Beyond The Code we believe there should be guidelines for maintaining consistent standards and fair practices in food blogging.
We believe it is important for the reputation of food blogs that we hold ourselves to higher standards of conduct when reviewing the culinary media, food industry and its products.
1. We will be thorough.
- We will consult the Association of Food Journalist guidelines to maintain a standard for reviews.
2. We will be fair when reviewing a restaurant
- We will try to visit a restaurant more than once (more than twice, if possible) before passing a final judgment. We realize that this is an ideal. Some people are writing about restaurants that they go to in their travels, and most of us don’t have the money to go to places more than once (and find it especially hard to cough up the extra dough if a place stinks the first time we go). If you only go to a restaurant once, just say so.
- We will sample the full range of items on menu.
- We will be fair to new restaurants. Establishments experience growing pains. We will wait at least one month after the restaurant opens, allowing them to work out some kinks, before writing a full-fledged review. If, however, we chose to post about a new restaurant because of timeliness and competitiveness, we will instead offer readers “initial impressions.”
- If we receive an item for free or if we are recognized during our reviewing process, we will mention so in our review.
- While anonymity is important when dining out and conducting a review, we will not hide behind a pseudonym. If complete anonymity is required for personal or professional safety, we will not post anything that we wouldn’t feel comfortable putting our name on and owning up to. Readers should also be able to respond to the reviews.
I’d like to see this expanded to include products & services that are also represented on food blogs. (Equipment, food items, CSAs, stores, etc.)
“We will visit a restaurant more than once (more than twice, if possible) before passing a final judgment.”
THANK YOU for saying this! I hate when I see someone review after one visit. I always go twice or three times before coming to conclusions.
I present a Sunday morning radio show on ABC radio in Australia called Hair of the Blog and we feature a blogger or blogging issues each week. We’d love to talk to you about your Code of Conduct. Are you interested? Please email to both mel.c.james@gmail.com and james.melinda@abc.net.au or you can give me a call on +61 402 332 534. Thanks, Melinda
I’ve thought about this part of the Code a bit longer, and I think that it’s OK to talk about a restaurant after only one visit, and even to have just a few items on the menu. But disclose that you only went once and just had a burger and fries.
I also think something needs to be added that free items should not be actively solicited nor should the failure to provide free items result in a bad review. On the other hand, positive reviews should not be bought by free items.
The AFJ guidelines are just that — guidelines — and there is a lot of debate about many of their provisions. I know newspapers have dramatically cut restaurant reviewers’ budgets, so it is becoming very difficult to follow the guidelines regarding number of visits and scope of menu sampled. And the so-called sanctity of maintaining anonymity is another issue altogether.
In the end, this is a great work in progress, but with respect to reviewers’ guidelines, we need to work on this a bit.
Firstly, congratulations on taking on this huge task – a much-needed point of reference.
While I think final, conclusive judgment after a single visit is unfair, it is important to keep in mind that unlike professional reviewers, most food bloggers pay out of their own pockets for meals, and if they had a mediocre experience the first time, they are unlikely to go back, just like any other diner. It may also be a reflection of the restaurant’s consistency, which is paramount.
After having visited (or before, even), the blogger can, and should, keep an eye on other comments from trusted sources, be they professional reviewers or reliable friends, then analyse and evaluate – and blog this analysis to help readers make an informed decision.
I believe what is important is full disclosure – if you’ve been once, twice or are a regular, just say so and readers will evaluate accordingly. To expect each and every review to be a result of multiple visits is perhaps a little too demanding for bloggers.
Great work guys, keep it going!
How about “Will visit the restaurant more than once, whenever possible”? I’d love to be able to visit a restaurant more than once before I review it, but that’s not always possible and I think it’s unreasonable to expect for a blogger.
When I travel I generally eat at restaurants only once, does that mean I don’t have the right to review those places? I ate at the French Laundry once, paid my own way thank you very much, and then reviewed it. I see nothing wrong with that. It would be different if someone else was picking up the bill, then I’d be happy to visit multiple times.
How many times does a theater reviewer go to see the same play? If a performance or a meal is off, it’s off.
Hi Amy, From our recent post clarifying the code. Looks like we remembered to update this on the actual code page, but not here. We’ll fix. Thanks!
Do I really need to visit a restaurant more than once to be part of The Code?
Though we understand that going to a restaurant more than once isn’t always possible, we do believe that the idea of going multiple times should be considered. Could the experience you had be the result of a fluke bad night? Were you so hungry by the time you arrived that you would have been grateful for anything you put in your mouth? Or, conversely, that you were so hungry, no length of time waiting for your food to come out would have been tolerable? These are questions that all reviewers can ask themselves.
So when we talk about going to restaurants multiple times in the code, we realize that it’s an ideal. Some people are writing about restaurants that they go to in their travels, and most of us don’t have the money to go to places more than once (and find it especially hard to cough up the extra dough if a place stinks the first time we go). The code suggests that if you only go to a restaurant once, say so. We have updated the code to try and clarify this point.
But the way you have stated it is “We will visit a restaurant more than once” that doesn’t leave any wiggle room. My point is, we are not journalists. We are not paid by a publisher. Nor are our expenses paid for by an employer. Therefore, our rules should not be exactly the same. But if you want to play by the same rules as journalists do, without the benefits of salary and expense accounts, so be it.
There we go…changes all didn’t go through the first time. “We will try to visit…”
[...] rules and regulations that bloggers should abide by when creating blog posts. It also includes a separate guideline for reviewing restaurants. This code, and a subsequent late-to-the-game code from the creators of eGullet have been hotly [...]