Food is the controlling force in my life. A passion, an obsession; and it is because it means so much to me that this current corruption of food as I'd like to call it, angers me. Like most things in India, when something gains momentum, everyone wants to do it. Everyone wants to be a part of it whether they're good at it for not. Clear examples are cricket and Bollywood but unfortunately, it's a lot tougher to get into either of those professions. It requires a million hours of hard work and infinite dedication and then, only if you have something extraordinary in you, you become something special.
The food industry in India, with particular reference to Mumbai has gained so much publicity over the last couple of years. Let me clarify, I'm not talking about chefs and restaurateurs who have their own restaurants and work hard at them everyday, I admire them. Really. I'm talking about the new crop of 'food people'. Social media is great and it's safe to say that I'm addicted to it but it really does, in this case, have its setbacks. It all started when the internet allowed anyone to write anything for everyone to read. Some benefited from this, their talent was recognized and they found themselves new careers that they loved. Others, regrettably wrote mediocre stuff and still thought they were good enough at it that they should make it their full time job. What right do I have to criticize these amateur go-getters? Well, it's the interenet and I can say whatever the hell I want. Seriously though, I grew up watching stalwarts like Jamie Oliver, Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston excel the way they do in their respective fields and their gift left me awestruck. The Masterchef Australia Challenge in which the contestants had to cook a dish based entirely on Matt Preston's review of it taught me just how good the man was at his job as a food critic.
Coming to that term now,"food critic". It still means something to the few purists left in the world. To a budding chef like me weeks away from graduating from Le Cordon Bleu, it means consistency, sound knowledge and sublime writing skills. Now answer me this, do you see any of the above attributes in the 'foodies' you follow on Twitter with over 10k followers? If you do, I'd like you to introduce me to them. Getting the chef label is easier than getting the food writer label, by easier I mean it's less confusing. You train to be a chef, you work at restaurants, you're a chef professionally. Whether a good or bad one, doesn't matter, it's still your profession. Food writers or food critics do not have their work so easily cut out for them. The only way they can establish themselves is by letting their readers do it for them. A self proclaimed food critic is a fraud.
Another thing that annoys me beyond imagination is that somehow, on my Twitter timeline, the words food blogger have become synonymous with the words food critic. Let me lay it out for you, if you write a blog about food, your're doing it cause you like doing it, no one's stopping you. But the day you call yourself a food critic based on this blog without any validation from your audience, you're heading down the wrong path. The interchangeable nature of these two professions reached a horrifying peak when I switched on my television and saw these bloggers, most of whom I've met and not been entirely convinced by their food knowledge, appear as food critics on Masterchef India! I just couldn't believe it. A franchise which has people like Matt Preston at its helm was now comparing inexperienced ramblers of food to the great food critics of the world.
Still not sold? Read a food column by Nigel Slater in The Observer and then read through one of those 'top food blogs in Mumbai' by one of the 'foodies' you follow and tell me which one you like better. If you say the latter, we really have nothing more to say to one another.
The food blogging scene in Mumbai has become classically Indian, one of give and take. You tweet good things about our Winter Menu and we'll give you free food and a little social media exposure. This is fine since both parties are getting what they want and are surprisingly satisfied but we're losing the main plot here, the thing that started it all, the food. SO many restaurants are getting away with serving below average food because the "critics" that come to taste their food are only there to praise it and more importantly, tweet about it.
Associations, one in particular, have made the love of food into a lean, mean, profit-making machine. They have the word food in their name but publicity and propaganda is where their real talents lie. Bad puns, old school SMS language and vile photography skills is what their social media feed is full of. I'm not saying what they're doing is criminal, I'm just saying they're doing it under the false pretext of loving food and sharing the love for it together.
Loving food isn't greed. Loving food is tasting, thinking and pondering over a meal discussing what you love and hate about it. Thinking about the flavours and ingredients and whether they fit or don't. Food is art. Like any artist, you need that passion in you. That passion which causes you to get seriously upset when you pay good money for a bad meal. It absolutely doesn't involve getting dressed, eating free food, telling the chefs you love it cause they expect that in return for all the free food and the middle men, the associations who 'hooked you up' with this opportunity. It's sick. It's repulsive. I've been to these events a few times as the glamour of posing as a food critic was enigmatic. But like all alluring things, when you get closer, you see it for what it really is, in this case, a business, a profit machine. No passion, no sincerity, just a laugh, some substandard food, and fake compliments.
I've been wanting to write about this for a while but thought about just letting it go and not let it affect me but then I see 5 star hotel franchises call self proclaimed food critics to judge chefs and I find it plain ridiculous and quite frankly, insulting. The annoyance grows when you're literally training to become a chef and these incidents get more irksome because it's like an attack against your people; the chefs. The ones who got into this whole shindig to do what they loved - cook good food. And here come these under-qualified writers who talk to them about their food without sharing even half the knowledge and passion, it's abysmal.
Lastly, all I want to say is, don't get enamored by the glamour of it all, it isn't real. Chef's who put it all on the line to give you a piece of them on a plate, that's real.
xoxo
D
The food industry in India, with particular reference to Mumbai has gained so much publicity over the last couple of years. Let me clarify, I'm not talking about chefs and restaurateurs who have their own restaurants and work hard at them everyday, I admire them. Really. I'm talking about the new crop of 'food people'. Social media is great and it's safe to say that I'm addicted to it but it really does, in this case, have its setbacks. It all started when the internet allowed anyone to write anything for everyone to read. Some benefited from this, their talent was recognized and they found themselves new careers that they loved. Others, regrettably wrote mediocre stuff and still thought they were good enough at it that they should make it their full time job. What right do I have to criticize these amateur go-getters? Well, it's the interenet and I can say whatever the hell I want. Seriously though, I grew up watching stalwarts like Jamie Oliver, Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston excel the way they do in their respective fields and their gift left me awestruck. The Masterchef Australia Challenge in which the contestants had to cook a dish based entirely on Matt Preston's review of it taught me just how good the man was at his job as a food critic.
Coming to that term now,"food critic". It still means something to the few purists left in the world. To a budding chef like me weeks away from graduating from Le Cordon Bleu, it means consistency, sound knowledge and sublime writing skills. Now answer me this, do you see any of the above attributes in the 'foodies' you follow on Twitter with over 10k followers? If you do, I'd like you to introduce me to them. Getting the chef label is easier than getting the food writer label, by easier I mean it's less confusing. You train to be a chef, you work at restaurants, you're a chef professionally. Whether a good or bad one, doesn't matter, it's still your profession. Food writers or food critics do not have their work so easily cut out for them. The only way they can establish themselves is by letting their readers do it for them. A self proclaimed food critic is a fraud.
Another thing that annoys me beyond imagination is that somehow, on my Twitter timeline, the words food blogger have become synonymous with the words food critic. Let me lay it out for you, if you write a blog about food, your're doing it cause you like doing it, no one's stopping you. But the day you call yourself a food critic based on this blog without any validation from your audience, you're heading down the wrong path. The interchangeable nature of these two professions reached a horrifying peak when I switched on my television and saw these bloggers, most of whom I've met and not been entirely convinced by their food knowledge, appear as food critics on Masterchef India! I just couldn't believe it. A franchise which has people like Matt Preston at its helm was now comparing inexperienced ramblers of food to the great food critics of the world.
Still not sold? Read a food column by Nigel Slater in The Observer and then read through one of those 'top food blogs in Mumbai' by one of the 'foodies' you follow and tell me which one you like better. If you say the latter, we really have nothing more to say to one another.
The food blogging scene in Mumbai has become classically Indian, one of give and take. You tweet good things about our Winter Menu and we'll give you free food and a little social media exposure. This is fine since both parties are getting what they want and are surprisingly satisfied but we're losing the main plot here, the thing that started it all, the food. SO many restaurants are getting away with serving below average food because the "critics" that come to taste their food are only there to praise it and more importantly, tweet about it.
Associations, one in particular, have made the love of food into a lean, mean, profit-making machine. They have the word food in their name but publicity and propaganda is where their real talents lie. Bad puns, old school SMS language and vile photography skills is what their social media feed is full of. I'm not saying what they're doing is criminal, I'm just saying they're doing it under the false pretext of loving food and sharing the love for it together.
Loving food isn't greed. Loving food is tasting, thinking and pondering over a meal discussing what you love and hate about it. Thinking about the flavours and ingredients and whether they fit or don't. Food is art. Like any artist, you need that passion in you. That passion which causes you to get seriously upset when you pay good money for a bad meal. It absolutely doesn't involve getting dressed, eating free food, telling the chefs you love it cause they expect that in return for all the free food and the middle men, the associations who 'hooked you up' with this opportunity. It's sick. It's repulsive. I've been to these events a few times as the glamour of posing as a food critic was enigmatic. But like all alluring things, when you get closer, you see it for what it really is, in this case, a business, a profit machine. No passion, no sincerity, just a laugh, some substandard food, and fake compliments.
I've been wanting to write about this for a while but thought about just letting it go and not let it affect me but then I see 5 star hotel franchises call self proclaimed food critics to judge chefs and I find it plain ridiculous and quite frankly, insulting. The annoyance grows when you're literally training to become a chef and these incidents get more irksome because it's like an attack against your people; the chefs. The ones who got into this whole shindig to do what they loved - cook good food. And here come these under-qualified writers who talk to them about their food without sharing even half the knowledge and passion, it's abysmal.
Lastly, all I want to say is, don't get enamored by the glamour of it all, it isn't real. Chef's who put it all on the line to give you a piece of them on a plate, that's real.
xoxo
D
Lovely rant.
ReplyDeleteSmall edit: it's "incidents", not "incidences".
I kinda loved the article and could actually relate to every word in that.
ReplyDeleteAll that you have written is true.
Thank you!
Delete