From guides to blogs: clash of generations?
The times have passed when the food and wine critic was the only authority for those looking for a good restaurant or a wine shop. Blogs, social networks and Youtube have given space to food bloggers, storytellers - not necessarily journalists - capable of reaching millions of people with their recipes and opinions. The knot remains that of the quality of food information.
The food writer who, for a moment, stops offering recipes to his followers and focuses on the nutritional characteristics of the eggplant is making information. Is he really in his power? On the subject they were confronted Anna Maria Pellegrino, representing food bloggers, Massimo Bernardi di Dissapore.com, Writer Gigi Padovani, Paolo Marchi di Identity Gourmet e Rocco Moliterni, food journalist of the newspaper The print, moderated by Marco Trabucco of Republic.
"Food bloggers, unlike food and wine critics, are digital natives: the medium has changed, but it's not that important - Pellegrino began -. It is the skill of the writer that makes the difference. And then it is important to have respect for those who cook. I would never allow myself to go out of a restaurant and criticize with a sword. I am a cook and I know it is easy to cut a finger and not be able to serve ”. Trabucco urged her: "I do not tell for the cook who was hurt, but for the people who must decide whether to go to that restaurant. In any context, if I make a mistake I pay the consequences ”. Pellegrino reiterated that if food bloggers have decided to associate, it is precisely because they want to understand, always with respect, all the aspects concerning food: "We have a statute on the net, with very strict rules. If a food blogger writes "Today I made a brodino because I have a stomach ache", it immediately loses credibility, followers and eventual customers ". And he added: "A real food blogger must have a business plan of his own blog".
Paolo Marchi of Identità Golose then posed a thorny question: "Despite the order of journalists, on the Internet they can write people who have not passed a state exam. Before dealing with food only a few big names, held in high regard by readers, today we need to distinguish between food writers and critics. This last profession is practiced by very few because it is much easier to be invited to a cellar than to go to a restaurant to make a criticism. There is a risk that they will present the bill to you ”.
According to Gigi Padovani, a distinction can be made between the gastronomic chronicle of those who make storytelling, and the criticism, which has a different seriousness. "In 10 years of guides for theEspresso, I learned some rules. First of all, no meal is free. If you write for customers, you must bring them to the caterer as a customer. Again: never wait, respect the work of others, do not put yourself in a judgmental attitude, evaluate the value for money ". Padovani also noted that nowadays it is precisely the food and wine students who no longer give credit to the guides, preferring to inquire about Trip Advisor. “Downloading a guide costs 7-8 euro. If you take a bin due to Trip Advisor, you will surely spend a lot more. "
Moliterni, an expert in art as well as food and wine criticism: "Everyone can think 'what does it take?" looking at a Fontana cut, forgetting that it was the landing point of a long search. The elaboration behind a dish does not yet lead anyone to say 'what does it take?' but there are those who maintain that traditional cuisine is the only one that must be recognized, forgetting that what matters is an art that gives emotion and comes to the end of a process of theorization ". Moliterni also added: "Both in art and in the kitchen there are scoundrels and that's where the critical discourse becomes important. There are new tools and they must lead us to confront each other about the language we use to talk about food ".
Is it a generational clash? According to Marchi, yes: "I do not care about the age of someone who sends me an article, but is done well. On certain instruments I am total zero. It is physiological. My mother with Betamax could not go back and forth. I gave her old ... she was old, like me compared to my children. "
For Bernardi of Dissapore.com, the paper / web dichotomy is a false problem. "You have to be on paper, on the Internet, on mobile. What you write is important. " And he ended with a provocation: "Let's debunk the rule: I often don't pay the bill. Am I less credible for this? "
di Sabrina Colandrea e Federica Frola (Futura)
