Eater

[Sneakeater]

That must be what tripped her up.

[mongo]

but seriously, is it so outrageous that a food writer doesn't know off the top of her head what lobster chou farci refers to?

[backyardchef]

13 minutes ago, mongo said:

but seriously, is it so outrageous that a food writer doesn't know off the top of her head what lobster chou farci refers to?

Not to me. 

[Wilfrid]

Outrageous overstates it, I agree. I could forgive chou, but not knowing a really elementary French cooking term like farci signals certain limits on her experience. She has a good resume, but I guess she took a detour around French cooking.

https://www.stephanielynnwu.com/

I had to google plenty of terms on the menu at Chama Mama, but Georgian cooking (and cooking vocabulary) is easier missed.

[mongo]

i didn't know farci either. i think it's been a long time since in-depth knowledge of french cooking was a prerequisite for being in american food media. i'm sure she knows what dashi is.

[MitchW]

1 minute ago, mongo said:

i'm sure she knows what dashi is.

A type of lobster? Mushroom?

[Sneakeater]

YES.  How could you be a food writer and not know what "chou" and "farci" mean?

I would be like being a music writer -- even a pop music writer -- and not knowing what an "adagio" is.

[Sneakeater]

This is someone who gets PAID to write about a SUBJECT.

If they don't know basic stuff, how can that be?  What are they getting paid for?

[Sneakeater]

To me, "farci" is almost as basic as it gets.

Would we agree that there'd be a problem if she had to Google "ravioli"?

[Sneakeater]

It's like Sietsema's not knowing what an Auslese is.

It's fine for any person not to know that.  But it's not fine for someone acting as a professional food-and-wine writer.

I just don't have time to read shit by people who don't know basic shit about the subject they're writing about.  And I do think it's outrageous that people like that get PAID to do such writing.  (Of course, I have a horse in that race.)

Edited October 31, 2023 by Sneakeater

[Wilfrid]

If it's any comfort I am certain they're not getting paid very much.

The big mistake was telling people she googled it. A smart journalist would have googled it then worn it as a badge of their expertise.

[backyardchef]

4 minutes ago, Wilfrid said:

If it's any comfort I am certain they're not getting paid very much.

The big mistake was telling people she googled it. A smart journalist would have googled it then worn it as a badge of their expertise.

This. 

[mongo]

1 hour ago, Sneakeater said:

To me, "farci" is almost as basic as it gets.

Would we agree that there'd be a problem if she had to Google "ravioli"?

 

i dunno. it's hard to go out to eat in the u.s very often and not encounter ravioli. i don't know that i've ever seen the words chou farci on a menu (or encountered them on mouthfuls, a site that has been discussing food for 20 years).

[Diancecht]

i have, but not recently.

once was on a french foodblog where the author resides in lyon, france and the other was in this article in the nyt from february 2023.

[Diancecht]

and i am hardly a francophile or even well-versed when it comes to french food but i know what it is without googling 

[Orik]

Quite the farce.

[backyardchef]

15 minutes ago, Orik said:

Quite the farce.

Or is it Mousseline?

[Wilfrid]

9 hours ago, mongo said:

 

i dunno. it's hard to go out to eat in the u.s very often and not encounter ravioli. i don't know that i've ever seen the words chou farci on a menu (or encountered them on mouthfuls, a site that has been discussing food for 20 years).

If only we could run a search. 

[Sneakeater]

Would you want to read a film critic who didn't know who René Clair was?

[AaronS]

shocked and saddened that mongo doesn’t remember the picture of the chou farci I posted in 2016.

[bloviatrix]

If only you had called it stuffed cabbage, he might have remembered.

[mongo]

i do remember the lobsters.

[mongo]

10 hours ago, Sneakeater said:

Would you want to read a film critic who didn't know who René Clair was?

 

who is rene clair? the stuffed cabbage of french cinema?

Edited November 1, 2023 by mongo

[backyardchef]

10 hours ago, Sneakeater said:

Would you want to read a film critic who didn't know who René Clair was?

I would probably survive. What if they didn't know who Richard Edson is? 

[mongo]

given that the vast majority of american film critics* show no evidence of knowing the names of more than 1 or 2 indian film-makers of the 20th century, i'm not particularly exercised if they don't know the names of every significant french film-maker either. 

 

*the french, it must be said, are far better on this score.