Quick Bites

→ Restaurants Rage Against the Blogs
Apparently some restaurants don't like that "ill-informed" food bloggers have a public platform for food criticism. It took a second read before I realized why the article bugs me: it frames the discussion as an issue of whether or not bloggers know anything. Some do, some don't--that's the wrong question anyway.

Professional editorial staff and culinary training are not required to write with insight and wit. At the end of the day, good bloggers will carry a broader audience than those of us struggling to learn and grow. The real issue is the reporter's attitude that, "high-powered chefs are forced to listen to the little guy -- as long as he has a keyboard." What arrogance. When a restaurant can only appeal to the professional critic--they've failed on some level. The real question is, "Which restaurants are cooking for their patrons, and which are cooking for their egos?"

Most food blogs are for the rest of us--those of us that enjoy eating and talking about a good meal. [Found by way of The Accidental Hedonist. Her best quote on the subject, "let me tell you restaurant owners out there something that should be readily apparent - 100% of your clientèle are food critics. It's just that only .001% (give or take) get paid for it."].

→ Rumination on Food, Class and Carlos Petrini
I've always been concerned about the affordability of organic food and the class issues that creates. Grist has a thought-provoking article about Carlo Petrini, the father of the Slow Food movement and his take on food and class in America. Be sure to also read about Petrini's visit to the Ferry Plaza Market in San Francisco.

→ Organic? Maybe not.
The more I learn about the FDA, the more I'm realizing it takes its defense of agribusiness more seriously than it's mission to protect and inform American consumers. Thirty-five specific non-organic ingredients are allowed to be included in items labeled "organic" even if those ingredients were not produced organically. That's almost as crazy as the Agriculture Department suing to prevent a Kansas meatpacker from testing all its entire herd for mad cow disease.

→ Pizza Fritta
And on a lighter note, step-by-step instructions for Neopolitan deep fried pizza. That's like a week's worth of calories and cholesterol in every bite. God help us all, and please pass a slice.