The Assault of the Critic - The Sinner's Venom !

Food, like Sex, is an area where, everybody thinks he/she is an Expert!

 Everybody seems to have a huge body of personal experiences to dig into and come out with, just that little thing that would make the experience, infinitely more enjoyable! Most, sincerely believe, that, their insights would prove to be invaluable for lesser mortals, with ‘milder’ sensory powers, to be able to truly appreciate both.

While Internet’s reach and ease of use, gave unparalleled and bludgeoning growth to the Sex industry; Social Media, provided the perfect platform as well as audience for the growth of Food Experts, but they somehow didn’t affect the Food Industry positively.

So anybody, who could afford lunch at an eatery, suddenly, became an expert and had a voice. They could write about this all over Facebook, Twitter, or closer to home, Burrp, Zomato or Tripadvisor! These writings, sometimes, found an audience online and definitely drew some response from the Food establishment. Sites like Zomato and Tripadvisor, even gave them online designations depending on the number of ‘reviews”, like Foodie, Big Foodie and Super Foodie! Tripadvisor has titles like, reviewer, top reviewer and Top contributor etc.!! Thus these set of highly encouraged experts, became, compulsive commentators on food and Restaurants, with scant regard to accuracy or quality.

Food establishments, soon, woke up to the fact that, this could be turned into a viable marketing medium. They thus employed their marketing teams and PR agencies to keep flooding these sites with fake reviews and experiential stories. Thus, online reviews soon became ‘noise’ and could not be distinguished between genuine or “plants”. The above mentioned ‘mortals’, now became, further befuddled and even less illuminated. Their ‘mild’ sensory powers now, became ‘muted’!

 Newspapers and Periodicals, immediately, took upon themselves the responsibility of ‘educating’ the ignorant populace about the finer aspects of dining and food.  They decided to stand out from the din and employ ‘Food experts’ who would get a weekly slot and a small purse to go and experience Hotels and Restaurants. The criteria for qualifying for the job?.. well,  good writing skills and…. and ,   that’s pretty much it! These new breed of ‘critics’ were often, young 20 something’s, with an air of superiority, a fake accent and an attitude, that would evoke a violent reaction from any normal self-respecting Chef! They are usually completely oblivious to the sheer hard work and perseverance that goes into putting together the restaurant. Not to mention, the financial burden, political/ bureaucratic manipulations and difficult legal tussle that the poor investor has to endure.

Thus was born the New-Age Food Critic! The Official, Self-proclaimed Food Expert!

As a Restaurant professional, I have scant regard for these ‘critics’. I hate the fact that, these self-proclaimed custodians of good dining, potentially, could write out eloquent obituaries for restaurants, just because, they wield the power to do so!  The writings are also often, quite shallow, error-ridden and more narrative than actual insights! Food writing is often just ‘tasting and reporting’ and focused simply, on meeting the word limit or time deadline!  Worse still, they may also depend on how deep the beneficiary restaurateur’s pockets are!! This breed of food critics seldom understand the importance or even the impact of the décor, ambience, lighting levels, music, smiling service or even a tiny little gesture, that could make a dining experience memorable! Normally the dishes that these critics ‘trash’ are works of passion by a diligent chef, who slogged his backside to get it right.

I look back wistfully, at the times when Food critics were widely travelled, highly respected Gourmets, who would have possibly been to distant lands to merely sample the local fare.  The Michelin star classifications or a diamond rating is still highly coveted today, purely because, of the quality of food inspectors and critics. I am often extremely nostalgic about the times when food criticism was an art and not a ‘job’ with a deadline. A truly, good critic, in my opinion, would visit a restaurant a number of times before writing about them. They would normally offer delightful insights about the dining experience that could even be at times philosophical.

Everyone has the right to an opinion, but not to express it, requires sense and sensibilities, which few people have !

"Every Saint has a Past and Every Sinner has a Future "