It was the chefs turn to critique all the people who come into their restaurants, take photos of every course and then post instant, sometimes hurtful, reviews on social media.
I have one request, chef Scott Jaeger of The Pear Tree in Burnaby told the crowd at 6 Course Discourse on Monday night. Eat it before you tweet it.
This prompted, of course, many people at the Dine Out Vancouver event at the Edgewater Casino to take out their smartphones and tweet about his comments. (See photo.)
Julian Bond, who has taught dozens of this citys chefs at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, had a similar request. He wants diners to think before they write.
Everyones a critic and they dont understand how powerful it is, he said. My vision is that we only talk well about a restaurant. If a restaurant is bad, dont talk about it and it will go away on its own. Some comments can tear peoples day apart.
Bond said he turns away applicants who want to take cooking classes so they can be on the Food Network. This prompted Vikram Vij, a popular Food Network judge, to say, You go to school to become a doctor, lawyer or chef but you dont got to school to become a celebrity.
The evening, hosted by Follow Me Foodie and WE Vancouver columnist Mijune Pak, started with ticket holders sampling food and wine from some of our favourite restaurants and wineries. Six chefs John Bishop, Julian Bond, Tina Fineza, Scott Jaeger, Hamid Salamian and Vikram Vij then talked about what drives them as chefs. Some of them felt uncomfortable coming out from behind the saucepan but by the time they too had had a glass of wine or two while they listened to the other presenters, the Q and A which followed was like sitting around a dinner table and swapping stories from the trenches.
Asked about the biggest challenge facing Vancouver restaurants, Bishop, the culinary veteran, said that he could cope with recessions and trends but what he really needs on West 4th is easier parking. Vij said hed like Vancouver to be more proud of our restaurant scene. We have amazing access to produce from nearby fields and oceans, and once we are proud of ourselves, everyone will be proud of us.
