OK so sorry but so much has been happening I haven't known what to write about - so ended up writing NOTHING!
It was interesting meeting up with Penangtuapui and exchanging the different facets of being a food writer. One thing was clear though - unlike me, they started off with the pure intention of telling people their honest opinion of the particular outlet they were visiting. And interestingly enough, found that they just could not do it. Maybe it's not in their character (they are really quite nice people whose main interest is in places which serve good food, not lambasting those who don't); maybe it's also not a very Malaysian thing - telling the truth. Not because we are an untruthful people but because we have been brought up to not criticise so succinctly.
In the UK there are a few food critics (and in this case they really are CRITICS) who take pride on being as nasty to the restaurant or outlet they are reviewing as possible. And the more people who write in to disagree with them the better. Their interest is in being read and not helping the restaurant. Like I always say, Penang is too small. I would like to be welcomed when I go to an outlet, not have the door slammed on my face ... or worse!
Still, I was interested to receive an email about a website called:
http://not2eat.blogspot.com/
which encourages people to write in about places they were not satisfied with. Personally, I think this is not a bad idea, as I have sometimes felt the need to point out certain shortfalls in some outlets but have refrained from for the reasons mentioned above. HOWEVER a site like this can be misused, and therefore must be strictly policed. ANYONE could write in with false information about a competitor's outlet - what is there to stop this sort of thing from happening?
So please, much as I know it's bad for your blood pressure, take the entries that you read about with a big pinch of salt.
4 comments:
Hi Helen, thank you for writing for not2eat. We will take your advice to filter our post to avoid abuse usage of the blog.
I guess someone has to do the dirty job.
May be the Malaysian way of being soft spoken or subtle with our criticism has led to the degradation of many of our heritage food and also encourage many unscrupulous and or undeserving F&B outlets to be accepted by society. I guess our Malaysian political climate is facing the same problem.
Any negative feedback which provide constructive suggestion are most likely to be genuine. The people should by now know how to differentiate and self-filter.
guess we are brought up not to criticize openly or bluntly. It's the culture and pride. Some people can't accept criticism in positive way instead they prefer indirect way or go around the bushes to get to the point. I do get smack when I'm told being too direct with my opinion.
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