On last week's episode of Top Chef, Andrea Strong (The Strong Buzz) was brought in to give the contestants a taste of what they could expect online in the form of criticism from food bloggers. Viewers reacted strongly to her appearance in the comments on Padma Lakshi's Top Chef blog.
I just noticed that this week, Strong had a chance to respond to them.
I really feel very harshly judged by the viewers. I had to stop reading the comments. I have been in this business for many years, and have not only worked in restaurants but I have opened them, and I have been a food journalist for almost a decade with my work appearing in the New York Times (where an article I wrote was named in the "Best Food Writing of 2003"), New York Magazine, and in the New York Post, among other magazines and newspapers. I fully stand by my critique of the restaurants from last week, and I invite dialogue and difference of opinions, but I think the sort of negativity and nastiness on the Bravo blog and elsewhere is unfortunate, and I really do wish people did a bit of research about who I am and how I am qualified, before they lashed out at me. Just a thought.
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