CaLDRON February 2014 - Valentine's Day Special | Page 71

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