The Czarina spent a very interesting weekend at BlogHer 2007. It was absolutely wonderful to be around so many smart women devoted to combining technology and freedom of expression with whatever their passion happened to be.

I liveblogged the Foodblogging session but had to take a bit of a time out to ask a question of the panel that definitely had the potential to stir the pot, so to speak. I don’t consider myself a foodblogger yet, but I would like to incorporate some foodblogging and restaurant reviews into Stylefool. Prior to doing these reviews I wanted to get a handle on whatever existing contemporary foodblogging ethics there were, and how to be gracious about invading a chef’s territory.

To that end, I asked the panel what they thought about Mario Batali’s quasi-recent diatribe against foodbloggers.

Follow up:

(Let’s ignore for one moment that Chef Batali is ranting on a food blog about foodbloggers.)

One member of the panel rolled her eyes and shook her head, and one joked “Who?” The person who chose to answer the question was Shuna Fish Lydon. And it was…eloquent.

Shuna teared up – what San Franciscan doesn’t – and it was clear she was passionate about what she was saying. She explained the background of the “argument” for those unfamiliar with it. She then said that Chef Batali was talking about a specific type of foodblogger: a person who seeks out restaurants and smugly jumps on them as they open. He or she prides him/herself on being in the middle of all of the foodie buzz. They subsequently find kinks in the service on the very first night (of course) and then slam the chef and the servers for mistakes, or things that were merely average for the price. These are impressions made in a short period of time in the lifecycle of a restaurant, and these bloggers, according to Shuna, often do not provide the chef or servers the opportunity to right the wrong. Shuna’s response strongly implied that these bloggers are percieved by many professionals as having a solely malicious intent, arising from the blogger’s own need to feel superior to the staff and “hip” amongst their foodie cronies.

It was clear that this particular pastry chef thinks that the stakes are high. She ended, still teary, with the admonishment to remember that, as bloggers, we have power. We can support someone’s life’s dream, or we can shatter it. It is up to us. She gave an example of one year in her life when she made very little money – coming out at much less than minimum wage for a 100+ hour week.

In the absence of a code of ethics for foodblogging (something that I think should definitely be developed), listening to her I was already struck by the balance that good foodbloggers have to create. On the one hand, as a foodblogger, you arguably have an obligation to help people get the best food or the best service for their money. On the other hand, these restaurants are not staffed by Nexus series replicants. These are people who have given up many creature comforts to do this work. Anthony Bourdain’s crazy schedule’s social ramifications recur thoughout his book Kitchen Confidential, and it is clear that a chef’s pay is scandalously low, in spite of what the Food Network might lead one to believe.

I was moved by what Shuna said, and to all of my Citizens, I promise the following as I do restaurant reviews:

1. I will ask permission before taking pictures of food.

2. I will make every attempt to review after several visits and not review based on only one visit. I will try to consolidate my impressions across three visits, especially if the place has just opened, and two of these visits should be anonymous (i.e., they don’t know I’m blogging about the food).

3. In the event that one visit is sufficient to form an impression, I will explain why I think that’s true.

4. I will only blog about places I’ve eaten recently.

5. If I blog about a restaurant I’ve visited on vacation, I will also include feedback from other sources that support and/or contradict my experience.

#4 is harder than a Citizen might believe, because I have LOTS to say about Charlie Trotter’s, but I haven’t visited in a few years (yes, on purpose). So, if I’m adhering to my own code, I can’t blog about it unless I go back.

While this policy might mean that there will be a good amount of time in between reviews, at least, dearest Citizens, you can be assured that it’s not a knee-jerk response. I respect nearly every trade, and without people devoting their lives to their passions and the quest for beauty and perfection, our lives would be a lot less interesting.

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