Food Bloggers: Going Legit(?) and Entering the Mainstream
The news that food bloggers are going legit and entering the mainstream hit the blogosphere like a new Paris Hilton sex tape. First, Restaurant Girl (aka Danyelle Freeman) is slipping into Pascale La Draoulec's old restaurant critic spot at the New York Daily News. Forget for a moment whether Freeman is qualified for the job, or whether her breathy purple prose style is appropriate for a newspaper restaurant critic's voice, or finally whether the fact that she's known to every restaurateur and chef in town is a problem.
The real story here is that a young woman who started a New York restaurant food blog now has one of the half-dozen restaurant critic jobs at a major New York media outlet with more than a million readers. Love Freeman or hate her, her ascension signals the arrival of food bloggers into the old media mainstream. Sure, her industry-friendly statement that "I want to give chefs and restaurants their best opportunity to communicate a vision" would send editors at places like the New York Times and New York magazine into apoplexy.
The blogosphere had its knives out ready to pounce. A commenter on the Eater thread: "She's a nice girl who turned a blog that shills for restaurants in exchange for free meals into a job where she can shill (for) restaurants and get paid for it by the NYDN. Mazel Tov."
What will be interesting to find out is whether they are going to let Freeman keep writing Restaurant Girl and whether her Daily News reviews will be simultaneously posted on her blog and in the paper.
Still buzzing about Restaurant Girl, the blogosphere and the food media turned its attention to last night's Top Chef episode.
I just about dropped my ice cream bar when I spotted Andrea Strong at the judge's table sharing a meal with Tom Colicchio, Daniel Boulud, Ted Allen, and the almost supernaturally beautiful Padma Lakshi. She wasn't identified or referred to in the conversation about the food. She never uttered a word. Why is she there supping with the judges? I thought to myself.
Why she was there became readily apparent each time one of the two competing chef teams was called to face the judges. Tom Colicchio told each team that a food blogger had been in the house. The camera panned to the chef teams grimacing at the very mention of food blogs. Tom and Padma kept taking turns reading Strong's simulated blog entry. Each recitation of phrases like "gummy risotto" and "host had a sweating problem," and "suffocating stink of vanilla" brought a look of horror and resignation to the competing chef's teams—along with knowing half-smiles from Colicchio and Boulud, who have each felt the sharpness of a blogger's keyboard-driven daggers. (You can read Strong's blog post here.)
Again, what's important is not whether we think Strong is a great restaurant critic or a great blogger or deserves to be taken seriously critiquing food with Daniel Boulud and Tom Colicchio. The news here is that the producers of Top Chef (along with what must have been the tacit approval of Colicchio) have perhaps permanently elevated the status of food bloggers everywhere. When Colicchio and Lakshi are reading Strong's words back to the competing chefs, what they are saying is that these words (presumably written by Strong, though they were pretty harsh, not exactly Andrea's stock in trade) are credible, legitimate, and worthy of discussion. In other words, a blogger's reaction matters. It carries some real weight. Add in the already-or-about-to-be-published books by 101 Cookbook's Heidi Swanson, the Amateur Gourmet's Adam Roberts, and Chocolate and Zucchini's Clotilde Dusoulier, and the only conclusion you can draw is that food bloggers are entering mainstream culture and infusing old media with new life.
The genie has left the bottle, or should I say the blogger has left the computer screen. Food media will never be the same.
Further Reading
Daily News Installs Restaurant Girl as New Restaurant Critic [Eater]
Critics: They're Just Like in Ratatouille [Village Voice]
Restaurant Girl Claws Her Way from Blogger to Food Critic [Gawker]
Restaurant Girl News Makes Commenters Dish [New York magazine]
Restaurant Girl Gets It at Da Silvano [(PX)This]
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15 Comments:
i was really surprised by Andrea Strong's appearance, too. pretty exciting! she was right about Dale's decor, though. ecchh. and scented candles?
regarding RG's new gig, i completely understand the issue of anonymity vs. everyone knowing your face. she will undoubtedly get preferential, unrepresentative treatment in most, if not all, eating establishments she visits. i do "get" all of the hype behind her appointment to the positon and the core issues at play, but as a native New Yorker, i honestly don't think i've ever read a restaurant review in the Daily News. i am not at all trying to look down upon that newspaper - this is a legitimate question...any idea how much stock readers have placed in their restaurant reviews over the years in comparison to other NY publications? has the paper had any highly regarded restaurant critics in the past? i honestly don't know, and i'm curious.
rebeccadiamond at 9:25AM on 08/16/07
I wouldn't say this is a necessary new phenomenon. A tonne of us have been recruited by the food press over the years or features and columns. I myself commissioned 8 food bloggers for BBC's Olive mag last year.
I would however be somewhat concerned about Restaurant Girl - I've never read her - if she is as closely related to the chef scene as you say. She's not exactly getting off to a credible foot...
The other point though is why would any really good food blogger want to go the deadwood route? As you know, I recently started blogging for the blog end of Observer Food Monthly. I get paid to blog and I love blogging there. I can do print too, but I enjoy blogging more. Just as many print journalists find the leap to blogging difficult - even impossible - I think many food bloggers would find the leap backwards equally difficult. It's a totally different style. Not so natural, more studied, not necessarily more credible but there's little or no room for the off the cuff.
Graham Holliday at 10:51AM on 08/16/07
It's interesting to me that Freeman immediately loses credibility in the blogosphere once she jumps to traditional print media. It's like people are saying, you're credible enough to be a blogger but once those same words appear in print, I no longer trust you. Clearly people still hold papers to a higher journalistic standard than websites, but will that continue? I can foresee two diverging possibilities: either newspapers begin to soften their journalistic integrity, or blogs begin to strengthen theirs. I for one would rather see the latter, but fear that the former is a more likely outcome.
jamieforrest at 10:51AM on 08/16/07
No jamieforrest - her allegiances - according to Ed - are clear on her blog. They are probably not quite so crystal in the newspaper. That's a BIG difference. Transparency across outlets would help. If it's PR dressed up as a review, say so.
Graham Holliday at 10:55AM on 08/16/07
i think this is just an extension of the "blogger-to-journalist" or "niche-to-mainstream" phenomenon that has already made its way through the blogging community. it's not all that surprising, really. but whether it is for better or for worse, i think that is a case-by-case issue.
j at 11:22AM on 08/16/07
I definitely think food bloggers have attained a certain legitimacy in the past year. Whether that's a good or bad thing, only time will tell. I do appreciate the fact that the attention food bloggers are currently receiving will not only change the restaurant critic culture but also provide some relevant hard news reportage as food bloggers focus on the current rash of food safety issues that concern us all. chefjp
chefjp at 11:36AM on 08/16/07
But look.... 2 years ago
http://www.noodlepie.com/2005/03/the_swarm.html
it was the same story....
Graham Holliday at 12:17PM on 08/16/07
Wow, there are so many interesting things to respond to in this thread. Rebecca, the Daily News holds very little sway with either restaurants or restaurant-goers in general. Their critics have never been particularly noteworthy and the paper in general is not edited that well. I hope Danyell doesn't try to pass herself off as a critic, because she's not, but it looks like she is going to, given the fact that she is going to be awarding stars. As far as food bloggers becoming print journalists, we must always remember that that potential trajectory is exactly the reason many people start blogging. They think it's the ticket to a print journalism career. I myself have found it incredibly liberating to move to blogging after so many years of writing for newspapers and magazines. Lastly, to Jamie's point, that's just what we're trying to do at Serious Eats, bring serious journalistic standards and ethics to our site.
Ed Levine at 12:27PM on 08/16/07
I certainly don't prretend to know whether RG can pull this off, but it should be fun to watch. She's a decent enough writer, and she has, IMHO, enough knowledge about food to do the job. Whether she understands that her role has changed now that she works for the DN is another question, as is whether she is already fatally compromised as a critic because of her visibility and her professional relationships with many chefs and dining establishments. I think its an interesting experiment and I hope she can bring a meaningful new approach to food writing. Certainly the ruse of the surprise visit from the unknown or disguised critic has become a tired cliche (c.f., the woman with the big droopy hat and the oversized sunglasses. Hi, Gael.).
ronfrankl at 12:35PM on 08/16/07
Graham: This is the story of (food) bloggers transitioning to traditional media, not of traditional media covering bloggers. Even so, I agree neither is exactly new news.
What's interesting to me at least about these 2 instances is:
Based on her blog, Restaurant Girl does not seem like the ideal restaurant critic. You have to wonder what role her blog did or didn't have in her landing the gig.
And as far as Top Chef, seems like it might be the first instance of this kind of blogger guest appearance, as awkward as it may have been to read from her blog post in her presence, insteand of having her participate as a regular guest judge.
Alaina Browne at 12:44PM on 08/16/07
The Top Chef thing sounds daft - if she was good enough to beon the show, is she not good enough to open her mouth. I presume she knew what the score was before she went on the show. I doubt if I'd have agreed to such an idiotic idea, but that's me...
As for restaurant girl, dunno... I emailed her and cced you. So, let's see.
Graham Holliday at 1:20PM on 08/16/07
Jamie, blogging and credibility are disconnected terms. Any Joe Blow can sign up with a blogging system and give it a go. RG didn't lose anyone's respect by moving to the Daily News; people who didn't take her seriously to begin with are the ones rolling their eyes.
Ethics and (food) blogging are equally disconnected. Most people in the game have their ties to friends who are chefs, line cooks and restaurant owners. It's a small, incestuous world and takes a big person to write without bias. Unfortunately, it's equally problematic when someone write with zero knowledge about the inner working of a restaurant and professional cooking.
Could I be more pessimistic?
strozzapreti at 1:40PM on 08/16/07
I'm with you, Ed. As a professional writer (albeit, a technical writer and feature writer for technical professional mags), it's a joy to write about food, recipes, gardening, travel and whatever else I'd like in my true voice.
The reason I started blogging two years ago was to provide a Web space for family and friends to keep track of my adventures without clogging their email boxes with newsletters and huge photos. Since then, my efforts have expanded a bit, but the purpose primarily remains the same.
Which is not to say that I don't like visitors, because I do. It's great when people have things to say about the posts or good advice based on their experience. Plus, their visits give me the opportunity to play hostess, which is great fun. Unknown (and known) visitors also inspire me to improve my writing, cooking/baking, film making, etc.
As far as bloggers going professional goes, I'm very proud of bloggers like Heidi and Clotilde who have published lovely books, and who continue to do their magic on their blogs.
Regarding the Restaurant Girl discussion, it seems that everyone is capable of being a critic. When I want restaurant reviews, I go to online sites that have large communities of users rather than a single blogger (except in the case of your Robyn -- I've eaten with her and trust her judgment). If 8 or 9 unrelated people have positive things to say about a place, that speaks pretty loudly to me.
Getting off my soapbox.
Deb
Here and There
Altered Plates
hereandthe at 1:40PM on 08/16/07
I saw the Top Chef episode, and as soon as I heard a food blogger was in the clientele, I was waiting to see who it was.. It was very exciting, and she certainly said in plain English what needed to be said!
play-with-food at 6:46AM on 08/17/07
I see it as the barriers to entry have changed or morphed. Instead of toiling in low-level editorial jobs or knowing someone who knew someone, these people instead used their own gumption to build readership and a voice, which was then noticed.
Arguing whether or not their respective voices deserve to be heard is a another discussion altogether, but one that could — and should IMO (with much more regularity) — be applied to "traditional" media voices as well.
The Guilty Carnivore at 3:29PM on 08/17/07