A day in the life of a food blogger

Following the brouhaha over the previously deleted post from Monday, I have made a few salient decisions regarding this blog.

For a start I have enabled Comment Moderation, which will allow me to review comments before they are published. This means that you are still more than welcome to comment on posts, but your comments won’t appear immediately.

I have also contacted the owner of the restaurant which was the focus of attention for the post in question. I have spoken with her about various issues contained in the body of Bill’s email. As has been made abundantly clear countless times on this blog, there are always two sides to every story, and in this case, naturally there is an alternative side to the one as presented by Bill.

I have offered the owner my apologies for distress caused to her. I was glad of the opportunity for us to do what I enjoy best – talk about food, and restaurants, and dining out.

I have also been contacted by the Sunday Tasmanian who will be doing a story on the issue of unqualified, anonymous food bloggers and commenters, citing this particular incident to illustrate their point.

It’s a sticky subject. On the one hand, you can hold the opinion that we, as consumers, have the right to discuss our experiences at restaurants and cafes online here. Generally our discussions are just that – discussions – with commenters generally being reasonably divided 50/50 in their opinions on whatever the subject.

On the other hand you could hold the opinion that no one has the right to publicly air their views and potentially affect trade to a particular restaurant or café, as in the case of Matt Evans and the action taken against him by the Sydney restaurant he reviewed which subsequently closed down blaming a negative review by Matt.

The thing is (for me) food, eating and dining out are passions. Those subjects, while taking second, third or maybe no place at all in other people’s lives, pretty well take up most of my waking hours. Others play golf, or drink, or knit. I blog – about food. I am passionate about perfection, or aspiring to same, in cooking and serving it. I never have had an eating experience (whether it’s been me cooking or anyone else) where I didn’t mentally analyse how it could have been done better, or improved upon in some way.

It’s not a critical analysis. It’s a drive. I love to see it when people put it all on the line to produce beautiful food products with passion. When waitstaff serve food with good will and humour, obvious pleasure with their job, enthusiasm, knowledge, courtesy and professionalism. No matter what the situation, it provides me with immense pride on behalf of the hospitality industry when I’m on the receiving end of fabulous service (and food) – hence my sidebar naming Excellent Customer Service practitioners. These people do all of us a great service, and lend us huge credibility.

Blogs do have their useful aspects too, and serve a purpose. They are instant. They reflect topical issues in a way no other medium can, because they are perceived by some as NOT being the result of what’s left after the Editor has crossed out bits he/she doesn’t like or approve, or what there was space for. They reflect one person’s ideas, personality, influence. They inform on topics that newspapers aren’t concerned with, or aren’t allowed to write about.

As a blogger, you develop a relationship of sorts with your audience. You most likely will never meet the people you ‘converse’ with, maybe daily, online about the most varied of subjects. It’s the strangest feeling, but rewarding. Whether or not people read it, or agree or disagree with it, the blog is here to stay for a while longer, and hopefully conversations held online won’t be stifled.

A Food Bloggers Conference will be held in Melbourne on 21st March. It will be interesting to see what comes out of that conference. We have the following Tasmanian food bloggers representing us and taking part in proceedings: Steve Cumper from ‘The view from my porch’ blog, Maggie from ‘Once a waitress, always a waitress’ blog, and Stephen Estcourt from ‘Reminiscence of a Food Tragic’ blog. I for one can't wait to see what information about food blogging they come back from Melbourne with.