I don't consider myself as a full-fledged food blogger. A J-drama/J-movie blogger would suit me better since I've been blogging about this genre for as many as nine years. Food reviews were an extension of my Facebook and Instagram posts as I wanted to write something about the food I've tried. Nonetheless, I've been less than diligent than I would have wanted to be. I procrastinate posting my reviews due to various reasons and by the time I want to get back to it, I tend to drop the idea at the end because I would have probably forgotten how I felt about the meal after some time. Besides, I didn't want to stress myself out by insisting on posting about every meal I had outside. Unlike those professional bloggers or those who are really serious about food blogging, I only post those places which are OK or good because anything nasty is probably best kept to myself. Even though I did go to a number of nice places during my Japan trips last year, I still have posted nothing about them. In short, I am just a "casual" food reviewer who is plain lazy. ^__^
As I do post food reviews from time to time, I was intrigued by this documentary and decided to catch it yesterday night. However, the overdose of food scenes seemed to have taken a toll on me as I struggled to keep awake after the 30-minute mark. Perhaps it was because I had a heavy dinner earlier or didn't sleep well the previous night. Anyway, I was glad that the movie picked up pace afterwards and the fact that it was only 90 minutes long also helped. I admit that I was quite amazed by some of these bloggers' willingness to go the distance in search of the best restaurants but honestly speaking, this is not what everyone can do due to financial and time constraints. As such, it was a bit difficult to identify with or even agree with some of the things they did. Personally, I'm not a fan of fine dining because I have this impression that fine dining is expensive, restrictive and rather not filling because of the small portions. Maybe it's just me but even after watching this documentary, it still does not spur me to explore fine dining as I'm perfectly content with my low and mid-range dining.
If there is some food for thought which I take away from this film, it would be the issue of how the self-perceptions of food bloggers tend to clash with that of the restaurant owners and chefs. Personally, I think it is fine if someone speaks ill of the food or experience at a restaurant provided that there are reasonable grounds for that opinion. Besides, it cannot be that the food can please everyone so there would definitely be people who don't like a certain restaurant even if everyone else likes it. As such, to have both positive and negative comments is natural. However, I think what is evident from the perspective of the restaurant owners and chefs is that some food bloggers may have written strongly-worded reviews despite a lack of understanding of the food, local practices or cooking methods thus giving the impression that they are ill-qualified to be dishing out such opinions. As the Japanese chef at Kikunoi in Kyoto said, if the people who say anything without having the necessary knowledge are ridiculous, those people who believe blindly what the food bloggers say are also as bad as the bloggers. On the other hand, bloggers think that they are entitled to their own views, be it positive or negative. It seems like there is still a gap to be bridged between both sides as bloggers become more knowledgeable about the topic of interest while restaurants can tap on this new group of influencers to do more for their businesses and improve in lacking areas.
If you are interested in the food blogging culture, you may wish to check out this film at Golden Village (Singapore) as it is showing since 16 July.
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