Friday, August 17, 2007

One man's meat is another's displeasure

Are food bloggers pest to be stomped under a boot or do you think we deserve to continue our opportunities to present you the voyeuristic world of our eating trips? Why are certain people so tight assed about photography in their premises? Privacy is mostly bullshit. There is little of it preserved in the first place since restaurants are open to all in the public. What's the uproar really about on some little pictorial tokens of a visit?

Come in and share your love.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Personally I think this issue is directly related to the size of the equipment that is unleashed on the pretty dishes. The bigger the camera, the higher chance of being told off. They should invent discreet-looking cameras that look like handkerchief, a pack of tissue or a bun.

Gary Tay said...

Food bloggers are like renegade reporters, reporters in Singapore enjoys a good amount of censorship regarding everything (146th or 23rd country counting from the bottom on http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=639)

Imagine this... bloggers are actually enjoying more freedom of speech then our papers...

Thus i stopped reading food reviews on papers, blogs are the way... Devious restaurant owners, aware of such trends either tries to buy off the bloggers (usually fails) or shut the out of the restaurants (which usually ends up being blogged about for bad behavior anyway...)

See where's i'm getting?

Anonymous said...

What's wrong with taking pictures in restaurants? I personally feel that a picture speaks a thousand words. And if the food that's being served is of excellent quality, there's no need to disallow photography.

Anonymous said...

well,its their restaurant, so they can set the rules. basically, if you dont like it, you do not have to spend your money there.
jsut like i wont be spending money at food for thought anymore, since i dont like the waitresses wispering when i walk in, coz they know im the one who doesnt support their idea of supplementing their bad salary.

Junie said...

its still alright if they are nice about it but some put it across in a very commanding way which makes me feel really uncomfortable. Some restaurants even have servers to monitor your table after they issue a 'warning' resulting in a very negative dining experience.

D said...

I reckon it's silly for restaurants to tell off customers for taking photographs of the food. I've never been told it's not allowed yet but it's really a lose-lose situation for the restaurant to piss off the blogger. If photography is allowed, at least it's a win-lose situation, since they have a chance to shine if the fare is good, but telling us not to from the start? That's just plain silly.

red fir said...

I think I'm entitled to take pictures of the food I ordered. It's mine I paid for it. For any restaurant to disallow photo-taking just speaks volume of the lack of confidence in their deliverance. However it would be more polite to ask the owners for permission to take photos their premises, afterall the space is theirs.

I'm more peeved when hawkers turn nasty. A recent encounter with a snobbish young hawker chap pissed me off so much I swore not to return.

Hope said...

they are probably afraid and concerned that such photos may turn out to be distasteful and posted somewhere where it then gets criticised (who knows if one nasty customer purposely put a cockroach in the food and to take a photo). Their business can turn a huge fall as a result.

ah Teo said...

taking pictures of the restaurant and their food would mean that we have taken note of this place be it good or bad. any form of publicity is good for their business so i think we are inadvertently advertising for them. they shd not be afraid of competitors copying them because in the food industry, u either improve the quality of food or be forgotten. it is that competitive. so why stop us from taking pics? bad day for the restaurant? change of chef? bah...no excuse for all these...not at least to me. ;oP

Unknown said...

In all truth, it is their right not to let you take photos. However it is also your right NOT TO EAT THERE. So, if they are tight assed and you still want to carry on enjoying their fare, then i supposed you just got to live with it.

That being said and done, the only places, i feel, that don't like customers taking photos are places that serve lousy food or places with something to hide. in both cases, i will probably never go back there.