Food criticism ?

rascal

rascal

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Do you give it to other cooks or ask for it.
I dont criticize but I do ask for it. I use my kids as sounding platforms.
Ie I just made my first Rogan josh a while ago. All enjoyed it but son said needed more heat. Daughter thought addition of fresh yoghurt served with it. I'm cooking it again this sunday with adjustments.
If I'm asked about someone else's food I'm polite and say it was nice.
Do you take it of give it?
 
If I want a critique of a dish, I'll ask for it, if it is someone who can help me make it better. Same goes the other way, if someone want's my honest opinion, and I can offer useful advice, I'll be glad to help.

CD
 
rascal said:
Do you give it to other cooks or ask for it.
I dont criticize but I do ask for it. I use my kids as sounding platforms.
Ie I just made my first Rogan josh a while ago. All enjoyed it but son said needed more heat. Daughter thought addition of fresh yoghurt served with it. I'm cooking it again this sunday with adjustments.
If I'm asked about someone else's food I'm polite and say it was nice.
Do you take it of give it?
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Both. I generally ask but I'm only cooking for people close to me these days and rarely does someone cook for me anymore. If I'm not asked what I think about someone's food I just eat and keep my mouth shut other than putting food in it.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
Both. I generally ask but I'm only cooking for people close to me these days and rarely does someone cook for me anymore. If I'm not asked what I think about someone's food I just eat and keep my mouth shut other than putting food in it.
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You would be the perfect guest.

Russ
 
I don't criticise people who cook for me, unless they make something I am unable to eat but I do warn them in time about my condition. It's not OK in my book to critisize people who made the effort of cooking for me. If I don't like it, I'll just decline any further dinner invitations.

When it comes to restaurants, I do usually only write reviews if I have something good to say. Only if a really bad screw up occurs, that they've refused to fix would I write a negative review. In the past 5 years, I wrote only one negative review.
 
I intentionally used the word "critique" instead of "criticize." Simply saying "I didn't like that," without saying why, or suggesting a possible improvement is just complaining. But, again, I'd reserve the critique for someone who asks for it.

A tricky situation is if I am invited for dinner, show up, and the host serves a type of food (like sushi) that I just don't like, no matter who makes it. But, knowing that people have very mixed opinions about certain foods (like sushi), I would not serve it if I were hosting a dinner. -- at least without telling people up front, or even providing some alternative.

CD
 
caseydog said:
I intentionally used the word "critique" instead of "criticize." Simply saying "I didn't like that," without saying why, or suggesting a possible improvement is just complaining. But, again, I'd reserve the critique for someone who asks for it.

A tricky situation is if I am invited for dinner, show up, and the host serves a type of food (like sushi) that I just don't like, no matter who makes it. But, knowing that people have very mixed opinions about certain foods (like sushi), I would not serve it if I were hosting a dinner. -- at least without telling people up front, or even providing some alternative.

CD
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It's no problem here as I know my guests/friends very well.like I'm doing s special steak Saturday cos she hates seafood. I go out of my way to please everybody. And shes hard to work around. She wont be in the house when I precook. It will be in the garage fridge just before serving.
When my mate was down from Auckland a year ago for a half marathon. Heboughy his current girlfriend. I hadn't met her before but i did txt him prior to arriving. They spent two nights in bedrooms downstairs. She loved everything I cooked esp cooked brekky..they are no longer together but her and I converse by txt regularly. She and my wife have a lot in common.

Russ
 
If someone cooks for me I'm inclined to like it. At least the effort :wink:
I find most food a bit boring as I like highly spiced food.
But they made the effort, therefor I will like it. Full stop.
I'll only critique if someone specifically asks if a meal can be improved, or if they ask "would so and so like this".
Having said that, apparently any conversation between brothet, dad and me (and no matter how many other people) took less than 5 minutes before food was mentioned :)
 
If I'm invited out to someone's house for a meal, I generally say the food is delicious. Even if it's not. Anyone who makes an effort to cook something nice for others deserves applause, not criticism.
Restaurants, pubs, cafes, etc. usually get a review as well. It's always important to find something positive to say I think, even if you're eating in a Greasy Spoon. Whether you've gone for a burger or for a 3 course meal, I'm sure the chefs/cooks/owners appreciate a comment or two. If there's anything I don't like about the meal (for example, underseasoned food) then I'll mention it, but on a personal level,ie. "my fish was a little bit underseasoned, but then I do enjoy well-condimented food"
If people ask me specifically for pointers on how to improve (or not) a particular dish, I'm only too happy to give them some, but as objectively as possible.
Last year, in the UK, we probably went out to eat every 10 days or so. Everywhere I went got a "review" - only one was negative. Objective, but negative, since the place billed itself as a Gastro Pub , charged gastro prices and failed miserably on every front. I even got a reply from the owner who agreed the food/service was not up to standard.
 
rascal said:
Do you give it to other cooks or ask for it.
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Generally, neither.

It’s something of a Midwest America trait to be unfailingly polite, even in criticism/critique, so if you’re adept at reading between the lines, you’ll know if someone from here likes your food or not:

“Try my grandma’s recipe for potato salad. She brought that all the way from Germany when they came over.”

They liked it:
“That’s good…the dressing is just right!”

They didn’t like it:
“All the way from Germany, huh? That must have been hard for her, moving to a new country, such a brave woman!”

But when they get out in the car to go home…
“Good Lord, did you taste that potato salad?! There was enough vinegar in there to choke a mule! If you ask me, Granny would have done everyone a favor if she’d lost that recipe on the way over!”

:laugh:
 
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