Page 21 - foodservice news magazine Nov-Dec 2018

RANT
21
PROS AND CONS
WITH RESTAURANT AWARDS SEASON OVER FOR ANOTHER YEAR, ANTHONY HUCKSTEP CONSIDERS THE ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF AND AGAINST THE IDEA OF THE 'PEOPLE'S CHOICE'.
Anthony Huckstep is the national restaurant critic for delicious. and a food writer for The Australian, GQ Australia and QANTAS.
Imay have bad taste in music, (Entombed anyone?), but when it comes to food that's
another matter. The strength
of countless professional food writers and critics across the land is basically down to digging their own graves with their teeth. Their worth, or value, lies in the vast amounts of eating experiences they’ve encountered, giving them a real sense of not only a particular venues worth, but how it fits in the context of the industry as a whole.
The populace on the other hand should never be accused of having good taste. Have you read any of the reviews on TripAdviser?
Those keyboard warriors are nuttier than a port-a-loo at a peanut festival.
People’s choice awards are like the Logies of food. They’re actually only in existence to make people feel connected and keep them interested. And if you think the Logies are a shining beacon celebrating our stars, google Tom Gleeson’s campaign to get Grant Denyer on the winning podium for the
Gold Logie. Denyer took it in his stride, but the whole ordeal revealed the farce that populace voted awards deliver.
I’ve been involved in most food awards in Australia at one time or another, and nearly all have a people’s choice attached to them. If you’ve ever been a recipient of one good luck to you, but rarely do they reflect what’s really going on in the food game. Social media, ie. restaurants that have a lot of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter followers often get the cake and eat it too. But having online friends doesn’t make a business great. And nor does your local clientele championing their local to victory.
It’s all warm and fuzzy to get your little plaque on the wall that locals can come and chew the cud over, but it’s kind of like getting a four cent fuel voucher on the back of your shopping receipt. That’s right, useless because you’re preaching to the converted.
I’m not suggesting the hoi polloi don’t deserve a voice, all I’m saying is they can set
a dangerous precedent and reward mediocrity.
I’ve been involved in so many awards where the finalists are voted by the public, on numerous occasions for all sorts of means, and it’s our job to pick the best from the list. It can be like picking the most polished turd from a bucket. Choosing the least horrible is not the way to reward.
And here in lies the rub of people’s choice. It’s great to get
a nod from the populace, but most people don’t venture much beyond a five kilometre radius
of their residence to eat. Sure we do on occasion, but not often. When it comes to people’s choice the voters usually champion their local – which is lovely,
but what ends up happening
is we confuse ‘popular’ with ‘best’ – mostly because they’re understanding of good is based on too few eating experiences. It’s all about access – and that’s the point of the food pros – to tread the boards and find the best for the rest of us who are busy doing other things.
Popular is fine, but it’s not, and never will be, the ‘best’.