Twitter Storm in a Galette Pan | Blogger causes Michelin starred chef twitter rant
Gallic Chef, Claude Bosi of Hisbus, in Twitter Rant
So, a twitter storm erupted last night and the comments & reactions to it are still flying about this morning.
Who was it this time to fall foul of loose tweets and exposing a rather unfortunate side to their nature? It was two-star Michelin chefs Claude Bosi of Hibiscus (@claudebosi), Tom Kerridge of The Hand and Flowers (@ChefTomKerridge) and Sat Bains of Restaurant Sat Bains (@SatBains1).
I picked up on this twitter spat as I follow Jay Rayner (JayRayner1) and had seen a comment from him regarding this differing of opinions.
It was triggered by a review of Hibiscus by a blogger called James Isherwood (@James_Isherwood).
Monsieur Bosi took exception to his musings and critique of his meal that James had eaten in his restaurant.
Watching this tirade of abuse from the chefs towards the blogger concerned was chef Luke Mackay (@LukeMackayCooks) who took to his own blog to vent his anger at what he had witnessed.
I won’t repeat the timeline/tweets of events on this post but point you in the direction of Luke Mackays views on his blog here, which was then picked up by The Guardian, the MailOnline, Metro and the London Evening Standard to name but a few.
It has been noted that Sat Bains and Tom Kerridge appear to have deleted the tweets that many on twitter last night objected to. This is irrelevant, the tweets were captured and are now sprinkled all over the press like air dried Parma ham dust.
In my opinion this should not have been brought into the public domain with the wrath and the bile that it did. The issue should have remained between the chef and the blogger and not sinking to hurling abuse and grouping together like playground bullies.
There will be divided opinions on whether the blogger was right or wrong or whether Claude Bosi was right or wrong and that is the entitlement to all of us to make that judgment, we are all allowed an opinion…the warning here is that twitter is a public platform and it needs to be used with care and attention.
Loose and careless tweets can ruin reputations in minutes.
On a side note in an interview with Albert Roux in the Hong Kong Tatler by Charmaine Mok he was asked, “What is your opinion on the role of restaurant critics today?” and his reply?
I think using the word “critic” is wrong. I would rather find a word that describes how they inform people of their views. And I think it is essential in our free society that they have the right to write whatever they have experienced. They have their place, and it’s good to talk about food. In the end though, the customer is the ultimate judge of what he eats.
Albert Roux
Hmm, food for thought, hey!
