:24:00 +0000

I suppose, Valeree, that I’m trying to be the informed person in the corner of the cocktail party.

By: valereee

valereee — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:21:00 +0000

I’d argue that communication is at least as much the responsibility of the writer as of the reader.

I don’t think the average blogger (the cocktail party variety) has any particular responsibility to check sources. Gossip away! But if they want to be considered authoritative on a subject (and many do seem to want to be more than just a cocktail party) then they’d best emulate the pros and corectly quote reliable experts instead of other nonexperts. You can be a cocktail party, or you can check your sources and quote only reliable ones. I don’t personally care one way or the other what kind of blog a given blog is, but I know which kind I’m likely to keep reading, unless for simple entertainment. (Which again is fine — if you want to be a cocktail party, go for it.)

By: Chris S

Chris S — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 15:19:00 +0000

Valereee, that assumes that when you are writing informally, such as on a blog, there is any intention to be “quoting” anything in the sense of a “source” quotation, or research. People who blog aren’t “quoting” anything, they are saying “hey, look at this too.”

As a blogger, it is not up to me to point out the particulars of the source or the quality of that source (the content of the link and the link itself speaks by itself). That assessment is left up to the reader, both in the realm of scholarly writing and in blogging. If I quote wikipedia in my dissertation, that dissertation is given less weight by readers who read critically. (Going to check the footnote is no different than following the link) I don’t assume that just because its a dissertation it is full of original reliable sources, and nor should I. That burden is on the reader, and if the reader gets the wrong impression, its not the job of the writer to do more than simply point out the source of the information, leaving the reader to judge the quality of the source.

If that is really the problem, than the problem is with the reader, not the blogger.

By: valereee

valereee — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 13:40:00 +0000

I think the problem isn’t the original blog post — most people who read blogs know that a blog is just one person’s opinion. The trouble arises when blogs start quoting other blogs as ‘research.’ Not everyone follows the link to find out what the quoted source actually is — many folks just assume if there’s a link, that means you’ve done your research. If you read something on another blog, you can’t present it as supporting evidence of your own opinion. You have to either point out that the source is another blog (and therefore simply another opinion) or track down an original, identifiale, reliable source.

By: Jaime

Jaime — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:29:00 +0000

I really like this post, I completely agree with everything you said. I think its silly that chefs would look down upon food bloggers b/c you are correct, the average customer in their restaurants is not a chef. I do not have any culinary training but also consider myself to be a foodie. I cook for my friends and family all the time and am currently on my 8th serving job, all of which have been in locally run restaurants. So I feel like even though I have never worked in the kitchen, I have a lot of restaurant experience and can knowledgeably comment on local restaurants. If a chef wants to say that makes me a foodie wannabe, oh well!

I read your blog and have gone to restaurants (ie Terry’s Turf Club) based on what you have said about it, and that is reason alone to consider you a “real” foodie. People look to your blog for recommendations and that should be taken seriously. Word of mouth for restaurants is really their bread and butter and they should be falling all over themselves to please you and other food bloggers who choose to come into their establishments.