On Food And Being Bribed

Blork just posted something about something I’ve been a bit conflicted about for years.

I know the feeling about requests for links blah blah blah. Running montrealfood has really been a glimpse into the almost "black-market" world of "I scratch . . ." in which legitimate (but bribable) people want to get you, in my case someone who has a website about food in Montreal, to somehow further their cause.

A guy from Mess Hall, in NDG, once wrote me an impassioned email about something I'd written about my dinner there -- and it wasn't even in a review! I'd just been mentioning my night with my friends (this is before blogs became what they have and it was on the front page of montrealfood.com). I'd obviously trashed it in passing, not in a detailed way, but he offered to host me for dinner! For free, obviously.

I was so perturbed that I wrote to a fine-dining critic we all know and asked her jokingly what I should do, knowing what I wouldn't.

Of course she agreed. But then the guy somehow found my PayPal address and sent me $100! I actually had to refuse the request.

In the end I never made it to Mess Hall, but I’m sure it’s really good and the guy was just disappointed to find something bad that had written about it.

But I’m not really a real food critic and if favors came up these days, I’d probably say to Hell with it. However, if they officially asked me to review them, I’d pay for it, accept the lavish service, and then maybe write something nice . . . or not.

So, people, invite me to dinner, send me your books, but don’t send me $100 via PayPal . . . because these days I’m just liable to take it and go to L’Express.