tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/dining-7643/articlesDining – The Conversation2023-07-06T17:19:16Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2092012023-07-06T17:19:16Z2023-07-06T17:19:16ZHow fine dining in Europe and the US came to exclude immigrant cuisine and how social media is pushing back – podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535997/original/file-20230706-27-n7njvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=94%2C0%2C5656%2C3837&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Immigrant chefs feel more constrained in how their food is valued. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/chefs-finishing-dishes-at-kitchen-before-serving-royalty-free-image/495199645?phrase=upscale+food+chef&adppopup=true">Klaus Vedfelt/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The history of restaurants, food and, especially, fine dining, is deeply tied to the history of immigration to the U.S. and French cultural power in the early 20th century. Not surprisingly, the story that leads to Yelp and Anthony Bourdain is not without its share of racism that the modern food world and its tastemakers are still grappling with today.</p>
<p>In this episode of The Conversation Weekly, we speak to three experts who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=M9A2u_YAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">study food culture</a> and <a href="https://gilliangualtieri.com/">fine dining</a> about the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=QV8nVH4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">perceptions and definitions</a> of “good food.” We explore how food trends are deeply tied to immigration, how the history of Western culinary techniques limits the creativity and authenticity of modern restaurants and how social media compares with the Michelin Guide as a tool in the quest for good food. </p>
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<h2>The definition of ‘good food’</h2>
<p>Between ever-increasing culinary skill and creativity, the boom in organic and seasonal ingredients, a growing interest in ethnic food and flavors, and a glut of food media – from the Michelin Guide and Zagat to Instagram and TikTok – there has arguably never been a better time to eat, drink and appreciate a truly good meal.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A red book." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Michelin Guide was first published in 1900.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guidem_michelin_1900.jpg#/media/File:Guidem_michelin_1900.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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<p>What defines “good food”? This is a subjective question in many ways, but a chef’s career can single-handedly be made or broken by a review in the <a href="https://guide.michelin.com/en">esteemed pages of the Michelin Guide</a> or The New York Times food section. Even in the world of social media, some restaurants consistently rise to the top of Yelp and Instagram, so there is some consensus idea of what “good food” is.</p>
<p>To understand where the ideas that define good food come from, it’s helpful to understand how the modern restaurant came to be. “At the turn of the 20th century, you have Georges Auguste Escoffier, who, with his friend Ritz, opened the Ritz-Carlton,” explains Gillian Gualtieri, a sociologist at Barnard College in New York City. “The Ritz becomes this training ground for European cooks and chefs, and you then send them out to these glamorous hotels all over Europe to cook for the European and American elites.” </p>
<p>To this day, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-haute-cuisine-to-hot-dogs-how-dining-out-has-evolved-over-200-years-and-is-innovating-further-in-the-pandemic-155939">techniques and even the language developed by Escoffier</a> are taught in culinary schools across the world. </p>
<p>As the world urbanized, more and more people began to eat at restaurants, and the concept of the food critic emerged. These critics wield power. When Gualtieri asked 120 New York chefs whose opinions mattered most, they most valued the opinions of their peers – and the Michelin Guide.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A taco truck in New York City." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Immigrant food often gains popularity before becoming prestigious as an immigrant community becomes enmeshed in a country’s culture.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-wearing-face-masks-stand-in-line-outside-timo-tacos-news-photo/1260768765?adppopup=true">Noam Galai/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Immigration and ethnic food</h2>
<p>The Michelin Guide and many of its peers in the legacy food media have historically been gatekeepers of fine dining, focusing on white, Eurocentric restaurants and in many ways controlling what kinds of cuisine are worth paying a premium for. But ethnic food – whether it is Mexican, Japanese or, in the past, Italian food – is a massive part of the U.S. food scene. </p>
<p>As Krishnendu Ray, a professor of food studies at New York University in the U.S., explains, the perceptions of immigrant food are closely <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2017.17.4.141">tied to perceptions of the immigrants themselves</a>. </p>
<p>“What you see is there’s a kind of a early popularity of immigrant foods, first inside the community, and then slowly it spreads outward. Other people start eating, journalists are eating and writing about it, but it does not acquire prestige,” Ray explains. “That changes over time, depending on which immigrant group is coming into the U.S. in the largest numbers and which cohort is slowly moving up in terms of upward mobility.” </p>
<p>After looking at prices of various types of cuisine over the decades and comparing it with immigration trends, Ray found a consistent pattern. Immigrant foods are first considered cheap and not prestigious when lots of immigrants move to the U.S. but slowly gain clout as the people themselves become more culturally established. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A top-down photo of a plate of food." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Instagram gaze is a normalized style of posting about food that many food influencers on Instagram use.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/fig-toast-with-edible-flowers-directly-above-view-royalty-free-image/1319831755?phrase=fine+dining&adppopup=true">Alexander Spatari/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Social media influencers as food critics</h2>
<p>In an era of social media, many people are now turning to Yelp, TikTok or Instagram to figure out where they want to get a meal. Zeena Feldman is a professor of digital culture at King’s College in London, in the U.K. She was interested in seeing whether Instagram viewed good food in the same Eurocentric ways as the Michelin Guide, or whether, as she explains it, “because anyone can have a voice on Instagram, underrepresented cuisines from different parts of the world and from less expensive price points might be getting more of the attention there.”</p>
<p>To answer this question, Feldman looked at the reviews of Instagram food influencers in London and New York and then compared them with the Michelin Guide. </p>
<p>“Culturally and economically, Instagram food criticism is a lot more inclusive than Michelin,” says Feldman. “So you have many more cuisines, and especially cuisines outside of the Global North, being represented.” </p>
<p>But Instagram wasn’t completely without flaws. “I started out thinking of Instagram food culture as being something created by amateurs, by just people as obsessed with food as I might be,” says Feldman. “What I found is actually these are professionals, either people making money from promoting content or people aspiring to make money from promoting content. And so what that means is that there’s a certain standardization to how food is being represented on Instagram.” </p>
<p>Most people have seen what Feldman has termed the “Instagram gaze.” These are the overhead shots of well-lit food that, Feldman notes, almost never feature any people. </p>
<p>Feldman thinks that, with so much food media out there, there is more opportunity to find good food, but the definition of that, as she puts it, is “food that you actually enjoy eating.”</p>
<hr>
<p>This episode was produced and written by Dan Merino and Katie Flood. Mend Mariwany is the executive producer of The Conversation Weekly. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.</p>
<p>You can find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>. </p>
<p>Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209201/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zeena Feldman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gillian Gualtieri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Krishnendu Ray does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Immigrant chefs and cuisines are often constrained by Eurocentric definitions of what constitutes good food. As immigrant groups become more assimilated into US culture, so does their food.Daniel Merino, Associate Science Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationNehal El-Hadi, Science + Technology Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1093682019-01-17T11:39:50Z2019-01-17T11:39:50ZWant better tips? Go for gold<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253954/original/file-20190115-152992-1ike1f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers studied whether subtly being exposed to different colors could change tipping behavior.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/leather-credit-card-folder-customer-billing-438243961?src=gAzvG8jCKLrx3D78NA8y0Q-1-33">Anutr Yossundara/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Although tipping is generally thought to be a voluntary payment meant to express gratitude to a service worker, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053535704001027">the history of tipping</a> suggests that it originated as a way for people to flaunt their wealth.</p>
<p>But what if diners could be made to feel wealthy? Would they leave bigger tips? And could simple exposure to a color do the trick?</p>
<p>My colleagues and I recently completed <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11747-016-0508-3">a study</a> that explored how the color gold could affect tipping.</p>
<h2>Coloring consumer behavior</h2>
<p>Many studies have documented how colors influence consumer behavior. </p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/mar.4220090502">For example</a>, customers who shop in a store that’s decorated with blue, cool colors are more likely to linger longer, buy something and spend more than shoppers who frequent a store with red, warm-colored decor. <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1984-10983-001">Some researchers</a> theorize that this happens because cooler colors make shoppers feel more relaxed and pleasant. Warmer colors, on the other hand, are more stimulating and arousing.</p>
<p>In a clothing store, these stimulating colors might hurt store sales because they could make customers feel rushed. But in a fast food restaurant – a business that wants customers in and out – stimulating colors like red, yellow and orange might hasten table turnover and increase customer traffic. There’s probably a reason <a href="https://www.nrn.com/sites/nrn.com/files/styles/article_featured_standard/public/uploads/2016/06/mcdsignlogopromo_1.jpg?itok=kh3mWjxw">McDonald’s</a>, <a href="https://c8.alamy.com/comp/DKXTW6/wendys-restaurant-sign-florida-usa-DKXTW6.jpg">Wendy’s</a>, <a href="https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/fa/0faec5cc-2316-5e24-93a4-266c3927b10c/53b48476e7093.image.jpg?resize=400%2C266">Burger King</a>, <a href="https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/0b/ef/33/00/outside-sign.jpg">In-N-Out Burger</a>, <a href="https://2yvxip346v4g11b8zt1rvr1m-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Sonice-Drive-In-Sign.jpg">Sonic</a> and <a href="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/84/228744053_00e3a77d3a.jpg">Carl’s Jr.</a> all use similar red and yellow color schemes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254175/original/file-20190116-163265-c8umt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254175/original/file-20190116-163265-c8umt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254175/original/file-20190116-163265-c8umt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254175/original/file-20190116-163265-c8umt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254175/original/file-20190116-163265-c8umt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254175/original/file-20190116-163265-c8umt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254175/original/file-20190116-163265-c8umt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fast food restaurants often use a red and yellow color scheme.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/adamwilson/5121992564">Adam Wilson/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>A handful of studies have also looked at whether colors could influence the size of waitstaff tips. They found that the size of tips can be influenced by the color of the waitstaff’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053535712000327">hair</a>, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1096348013504001?casa_token=vv5_F0hS_wYAAAAA%3AJe4NXe5Seo21fW23_g7panOi8rl5Pjj3HNfwAcDF2dfBUmYIlpVDiIlc726dMWHUJ9j2gEx3Ssn8">clothing</a> and even <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431912000497">lipstick</a> (go for red, not pink).</p>
<h2>A golden rule for waitstaff?</h2>
<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/20/3/478/1839014">Studies</a> have shown that tipping is more prevalent in countries where achievement or status is highly valued. And despite conventional wisdom that the amount of the tip is determined by the quality of service, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053535700000627">several studies</a> have shown that there’s a weak relationship between the tip amount and the servers’ efforts. Instead, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/20/3/478/1839014">a couple of studies</a> have found that the tipper’s socioeconomic status or mood has a meaningful relationship to tip size.</p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11747-016-0508-3">In our study</a>, we gave diners their bill in either a gold folder or a black folder. When we compared the tip amounts, we found that customers who received their bills in the gold folder left, on average, 21.5 percent tips, whereas those who received the black folder left 18.9 percent tips. </p>
<p>Most bill folders are black. What if people simply tipped more because a gold folder was something novel? So we tested the impact of an orange-colored bill folder, only to find that this didn’t lead to bigger tips. </p>
<p>The effect of gold goes beyond the bill folder. We created a mock restaurant and found that customers who were seated at tables with gold tablecloths left larger tips than those who were seated at tables with white tablecloths. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253947/original/file-20190115-152971-l380in.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253947/original/file-20190115-152971-l380in.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253947/original/file-20190115-152971-l380in.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253947/original/file-20190115-152971-l380in.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253947/original/file-20190115-152971-l380in.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253947/original/file-20190115-152971-l380in.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253947/original/file-20190115-152971-l380in.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Feeling high status yet?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/place-setting-posh-restaurant-65937544?src=TkspjMxXrMPf09lKy2JpQA-1-40">Kondor83/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>Why might this be the case? The color gold has long signified something special, precious and superior. It can subtly connote status, which is why companies will use gold when marketing their rewards programs – think Starbucks’ and American Express’ Gold Card. </p>
<p>It seems that mere exposure to the color makes customers feel like they’re in a restaurant that caters to high-status people. And when people feel like they’re wealthier, they tend to be more inclined to flaunt their wealth.</p>
<p>Of course, no amount of gold decor can make up for a messed-up order.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109368/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Na Young Lee received financial support for her research in this article from Marketing and Supply Chain Management Department at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville. </span></em></p>Studies show a weak relationship between tip amounts and quality of service. But the color gold seems to have a way of making diners feel wealthier – and more generous.Na Young Lee, Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1007162018-08-15T12:46:02Z2018-08-15T12:46:02ZThe big BBQ debate: how best to fuel your outdoor feast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232075/original/file-20180815-2891-11oih4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bbq-cleaning-griil-on-fire-before-1154160085?src=14sOm5Ak95Olb4_sU_h8sg-2-1">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The smoky aroma of a barbecue is a familiar smell on warm sunny evenings around the world. In countries like Australia, the “barbie” is such an intrinsic part of the culture that open public spaces are often equipped with permanent barbecues to enable and encourage communal cooking. In cooler climates like the UK, people make do with having their own private barbecue in the garden – or a portable or disposal version for the beach or park. </p>
<p>But is a barbecue a healthy way to cook? And which type of barbecue – gas or coal – is best to cook on for taste and flavour?</p>
<p>With respect to health, there are two things to think about: first, ensuring the food is <a href="https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/barbecues">safely cooked through</a>, and second, avoiding the production of unhealthy chemicals during the cooking process. </p>
<p>Ensuring a high and even temperature for the right amount of time is essential to cook the food properly, and kill any bacteria it might contain which could make us unwell. Doing this is easier with a gas or electric barbecue, where the temperature can be easily controlled. </p>
<p>When cooking over charcoal, it can be more difficult to get the temperature right. If it is too high, the food can be charred but dangerously uncooked in the centre. Or if the charcoal is not burning evenly, there may be cold spots on the grill, leading to uneven cooking. </p>
<p>A charcoal barbecue with a temperature gauge, or which allows you to vary the amount of air getting to the coals can help. To make extra sure, think about using a <a href="https://www.foodsafety.gov/blog/thermometer.html">food probe thermometer</a> to check that high risk foods such as meat (especially reformed products such as kebabs and burgers) are cooked through to the middle.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232080/original/file-20180815-2897-10zig1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232080/original/file-20180815-2897-10zig1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232080/original/file-20180815-2897-10zig1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232080/original/file-20180815-2897-10zig1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232080/original/file-20180815-2897-10zig1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232080/original/file-20180815-2897-10zig1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232080/original/file-20180815-2897-10zig1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Cooking on gas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/step-by-grilling-new-york-strip-1128412442?src=KZ-pOJcYTFh939TK1Dtpyg-5-54">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Boot leather BBQs</h2>
<p>So, hopefully at this stage, you and your guests can expect food that is at least safe to eat. The next step is to cook it so the texture is right. This will depend on what you are trying to cook. If it is a meat with lots of connective fibres in it, like brisket or stewing steak, the barbecue is probably not the best place to be cooking it. This type of meat needs to be <a href="https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/brisket">cooked slowly</a> to help break down the tough white collagen and convert it into melt-in-the-mouth meat. </p>
<p>Thin steaks without these fibres, like sirloin, are best cooked quickly, at high temperatures, whether you like them rare, medium or well done. But again it comes down to control, which is easier with a gas or electric barbecue. The more even the temperature, the easier it is to cook the meat just how you like it.</p>
<p>With respect to flavour, some favour the smoke you get from charcoal. But that is only probably important if things are cooked slowly. Otherwise, the key factor is likely to be heat. This area is a balancing act, not just because the chemicals produced from the charcoal sizzle have been associated with an <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/diet/cooked-meats-fact-sheet">increased risk of cancer</a>, but also because too many spits and flames can leave too much of a sooty coating on the food you have been carefully marinading and cooking. </p>
<p>That said, sizzling can certainly add smoky flavours, and perhaps this is the one area where real coals are the best option. But considering the variability in temperature, and the risk of over- or under-cooking, on balance, you are probably better off playing safe with gas or electric for reliable heat and safely-cooked foods. </p>
<h2>Smoke Signals</h2>
<p>But cooking on electric or gas doesn’t have to be dull. It is still possible to introduce smokey flavours with marinades which can also help improve the texture of meat. Fruits such as pineapple and kiwi can tenderise meat, as can the acid in vinegars. Other tasty flavours can be obtained from adding garlic, chilli and other spices. </p>
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<p>It is even possible that some marinades can <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/92/4/996/4597632">reduce the production</a> of harmful chemicals during cooking.</p>
<p>With gas barbecues, there are also ways to add smokey flavours by using specific wood chips – such as applewood, mapple, hickory or mesquite. The key here is not to overdo it, as smoking the food too much will make it taste bitter and unpleasant. But with the increasing popularity of smoked foods, many gas barbecues now come with a special smoking box. These also can be bought separately, or even improvised from aluminium takeaway containers. Just make sure the lid is metal, too, as paper or cardboard will just go up in smoke… </p>
<p>Overall, the key factors which will affect the success (and healthiness) of your barbecue are the amount of heat you generate, the amount of control you have over the heat, and the amount of smoke. But in cooler countries like the UK, the biggest factor is often the weather – as the simple act of lighting a barbecue, whether it’s gas or electric or charcoal, often leads to just one disappointing result: the appearance of a rain cloud.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100716/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Duane Mellor is a director, council member and spokesperson of the British Dietetic Association.</span></em></p>A nutritionist’s expert view on barbecue success.Duane Mellor, Senior Lecturer, Coventry UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/749152017-04-24T23:24:35Z2017-04-24T23:24:35ZFor restaurants looking to boost profits, it’s often about everything but the food<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166545/original/file-20170424-12629-d1k18a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lighting, layout and music can determine whether you'll be grabbing a quick bite or staying a while.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/626883758?src=HigEuKs64_emuN7Q3n1wPQ-1-56&size=huge_jpg">'Diners' via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Staying one step ahead of the competition in the hypercompetitive restaurant industry requires more than simply tinkering with the menu. Serving tasty food doesn’t do much good if customers don’t stay long enough – or never even walk through the door in the first place.</p>
<p>People in the restaurant business have long understood that design and ambiance matter a great deal, and studies by <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8385870_Effect_of_ambience_on_food_intake_and_food_choice">environmental psychologists</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15325695">other social scientists</a> confirm that the shrewd manipulation of a restaurant’s physical environment can boost profits.</p>
<p>Consequently, a perpetual arms race of restaurant redesign has become a defining feature of many American restaurant chains.</p>
<p>The scramble has been especially frantic in recent years, with fast food giants KFC, Arby’s, Panera and Subway <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fast-food-chain-redesign-is-trending-2016-1">all revamping their interiors</a>, along with casual dining chains such as <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-09/olive-gardens-redesign-bids-farewell-to-fake-old-world-charm">Olive Garden</a> and <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/leticiamiranda/tgi-fridays-is-trying-a-new-restaurant-design-to-bring-in-yo?utm_term=.ljbdVjnjW#.prwow0v04">T.G.I.Friday’s</a>.</p>
<p>This attention to detail matters, with studies showing that everything from the color of the lighting to the appearance of the waitstaff can influence the dining behavior of patrons.</p>
<h2>Sometimes it is all about the presentation</h2>
<p>In 2010, Cassandra Smith, a 20-year-old Hooters waitress who was 5'8" and weighed 132 pounds, was told by her boss that she needed to lose weight if she wanted to keep her job. <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/05/rare_michigan_law_may_help_wai.html">Smith ended up suing Hooters for weight discrimination</a> and settled out of court.</p>
<p>But a <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0013916515621108">2013 study</a> suggests that when restaurants discriminate against overweight employees, it may not be just a public relations problem – it could actually undermine the bottom line.</p>
<p>A team of researchers observed approximately 500 people as they ate in 60 different restaurants. They assessed the body mass index (BMI) and body type of every diner and his or her server, keeping track of the number of appetizers, soups, salads, main courses, desserts and beverages each ordered.</p>
<p>When it came to the unhealthiest part of the meal – alcoholic beverages and desserts – customers tended to order significantly more when they had an overweight server.</p>
<p>The authors hypothesized that interacting with an overweight person in a restaurant created what psychologists call a “situational social norm.” In other words, the overweight waiter changed social expectations, more or less giving diners a license to indulge themselves. (<a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0013916515621108">The authors admitted</a>, however, that this was purely speculation on their part.)</p>
<p>The weight of the waitstaff is just one of many situational triggers that influence what we order at restaurants. </p>
<p>Props can play a role; for example, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15378020.2011.548221">nautical decor</a> makes us more likely to order seafood. We’re also inclined to <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950329312001322">choose drinks that are related to the theme of the bar</a>, whether it’s ordering whiskey in an Irish pub or having a glass of red wine at an Italian restaurant. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027843190600003X">Another study</a> indicated that bars that play drinking songs get their customers to order more drinks.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Want customers to shell out more for drinks? Cue up Kiss’ ‘Cold Gin.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Companies consciously adopt color schemes they believe will influence their customers. <a href="https://www.qsrmagazine.com/store/mind-over-matter">Green</a> is thought to facilitate the ordering of salads and other healthy foods, while the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8385870_Effect_of_ambience_on_food_intake_and_food_choice">color of coffee pots</a> can influence perceptions of the strength and aroma of coffee. Specifically, coffee in blue pots can seem too mild, while coffee in brown pots seems too strong. Red appears to be the right “Goldilocks” color where everything seems just right.</p>
<p>It’s even been shown that the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8385870_Effect_of_ambience_on_food_intake_and_food_choice">color of orange juice</a> can alter how sweet it seems, a glass of wine <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950329312001322">tastes sweeter under red lighting</a> and <a href="https://flavourjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/2044-7248-2-23">whiskey is thought to have a “woodier” taste</a> when it’s sipped in a room with wood décor.</p>
<h2>Design by the bottom line</h2>
<p>In many cases, a restaurant’s design is closely aligned with its profit model.</p>
<p>Studies have shown that design features that heighten arousal levels – bright lights, loud music and bright colors – get people to <a href="http://foodpsychology.cornell.edu/discoveries/music-and-light">eat more food and to eat it faster</a>. Bright lights also <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8385870_Effect_of_ambience_on_food_intake_and_food_choice">decrease the length of patrons’ visits and the amount of alcohol that they consume</a>. </p>
<p>At fast food restaurants – where a quick turnover of customers is a key to success and ordering alcohol often isn’t an option – all of these elements, from bright lights to loud music, are usually a part of the dining experience. And it’s probably no coincidence that <a href="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1244149/thumbs/o-WENDYS-HIDDEN-MESSAGE-570.jpg?4">Wendy’s</a>, <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Burger_King_Logo.svg/1024px-Burger_King_Logo.svg.png">Burger King</a>, <a href="http://www.missionmeasurement.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/mcdonalds.jpg">McDonald’s</a>, <a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/5c/8e/41/5c8e41723fa41a630143242750738bca.png">Carl’s Jr.</a> and <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/InNOut.svg/1200px-InNOut.svg.png">In N’ Out Burger</a> have all adopted bright red and yellow for their color schemes.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL5680150M/Personal_space_the_behavioral_basis_of_design.">dimmer lighting</a> brings people closer together, causes them to speak more softly and leads to longer stays. <a href="http://foodpsychology.cornell.edu/discoveries/music-and-light">Soft jazz music</a> tends to also keep people in the restaurant longer – which has been shown to lead to higher food ratings (and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8385870_Effect_of_ambience_on_food_intake_and_food_choice">a larger bill</a>). </p>
<p>In short, fast food and family-friendly places typically don’t want to encourage people to hang around. Bright lighting, seating arrangements that don’t offer a lot of privacy and loud music create an atmosphere that facilitates turnover, clearing the way for new customers. </p>
<p>High-end restaurants, on the other hand – with their plush decor, dimmer lighting and more comfortable furniture – make customers more likely to linger over post-dinner desserts or order one more round.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74915/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank T. McAndrew does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The color scheme, the music, even the weight of the servers – all can play a role in getting customers to spend money.Frank T. McAndrew, Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology, Knox CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/666672016-10-20T09:58:21Z2016-10-20T09:58:21ZHow was French cuisine toppled as the king of fine dining?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142047/original/image-20161017-12431-z7jvz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-231088408/stock-photo-served-table-set-with-flowers-and-empty-wine-glasses-in-french-restaurant.html?src=ZlghuSoiLpMLFAmWbvB5Nw-1-0">'Table' via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the food world, one of the biggest stories of the last 50 years has been the waning of French culinary authority, the end of a 300-year reign. </p>
<p>In last year’s ranking of “<a href="http://www.theworlds50best.com/list/1-50-winners">The World’s Fifty Best Restaurants</a>,” only one French restaurant, Mirazur, appears in the top 10. And its menu reflects <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/03/21/incredible-edibles">modernist (“molecular”) gastronomy</a> – a recent trend of using chemistry in the kitchen – rather than anything associated with traditional French cuisine. </p>
<p>Since the 18th century, France had been equated with gastronomic prestige. The focus of its cuisine has been simplicity, developed as a reaction against medieval reliance on spices; instead of possessing a sharp or sugary taste, its dishes contained butter, herbs and sauces based on meat juices to create a rich, smooth flavor.</p>
<p>The first elegant restaurant in America, Delmonico’s, was founded in New York in 1830 with a French chef, Charles Ranhofer, whose food was considered an exemplar of French tastes and standards. Until the end of the 20th century, the most prestigious restaurants around the world were French, from London’s <a href="http://images.delcampe.com/img_large/auction/000/028/680/861_001.jpg?v=1">La Mirabelle</a> to San Francisco’s <a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1078/5149859502_10feaf0ddc_z.jpg">La Bourgogne</a>. </p>
<p>In 1964, the first New York Times “Guide to Dining Out in New York” listed eight restaurants in its top three-star category. Seven were French. Meanwhile, beginning in 1963, Julia Child’s hugely popular television show “The French Chef” taught Americans how to replicate French dishes in their own kitchens.</p>
<p>So what happened?</p>
<p>In my recently published book, “<a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/Ten-Restaurants-That-Changed-America/">Ten Restaurants that Changed America</a>,” I show how one restaurant, Le Pavillon, came to epitomize the rise and fall of French cuisine.</p>
<h2>Food ‘fit for the gods’</h2>
<p>Four of the 10 restaurants featured in my book offer some version of French food. Delmonico’s described itself as French, but it also offered American game and seafood, while inventing dishes such as Lobster Newberg and Baked Alaska. Antoine’s, a New Orleans restaurant that opened in 1840, now portrays its cuisine as “haute Creole,” but it, too, presented itself as French for most of its history.</p>
<p>Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California – the original inspiration for the current farm-to-table vogue – initially tried to imitate a rural French inn before becoming one of the first restaurants in America to promote local food with high-quality, basic ingredients. </p>
<p>But while these restaurants reflect French influence, only one consistently and deliberately imitated Parisian orthodoxy: New York City’s Le Pavillon. </p>
<p>It began as a pop-up-style eatery called “Le Restaurant Français” at the French Pavilion during the New York World’s Fair of 1939-1940. But the sudden German conquest of France in the late spring of 1940 left the staff with a choice: Return to Nazi-occupied France or stay in the U.S. as refugees. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142053/original/image-20161017-12440-yzni2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142053/original/image-20161017-12440-yzni2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142053/original/image-20161017-12440-yzni2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142053/original/image-20161017-12440-yzni2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142053/original/image-20161017-12440-yzni2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142053/original/image-20161017-12440-yzni2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142053/original/image-20161017-12440-yzni2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142053/original/image-20161017-12440-yzni2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">At the New York World’s Fair, the French pavilion had one of the priciest and most popular restaurants: Le Restaurant Francais.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:kp78gm016">Digital Commonwealth</a></span>
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<p>Maître d’hôtel Henri Soulé, together with those who stayed, found permanent quarters in midtown Manhattan and rebranded it “Le Pavillon.” With a preexisting reputation for excellence from the fair, the restaurant was an instant success. </p>
<p>Le Pavillon and Soulé soon ruled over the city’s restaurant scene, rising to become the undisputed top-ranked establishment in America, with exacting culinary standards that surpassed its Francophile competition. French writer Ludwig Bemelmans thought that Soulé provided not only the finest meals in Manhattan but also eclipsed those in France. In his memoirs, famous food critic Craig Claiborne recalled the food as “fit for the gods,” and a throng of celebrities passed through, from the duke and duchess of Windsor to the Kennedy clan (well, until they quarreled with the irascible Soulé during John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign). </p>
<h2>Alongside excellence, a reputation for snobbery</h2>
<p>Most high-end American restaurants at the time were opulent but served either French standards such as duck a l'orange or dishes that weren’t particularly French, such as lamb chops. </p>
<p>Le Pavillon’s cuisine, however, was unabashedly pretentious. The more elaborate presentations sent the food writers into raptures: Mousse de Sole “Tout Paris” (sole stuffed with truffles, served with a Champagne sauce and a lobster sauce) or lobster Pavillon (lobster with a complicated tomato, white wine and Cognac sauce). </p>
<p>Some of the restaurant’s famous dishes seem rather ordinary by today’s standards. Beluga caviar was (and remains) an expensive delicacy but takes no talent to prepare. Chateaubriand steaks – a tenderloin filet usually served with a red wine reduction or a Bearnaise sauce – routinely exceeded US$100 in today’s dollars. But it takes more skill to select the cut of meat than to prepare and cook it. </p>
<p>Soulé himself missed the bourgeois fare of his homeland such as blanquette de veau or sausages with lentil and, paradoxically, prepared these ordinary dishes as off-menu items for customers who, he felt, could appreciate the real culinary soul of France.</p>
<p>Those special customers were conspicuously favored, and this is an unattractive aspect of Soulé’s legacy. To the extent that French restaurants in America, to this day, retain a reputation for snobbery and annoying social discrimination, it’s largely traceable to Soulé. He didn’t invent “Siberia,” the part of the restaurant that nobodies are exiled to, where service is slack and borderline contemptuous, but he perfected it. He was an exacting proprietor not just to his harried cooks and waiters but to customers as well, disciplining them with a look or, if necessary, harsh words if they questioned his decisions on where they were seated. </p>
<p>The competition for status was not all Soulé’s fault. Joseph Wechsberg, author of <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=VHEgAQAAMAAJ&q=Joseph+Wechsberg+le+pavillon&dq=Joseph+Wechsberg+le+pavillon&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi-wvuPsOLPAhXCWCYKHUgwBjEQ6AEINjAD">a book on Le Pavillon published in 1962</a>, attributed the jockeying for position not to Soulé but rather to a preexisting “battle for survival in the status jungles of Manhattan around the middle of the 20th century.” Even in the supposedly less formal and certainly un-French restaurant scene of today, there is no evidence that sparsely decorated farm-to-table restaurants treat their customers any better than the dictatorial Soulé. Just try getting a reservation at David Chang’s <a href="http://ny.eater.com/2015/12/18/10457720/nyc-momofuku-ko-price">Momofuku Ko</a> in Manhattan’s East Village.</p>
<p>The difference was that the short, stout, charming but awe-inspiring Soulé, whom restaurant critic Gael Greene described as a “flirtatious, five-foot-five cube of amiability,” never pretended to be anything but confidently elitist in running his operation. He routinely referred to himself in the third person and treated his staff in a dictatorial, patronizing fashion. Soulé even defied his landlord’s demand for a better table. When, in response, the rent was exponentially raised, he preferred to move the restaurant rather than give in.</p>
<p>Soulé’s death from a heart attack at the age of 62 in 1966 was marked by adulatory obituaries. <a href="http://www.salon.com/2001/06/20/kuh/">Claiborne memorialized him</a> as “the Michelangelo, the Mozart and the Leonardo of the French restaurant in America.” The restaurant staggered on after Soulé, before shutting its doors in 1971. </p>
<h2>Today it’s all about globalization and innovation</h2>
<p>Following the sudden closing of Le Pavillon, spin-offs – Le Veau d’Or and La Caravalle – would flourish. But if Le Pavillon is now largely underappreciated or even unknown, it is because of the demise of the French model it established: formality and elegance that veered on intimidation.</p>
<p>Even before Soulé’s death, a hint of the new competition had emerged in New York’s Four Seasons. The restaurant, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/18/dining/the-last-dinner-at-the-four-seasons.html?_r=0">which recently closed</a>, opened in 1959 as a daring anomaly: an elegant, expensive restaurant that was not French but rather international and eclectic in its menu offerings. </p>
<p>Today, grand French cuisine has yielded to Asian and Latin American influence, the rise of Italian cuisine, the cult of local ingredients and the farm-to-table model.</p>
<p>From the 1970s to the 1990s, we witnessed the growing influence of Asian tastes: both specific cuisine (Thai, high-end Japanese) and Asian-European fusions (promoted by chefs such as Jean-Georges Vongerichten). There was also the Italian challenge to French hegemony. Italian cuisine in its American “Mediterranean” form offered simpler, more lightly treated preparations: grilled meat or salads, rather than elaborate, rich sauces. </p>
<p>Over the past decade, we’ve seen the rise of new centers of culinary innovation, whether it’s Catalonia, Spain (where molecular gastronomy was pioneered in the 1990s), or Denmark, where <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/11/21/the-food-at-our-feet">foraging for food</a> and <a href="http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/manifesto-for-a-new-nordic-cuisine">new Nordic cuisine</a> is in vogue.</p>
<p>These days French cuisine seems traditional – and not in a particularly good way. Unfortunately, its association with snobbery only contributed to its demise – a reputation that Henri Soulé did nothing to discourage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66667/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Freedman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the story of Manhattan’s Le Pavillon and its irascible manager, a food historian sees the rise and fall of French cuisine in America.Paul Freedman, Chester D. Tripp Professor of History, Yale UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/628572016-07-27T13:46:02Z2016-07-27T13:46:02ZWhy novelty dining experiences are just another way of getting high<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132034/original/image-20160726-7064-1f9777b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tokyo's robot restaurant.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BIGaBhCDIoh/">Instagram</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In today’s ever expanding world of <a href="http://www.gastrogatherings.com/what-is-gastro-tourism.html">gastro-tourism</a>, the discussion of meals, restaurant venues and menu items has become something of a hobby for many people – with Trip Advisor, Yelp and Zomato filled with dining tales from both near and afar. </p>
<p>The rise of dedicated <a href="https://theconversation.com/changing-tastes-why-foodies-are-the-new-food-critics-19105">food blogs</a>, gastronomic YouTube channels, and Instagram pages, along with the dramatic increase in <a href="https://theconversation.com/dude-food-vs-superfood-were-cultural-omnivores-53978">new eateries</a> across major cities and the suburbs has meant “foodie-ism” is now something that many people can <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/01/why-the-word-foodie-is-terrible-and-needs-to-go-away/">buy into</a>. And to appease consumers’ appetite for “photo worthy” meals, the restaurant industry has stepped up to the mark, offering novelty dining environments, innovative menus and culinary curiosities. </p>
<p>These “experience” based restaurants include the latest one to the UK table, London’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jun/07/naked-restaurant-bunyadi-bums-on-seats-london">Bunyadi</a> – where all is naked, from the food and the decor, to the diners themselves. Also in London, there is <a href="http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/leisure/travel/14590867.Keeley_Rodgers_has_an_unusual_evening_at_Dans_le_Noir_in_London/">Dans le Noir</a>, an exclusive eating in the dark experience. Or <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3793777/Theyre-singing-for-your-supper-at-the-Bel-Canto-Restaurant.html">Bel Canto</a>, where servers sing opera to patrons. </p>
<p>Further north, there is Edinburgh’s <a href="http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/cat-cafe-crowds-flock-to-meet-moggies-1-3665576">Maison de Moggy</a>, a “cat cafe” where you can drink tea and pet resident cats. And on the other side of the world, you can even eat curry out of a toilet bowl in Taiwan’s <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/explore-taiwans-unique-restaurant-culture-180959241/?no-ist">Modern Toilet</a> – a lavatory themed eatery – or dine among warring “battlebots”, psychedelic strobe neon lights, video screens and gyrating bikini-clad techno punkettes at Tokyo’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/dec/06/tokyo-robot-restaurant-japan">Robot Restaurant</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131979/original/image-20160726-7061-qwvn0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131979/original/image-20160726-7061-qwvn0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131979/original/image-20160726-7061-qwvn0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131979/original/image-20160726-7061-qwvn0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131979/original/image-20160726-7061-qwvn0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131979/original/image-20160726-7061-qwvn0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131979/original/image-20160726-7061-qwvn0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stroke a cat and have a sarnie at Maison de Moggy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BG2E-8FrUn3/">Instagram</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A new reality</h2>
<p>These types of restaurants give diners the chance to see beyond the predictability of their everyday lives – and the chance to encounter something seemingly unique. But the search for such profound and “transcendental” experiences is <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-humans-have-an-innate-desire-to-get-high-60671">nothing new</a>, and is something humankind has been seeking for <a href="http://animalnewyork.com/2012/12-drugs-from-ancient-cultures-and-where-to-get-them/">thousands of years</a>. This is because, as the late British philosopher Aldous Huxley explained in his seminal book <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=h5mMb-Jbxq4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=huxley+the+doors+of+perception&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">The Doors of Perception</a>, drugs and other types of highs can often help users to separate themselves from the crushing tedium of everyday life and appreciate complexities of the world previously hidden to them. </p>
<p>By transcending the familiar – or at least the facade of the familiar – and encountering things beyond their everyday nature people can encounter what Huxley calls the “suchness” of reality. Otherwise known as the experience of reality as it really is. This is a reality that is unburdened, natural, and free of everyday rules, judgements and worries.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131982/original/image-20160726-7055-43hztu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131982/original/image-20160726-7055-43hztu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131982/original/image-20160726-7055-43hztu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131982/original/image-20160726-7055-43hztu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131982/original/image-20160726-7055-43hztu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131982/original/image-20160726-7055-43hztu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131982/original/image-20160726-7055-43hztu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Can novelty dining experiences open the doors of perception?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sangoiri/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Huxley argues that <em>“the urge to transcend self-conscious selfhood … is a principle appetite of the soul”</em>. With this thinking, humans are forever seeking mind-altering states to escape what, for them, is normal. </p>
<p>So whether you are in the grips of a drug induced moment of clarity, or you are sitting unclothed in a room full of equally naked strangers – dining on a “<a href="http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/west-london-news/pure-menu-londons-first-naked-11450196">salted serpent of cucumber</a>” at nudey Bunyadi – the effects are similar: you are removing yourself from the confines of your everyday existence.</p>
<p>Equally, if you are sharing a pot of Lapsang Souchong tea with a “Norwegian Forest Cat” at Maison de Moggy or find yourself entirely in the dark while you navigate around a surprise menu at Dans le Noir, the norms and rules of everyday life appear to have been suspended – in favour of a world that is separated from logic and rationality and is free to enjoy just as it is. </p>
<h2>Novelty nosh</h2>
<p>There is no doubt that there is a great demand for “transcendental eating”, with punters hungry to get a taste of the “suchness” of reality. Over <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2016/jun/15/naked-restaurant-cat-cafe-nudist-how-business-success">46,000 customers signed on the waiting list</a> for tickets to strip off and feast at Bunyadi. The UK’s cat cafes are a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ladydinahscats/">social media favourite</a>, while Dans Le Noir certainly seems to be pegged as a otherworldly break from monotony and a treat for the senses. As <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/going-out/dans-le-noir-review-londons-3099987">Ed Malyon wrote in a review for the Mirror</a> back in 2014: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sensory deprivation of this sort is supposed to enhance the other senses, and I’m sure it does, but it’s magic is that it also simultaneously both takes the focus away from the food and places the microscope on it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, it goes without saying that there is a big difference between dining out and taking mind altering drugs. Food is an essential part of our day-to-day consumption and many of our routine encounters with it are by their nature, mundane. So to really achieve the transformative and otherworldly experience diners are craving, restaurateurs need to truly deliver something special, authentic and eyeopening. </p>
<p>And of course, just like encounters with drugs, there can also be “bad trips” customers may wish to avoid. A transcendental eating experience should open a diner’s mind in a pleasant, positive and enriching way – not send them gagging and running from their tables in horror and confusion. </p>
<p>So, if restaurateurs do intend to offer a novelty dining experience, they must be aware that they might also be opening the doors of perception, if only a crack – and that in itself comes with a level of responsibility worth pausing over.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62857/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Cronin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Restaurants can open the ‘Doors of Perception’, too.James Cronin, Lecturer in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/428652015-06-26T10:07:01Z2015-06-26T10:07:01ZCan we teach restaurant servers to treat all customers equally, regardless of race?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86325/original/image-20150624-31518-zafbs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Expected tip size isn't the only thing that influences the quality of service.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/s/black+restaurant+customers/search.html?page=1&thumb_size=mosaic&inline=123179710">'Waitress' via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Like most human behavior, tipping practices vary widely. </p>
<p>For instance, one customer may tip generously even after receiving poor service. Another may verbally praise a server for providing excellent service, only to leave the restaurant without tipping. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, restaurant servers do notice patterns. Since many in the United States rely on tips for most (if not all) of their income, the custom of tipping presents servers with a powerful economic incentive to anticipate and react to customers’ tipping tendencies. </p>
<p>This has an effect on how servers treat customers. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027843191500002X">Research suggests</a> that servers tend to devote more attention and efforts to customers who are expected to tip well – and this comes at the expense of those who are expected to tip poorly. </p>
<p>But our <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tsq.12093/abstract">recent findings</a> show that servers aren’t entirely motivated by their expected tips. This could change the way we interpret why servers treat certain customers the way they do, and could influence how they’re trained. </p>
<p>Let’s pick this apart a bit, with a focus on how it relates to race.</p>
<p>Countless observable <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431909000425">customer and table characteristics</a> affect servers’ expectations for receiving a good or poor tip, whether it’s age, gender or attire.</p>
<p>Of these, research has identified skin color as a particularly salient cue, one that triggers servers’ stereotypical expectations of receiving an adequate (more than 15%) or inadequate (less than 15%) tip. </p>
<p>For instance, a <a href="http://tippingresearch.com/other_tipping_links.html">recent survey</a> of over 1,000 restaurant servers across the US found that nearly 70% of servers perceived blacks as below-average tippers, while 50% perceived Hispanics as below-average tippers. </p>
<p>In stark contrast, a mere 2% of servers perceived white customers to be below-average tippers. </p>
<p>This stereotype likely stems, in part, from servers’ actual experience. <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-behind-racial-differences-in-restaurant-tipping-35889">Research <em>does</em> show</a> that racial and ethnic minorities are less familiar with dominant US tipping norms, which denote 15%-20% of the bill as an appropriate tip size. For this reason, they tend to tip their servers less than their white counterparts, who are more familiar with this norm. </p>
<p>As a result, white customers are more likely to get better service in full-service US restaurants. </p>
<p>However, this statement necessitates an important caveat, one that is either absent or minimized in prior <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-682X.2011.00396.x/abstract">scholarly</a> and <a href="http://madamenoire.com/295787/dining-while-black/">popular</a> reports about how servers treat diners. </p>
<p>Specifically, just as humans are not motivated solely by economic concerns, restaurant servers are not motivated strictly by the desire to maximize tip earnings. For this reason, servers’ interactions with customers cannot be reduced to the tips that servers think their customers might (or might not) leave on the table. </p>
<p>For instance, a key finding from our recent research is that servers’ moral emotions and beliefs about how people deserve to be treated are as important – in some cases, more important – than economic considerations about customers’ tipping intentions. </p>
<p>Specifically, we found servers who have strong internalized moral convictions to treat all customers equally were less likely to report giving less effort when waiting tables of black and Hispanic customers. Notably, this held <em>especially true</em> among servers who perceived blacks and Hispanics to be poor tippers relative to whites. </p>
<p>In other words, for many servers, the moral motivation to provide equitable service to all clientele appears to effectively neutralize any economic motivation to discriminate against black and Hispanic customers, even when these servers stereotypically expect minority clientele to be poor tippers. </p>
<p>It’s important to note our findings indeed confirm what many already know from countless dining or serving experiences: that blacks, Hispanics and other customers of color are less likely than whites to receive optimal service while dining in full-service restaurants. </p>
<p>However, our research also provides some context to the dominant narrative on tipping. Because prior research indicates that blacks, on average, tip less than whites – and there’s the implication that servers are motivated only by economics – servers who put in less effort when waiting on tables of black customers are let off the hook. </p>
<p>But our research adds a layer to this. Yes, servers are motivated to maximize their tips. But they’re also motivated by deeply held emotions and beliefs about how customers deserve to be treated.</p>
<p>Our research thus suggests new potential solutions for eradicating race-based (and other) discriminatory service in the restaurant industry. </p>
<p>Some have called for <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/07/abolish_tipping_it_s_bad_for_servers_customers_and_restaurants.html">eliminating</a> the custom of tipping altogether, or <a href="http://cqx.sagepub.com/content/56/1/68.short">reducing group differences in tipping behaviors</a> by promoting awareness of the 15%-20% tipping norm. Both of these options currently seem unlikely (<a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2013/08/tipless_restaurants_the_linkery_s_owner_explains_why_abolishing_tipping.html">but not impossible</a>).</p>
<p>Instead, restaurant managers could also consider building upon existing <a href="http://cqx.sagepub.com/content/50/2/198.short">server training programs</a> by simultaneously appealing to servers’ economic and moral motivations. </p>
<p>For instance, in addition to highlighting the morally inappropriate nature of <a href="http://cqx.sagepub.com/content/53/4/274">discriminatory service</a>, programs might also underscore the illogical reasoning behind race-based service discrimination. </p>
<p>In other words, it’s unwise to treat tables differently, even if you’re expecting a lower tip. By providing the best possible service to everyone, servers can maximize their potential tipped income by increasing the chances of receiving an optimal tip from <em>every</em> customer – not just their white clientele. </p>
<p>Of course, striving to provide equitable service to all comes at a cost: it’s physically and emotionally exhausting to put on your best face for every customer. It can also be demoralizing when the same high-quality service is not consistently rewarded. </p>
<p>Fortunately, trying to offer the same high-quality service to every customer may be worth the effort. Servers will not only end their shifts with more money in their pockets, but they’ll also take comfort in knowing that giving all of their customers equally good service is the morally right thing to do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42865/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Blacks and Hispanics do tip, on average, less than whites. But research shows waiters aren’t only motivated by economics when they offer inferior service.Zachary Brewster, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Wayne State UniversityJonathan R Brauer, Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska OmahaMichael Lynn, Burton M Sack '61 Professor in Food and Beverage Management, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/405292015-06-04T14:27:49Z2015-06-04T14:27:49ZConsumers love rankings, but they may end up doing more harm than good<p>This week, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Spain, became the world’s finest eatery – at least according to the <a href="http://www.theworlds50best.com/list/1-50-winners">2015 World’s 50 Best Restaurant</a> awards – thanks to the “curiosity and creativity” of the three brothers who own it. </p>
<p>Earning such a prestigious award is a sure way to guarantee El Celler and others on the list have packed dining rooms for many years, bestowing on them success and profits. When Noma became the “world’s best” for the first time in 2010, the designation “is <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/01/travel/worlds-50-best-restaurant-awards-2015/">credited</a> with catapulting the restaurant to international stardom, resulting in enough booking requests to fill its tables for years to come.”</p>
<p>Such rankings abound in today’s society, whether organized by a group like the World’s 50 Best or based on the preferences of consumers on Trip Advisor. Typically they’re considered useful and beneficial, providing incentives for restaurants and other businesses to improve their services and products while giving the rest of us more information to make decisions. </p>
<p>But can they do harm as well and actually make us all worse off than before? New <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w21083">research</a> we’ve conducted shows the answer may, surprisingly, be yes. In some cases, we might be better off without them. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83856/original/image-20150603-2966-8g5ip6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83856/original/image-20150603-2966-8g5ip6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83856/original/image-20150603-2966-8g5ip6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83856/original/image-20150603-2966-8g5ip6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83856/original/image-20150603-2966-8g5ip6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83856/original/image-20150603-2966-8g5ip6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83856/original/image-20150603-2966-8g5ip6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Do rankings have a dark side?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Trophies via www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rankings, their critics and sour grapes</h2>
<p>Such rankings have long been the target of criticism, especially from those being ranked and when the designation is particularly influential, as is the case with the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. </p>
<p>An “Occupy50best” petition has been circulating recently, signed by more than 400 chefs, restaurateurs and others who have attacked the methodology underlying the World’s Best rankings. They <a href="http://occupy50best.com">claim</a> there are no established criteria and no consistent and objective gastronomical requirements, while jury members are “appointed by backroom politics, vote anonymously, without ever having to justify their choice of a restaurant or even to prove that they actually ate there!”</p>
<p>Such criticism of the methodology underlying rankings is probably as widespread as rankings themselves. One need to look no further than the never-ending <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/09/10/why-u-s-news-college-rankings-shouldnt-matter-to-anyone/">debate</a> about rankings of education programs and <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-us-news-college-rankings-hurt-students/">universities</a>.</p>
<p>The key question is usually about quality and whether the ranking accurately reflects it. And criticism may be just sour grapes among the unranked (or low-listed).</p>
<p>But even if the ranking method is good and correctly reflects quality, a more basic question ought to be asked: is it good for consumers? To put it another way: is better information (as provided by a correct ranking) good for consumers’ welfare? </p>
<h2>The interplay among consumer decisions</h2>
<p>If rankings were used only in situations where an individual decision affects only the decision-maker, more information would indeed always be better and never harm consumers. </p>
<p>However, in many markets where rankings play a role, consumers’ choices do not exist in a vacuum as purely individual decision problems; they affect others’ welfare and their decisions in often complex ways. </p>
<p>Consider restaurants. For many customers, the value of a dinner is influenced by the identity of the other patrons of the restaurant. Or education programs. Students learn from their peers, and the network generated at a school is crucial for future professional success. </p>
<p>In other words, these markets are characterized by “consumption externalities” – when consuming a product or service has a positive or negative affect on others. </p>
<p>Furthermore, in some markets, prices are rigid, leading to rationing so that not everyone who wants a product or service gets it. For instance, in many good restaurants, one has to book a table well in advance. </p>
<p>Last but not least, in markets with fully flexible prices and without externalities, firms’ price-setting behavior is influenced by demand, and hence again agents’ choices can’t be described as individual decision problems.</p>
<h2>Foodies and normal consumers</h2>
<p>In our recent research, we investigated the welfare effects of rankings in such markets where consumers’ choices are interdependent. We show that in such cases rankings may be harmful for consumers.</p>
<p>How could this be? To understand, let’s focus on markets with rationing (which fits quite well the case of restaurants, especially if one acknowledges that prices are the same every day of the week, but demand is much higher on the weekend). </p>
<p>Now, consider a hypothetical market with two restaurants and no rankings. One of the restaurants, let’s call it A, is more expensive and of higher (expected) quality, while the other, B, is less expensive and of lower (expected) quality. Because there is no ranking, there is uncertainty about which restaurant is indeed of higher quality. There are also two types of consumers: the foodies who value quality highly and the normal consumers who don’t.</p>
<p>Without the ranking, the expected quality difference between restaurants A and B is not sufficient for normal consumers to be willing to pay the extra cost of restaurant A. They therefore book a table at restaurant B. The foodies, on the other hand – because they are all about quality – are willing to pay the extra cost, and so they all book a table at restaurant A. </p>
<p>What happens when a (correct) ranking is published? That depends. Does it confirm that restaurant A is better? Or does it surprise consumers by ranking B higher?</p>
<h2>Rankings and welfare</h2>
<p>Let’s start with the case in which restaurant A ranks first. </p>
<p>Consumers now know with certainty that restaurant A is better than restaurant B. While this information doesn’t change what foodies would do (they are even more eager to check out the higher-priced joint), it does affect the choice of normal consumers. Indeed, being certain about the quality difference, normal consumers are willing to pay for the extra cost: they thus all call restaurant A to book a table.</p>
<p>The issue is that restaurant A is too small to accommodate both foodies and normal consumers. Therefore, it has to decline some consumers. The foodies that cannot get a table at restaurant A are made worse off by the publication of the ranking, whereas the normal consumers who do get a table are made better off.</p>
<p>Now, let’s consider the case in which the ranking outcome is a surprise: it reveals that restaurant B is better. In that case, the ranking affects the behavior of foodies who all want a table at restaurant B. The same capacity constraint problem arises and only some foodies are made better off by the publication of the ranking (whereas the normal consumers who cannot get a table anymore are made worse off).</p>
<h2>Consumers lose in the end</h2>
<p>What we show is that, once we take into account the probability of whether the ranking will confirm what we know or surprise us, and the rationing procedure used by restaurant (usually first-come first-serve), the welfare effect of the ranking might be negative for all consumers. A similar negative welfare effect is present in case of consumption externalities.</p>
<p>With flexible prices, neither rationing nor externalities are needed to reach the same conclusion. The reason is that the “winner” faces higher demand and can thus lift prices. If the level of demand depends a lot on quality (and hence on the ranking outcome), this rise in prices can be so large that every consumer loses in the end. </p>
<p>Far from suggesting that rankings are always harmful, our results propose a cautionary tale: contrary to the mantra, more information is not always better.</p>
<p>The question that remains is: when are rankings likely to be harmful? One of the conditions we identify is that consumers care sufficiently about quality. Ironically, it is when the information provided by the ranking is very important for consumers that it is most probable that it will hurt them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40529/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurent Bouton is a member of the American Economic Association, the Econometric Society, and the European Economic Association.
He has been selected to receive an European Reseach Council Starting Grant for his project "Political Economy with Many Parties".
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Georg Kirchsteiger is also affiliated with Centre for Economic Policy Research, the Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute, and the Vienna Center for Experimental Economics.</span></em></p>Even when a hotel or restaurant ranking accurately reflects quality, consumers may be better off not knowing.Laurent Bouton, Assistant Professor of Economics, Georgetown UniversityGeorg Kirchsteiger, Professor of Microeconomics, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/358892015-01-20T11:04:08Z2015-01-20T11:04:08ZWhat’s behind racial differences in restaurant tipping?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68726/original/image-20150112-23792-1q3gupx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Racial disparities in tip size can't be explained by discriminatory service.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=tn8o7hv9PfUgTvGpgfLMnQ&searchterm=restaurant%20tip&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=15630616">Brian A Jackson/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Within the US restaurant industry, blacks are generally considered comparatively poor tippers. <a href="http://tippingresearch.com/other_tipping_links.html">One recent survey</a> of roughly 1,000 restaurant servers from across the nation found that 34% thought blacks were “very bad” tippers. Another 36% thought they were “below average” tippers. In contrast, 98% of those surveyed believed whites were “average” or “above average” tippers. </p>
<p>This widespread negative perception of blacks’ tipping practices cannot be attributed solely to racism because it is consistent with a substantial body of empirical evidence. A number of <a href="http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/articles/38/">different studies</a> that use different methodologies and different geographic samples have all found that, on average, blacks <em>do</em> indeed tip less than whites in US restaurants. </p>
<p>Some readers may assume that such differences in tipping simply reflect <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/21/news/economy/black-white-inequality/">widely documented differences</a> in disposable income across the two groups. Given that tips are purported to reflect the quality of service that customers receive, others may argue that black patrons tend to tip less than their white counterparts because they are, on average, given comparatively inferior service. </p>
<p>However, <a href="http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/articles/97/">studies</a> have consistently observed a reliable black-white tipping difference even after controlling for consumers’ socioeconomic status, including income and education, and after controlling for perceptions of service quality. This race difference in tipping is also observed regardless of whether the server is <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/soin.12056/abstract">white or black</a>.</p>
<p>How, then, do we account for this difference in tipping? Why do blacks tip, on average, less than whites? </p>
<p>The answer to this question would satisfy more than simple intellectual curiosity. Racial differences in tipping create numerous problems for all the parties involved. Most notably, the observed black-white tipping difference has been linked to the delivery of <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431912000825">relatively inferior service</a> to <a href="http://jbs.sagepub.com/content/43/4/359">black customers</a>. In fact, in the previously cited national survey of restaurant servers, over half of the respondents admitted that they don’t always give their best effort when waiting on blacks. </p>
<p>While black diners’ perceptions of service quality – and the tips they leave – may not be sensitive to such discrimination, they’re still not receiving the same level of service as they otherwise would (and should) in the absence of this interracial tipping difference. </p>
<p>Race-based service discrimination not only compromises blacks’ typical dining experiences, but also renders restaurants vulnerable to <a href="http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1994-12-16/news/1994350042_1_denny-restaurant-flagstar-discrimination">costly litigations</a> and undermines their bottom line by discouraging black patronage. </p>
<p>Additionally, employers’ ability to attract and retain waitstaff is largely predicated on the amount of tipped income that can be earned in their establishments. Therefore, restaurants with a large black clientele may have a difficult time attracting and retaining wait staff, which increases costs, lowers profits, and ultimately makes black communities less attractive places to locate full-service restaurants. Understanding why blacks tip less, on average, than whites would help solve these problems, and could inform efforts to reduce the racial differences in tipping.</p>
<p><a href="http://cqx.sagepub.com/content/56/1/68.full.pdf+html">Our research</a> indicates that blacks tip less because they believe servers expect lower tips, and they underestimate the tip amounts that others leave. Whereas roughly 70% of whites identify the customary or expected restaurant tip to fall within 15-20% of the bill, only about 35% of blacks do. In addition, blacks, on average, believe that the typical restaurant customer tips about 13.4% of the bill, while whites believe that the typical restaurant customer tips about 14.5%. Together, these differences in perceptions of “what is expected and typical” explain about half of the black-white difference in tipping. </p>
<p>These findings are important: they suggest that black-white differences in tipping could be sizably reduced by publicly promoting social expectations regarding how much consumers should and typically do tip their servers in restaurants (typically 15-20% of the bill). </p>
<p>As important as public awareness campaigns about the restaurant tipping norm are, they are likely to only reduce the black-white difference in tipping by one-half. The complete elimination of this tipping difference requires a more complete understanding of its causes. </p>
<p>To date, these additional causes remain elusive. Nevertheless, what we do know is that this interracial tipping difference exists – as do the negative, downstream effects of such differences: server prejudices and discriminatory behaviors. Failing to acknowledge and openly discuss this issue will only perpetuate a status quo that harms businesses and consumers alike.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35889/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Within the US restaurant industry, blacks are generally considered comparatively poor tippers. One recent survey of roughly 1,000 restaurant servers from across the nation found that 34% thought blacks…Michael Lynn, Professor of Food and Beverage Management, Cornell UniversityZachary Brewster, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/191052013-11-04T03:41:41Z2013-11-04T03:41:41ZChanging tastes: why foodies are the new food critics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33749/original/hbmbrnfp-1382664688.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Restaurant blogging is not simply an exercise in consumerism gone wild.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">missmeng</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Smartphones at the table. Food blogs. Photographs of perfect meals posted online before anyone has taken a bite. Amateur restaurant reviews.</p>
<p>Many people don’t just want to cook good food and eat it. They want to review it, blog about it, and take photos of it. This is the age of the “foodie”.</p>
<p>I’ve spent a number of years <a href="http://www.bloomsbury.com/au/food-and-the-self-9780857854223/">researching 50 foodies</a> in Melbourne and I’ve discovered that these new food enthusiasts are best understood not as hobbyists who just like to cook and eat, but as amateurs. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">BevGarvin</span></span>
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<p>As amateurs, foodies are defined by the professional-style approach they take to shopping, cooking, restaurant dining and, for an increasing number, food blogging. It’s through the latter endeavour that foodies are making perhaps the most visible impact on our public dining scene.</p>
<p>As foodies take their pursuit ever more seriously a new power struggle is emerging: in one corner, professional food critics, brandishing their experience, legitimising authority and traditional media credibility; in the other corner, amateur foodie bloggers, armed with their smartphones, digital SLRs and free blogging software. </p>
<p>Food blogging has become increasingly popular in recent years, so much so that the international blogging awards, the Bloggies, have a separate category for the <a href="http://2013.bloggi.es/">Best Food Blog</a>. The blog indexer Technorati lists <a href="http://technorati.com/blogs/directory/living/food/">more than 20,000 food blogs</a> in its directory. </p>
<p>There are more food blogs than blogs devoted to sport, science, fashion, celebrity, travel, TV, music or film.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">byteorder</span></span>
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<p>Entries on amateur food blogs fall into two main categories: recipes and restaurant reviews. Interestingly, it is only restaurant reviews that have attracted significant concern and criticism, particularly from traditional media and professional critics. </p>
<p>One key criticism directed at restaurant bloggers and amateur reviewers is that they lack the credentials and expertise to judge restaurant cuisine. What such arguments fail to acknowledge is that there aren’t any established qualifications in food criticism to begin with. </p>
<p>The only qualifications most professional food critics hold are in journalism – and some can’t even claim those. </p>
<p>So expertise in judging food – for professionals and amateurs alike – is based on experience, rather than formal training and qualifications. That’s why restaurant blogging has become the site of such contention in contemporary food cultures. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">knitwick</span></span>
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<p>By contrast, recipe blogging has not been seen as posing a threat to its professional counterparts because there are qualifications in cooking; most culinary experts are credentialed chefs, which distinguishes their expertise from amateur bloggers. </p>
<p>But the worry about amateur bloggers and restaurant reviewers from within traditional media doesn’t just turn on whether amateurs <em>deserve</em> the power to make or break restaurants and influence consumer tastes. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gustavo da Cunha Pimenta</span></span>
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<p>There are also concerns about how they use this power. Amateur bloggers have been criticised for a perceived lack of ethics. Their mode of reviewing gets compared unfavourably to the way professionals go about it. The pros often wait for new restaurants to get established, visit on more than one occasion, spend their employers’ money, and account to an editor. </p>
<p>The thing is, the amateur blogger’s experience is far more representative of that of the average diner. They visit the restaurant once – for new restaurants, often as soon as they open, pipping professional reviewers at the post - and spend their own money. </p>
<p>Despite insinuations that amateurs can easily be “bought off”, not one of the foodie bloggers in my research accepted free food in return for reviews. They were also anonymous to restaurateurs – unlike well-known professional critics. </p>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">grogotte</span></span>
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<p>Moreover, while they were not accountable to an editor, those bloggers did believe the ethical responsibility of restaurant reviewing to be very important. Indeed, the ethical burden of publishing a negative review weighed heavily on them. I encountered a general awareness of the potential impact a bad review could have on a restaurant’s reputation, and an avoidance of making such an impact. </p>
<p>Another common perception is that all amateur food bloggers aspire to become professionals. The bloggers who do make this transition attract most of the attention in traditional media – most famously America’s Julie Powell whose blog <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021217011704/http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2002/08/25.html">The Julie/Julia Project</a> led not only to a book deal but also a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_&_Julia">Hollywood film</a>.</p>
<p>Most of the food bloggers I spoke to respected professional critics but none were seriously pursuing a career in food journalism. They may have had occasional daydreams of being a professional critic, yet most were happy to keep their reviewing as a leisure pursuit. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">mallydally</span></span>
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<p>So if not to launch a professional journalism career, why do foodies blog? </p>
<p>On one level, it’s because they enjoy sharing knowledge and advice about food with others (and having people follow it is even better). </p>
<p>On a more personal level, it’s about creating gastronomic memoirs for themselves, documenting their relationship with food, which is fundamental to their foodie identity. This is particularly important given the ephemeral nature of food: photographing or writing about a gastronomic experience fixes it in time, and gives the foodie something enduring to which they can return. </p>
<p>Overall, I found the main attraction of blogging for foodies is that it functions as a form of what I call “creative production” – that is, it’s about finding everyday ways to express a sense of creativity and to have the feeling of making something in this postindustrial world where most of us no longer have an opportunity to make things or be creative in our paid work. </p>
<p>Restaurant blogging, then, is not simply an exercise in consumerism gone wild. It’s more a way of taking a consumer activity and making it productive and creative, turning it into a craft activity. </p>
<p>That’s something worth considering the next time you’re forced to wait patiently as your friends snap and post their meals.</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><em>Isabelle de Solier’s new book on foodies, <a href="http://www.bloomsbury.com/au/food-and-the-self-9780857854223/">Food and the Self: Consumption, Production and Material Culture</a>, is published by Bloomsbury.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19105/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabelle de Solier received funding for this research from the Australian Government through an Australian Postgraduate Award.</span></em></p>Smartphones at the table. Food blogs. Photographs of perfect meals posted online before anyone has taken a bite. Amateur restaurant reviews. Many people don’t just want to cook good food and eat it. They…Isabelle de Solier, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Cultural Diversity and Wellbeing, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.