Dear Editor,
I read Cynthia Nelson’s column titled ‘A serious miss, eating at Germans Restaurant.’ In her column Tastes like home she has written of her experience and tastes as a professional in the preparation of food.
The writer published her experience at the local restaurant, Germans, (which has earned a popular reputation for soup) in which she described her experience and offered her viewpoint among other things, as to how soup should be prepared.
Ms Nelson is renowned as a published authority on local food preparation, and her years of experience are not in question. I feel any writer who has a food blog or a weekly newspaper column, is entitled to use their column as he or she wishes. However, I feel it is improper for the writer to express opinions such as those published in her newspaper column of April 13, 2013. This article appears to be written deliberately to embarrass and to chastise. I am surprised that a food professional, would use her column in this manner, against another food establishment in full view of the public. As an independent culinary professional, I have no interests in either party, however I feel using this approach was unprofessional.
The writer continues to describe using her expertise, how and why in her opinion, this restaurant’s soup-making procedure was not in keeping with the status quo. Furthermore, how they conduct their daily business depicting a scenario that customers have to resort to certain gestures and expressions commonly used in our society, to attract attention. I am surprised this writer expressed these sentiments. I feel a writer should exercise discretion before publishing her findings in a newspaper column, unless hired by the presiding authority to conduct restaurant surveys with the view of publication. The way this restaurant assembles their soup is done in full view of every patron, and she happened to be one of many. It is not a ‘trade secret’ she stumbled upon and as a result became privy to their information. Traditionally, recipes written for the food industry, particularly those which cater for large numbers, are written specifically with this in mind, compared with recipes written for Tastes like home, which are primarily intended for smaller numbers.
Last but not least, it would be interesting to know whether the writer would allow herself the opportunity to express similar sentiments about another restaurant, in the USA for example, or anywhere else in the world, in much the same way as she did for a local restaurant, photograph et al!
Yours faithfully,
Susan Allsopp
