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“I Am Not a Foodie…”: Culinary Capital in Online Reviews of Michelin Restaurants
Abstract
This article adds to the growing literature on foodie discourse, by providing an analysis of amateur reviews of one-star Michelin restaurants sampled from two different websites, OpenRice and Yelp, which reflect two different geocultural contexts: Hong Kong and New York City. We demonstrate that online restaurant reviews provide a means through which individuals can display their culinary capital—to an audience who is likely to share similar interests—as they establish their expertise on matters such as authenticity, taste, quality, and the perceived value of their dining experiences. Furthermore, we explore how issues of social class and access to economic capital are implicated in user-generated reviews of this category of restaurants. By asserting their right to participate in a larger conversation about Michelin standards, online reviewers place themselves on equal footing with culinary elites and professional food reviewers. Consequently, we argue that new media genres such as online reviews challenge well-established hierarchies in food culture, yet at the same time, they also reproduce some existing forms of culinary capital.
... Although the ethnic dining setting suggests the existent role of authenticity in this article, its focus is not on how these examined elements shape perceptions of authenticity, but how they influence dish selection and price expectation. Another example was by Vásquez and Chik (2015), who argue that foodies use online reviews as a means through which individuals can display their culinary capital to an audience, as they establish their expertise in certain matters (e.g. authenticity, taste, quality, and the perceived value of their dining experiences). ...
... authenticity, taste, quality, and the perceived value of their dining experiences). Although restaurants' authenticity is mentioned in this article, this concept is approached as a mean for online reviewers to demonstrate their culinary expertise, not to contribute to the overall dining experience (Vásquez & Chik, 2015), thus this article was also excluded from the synthesis. ...
... Online restaurant reviews are therefore considered as a means for individuals to exhibit their culinary capital (e.g. authenticity, taste, quality and perceived value) to others who have similar interests (Naccarato & LeBesco, 2013;Vásquez & Chik, 2015). Also, quantitative authenticity studies mostly employed experiment and survey designs to investigate authenticity from the consumer perspective, while very few have attempted to quantitatively perform user-generated content analytics such as online restaurant reviews. ...
... Nonetheless, there is a dearth of empirical evidence on the direct effect of Michelin stars, especially before and after receiving stars. Previous studies have mainly focused on customer behavior in restaurants that have already been awarded stars (Chiang and Guo, 2021;Kiatkawsin and Han, 2019;Kiatkawsin and Sutherland, 2020;Leong et al., 2020;Vásquez and Chik, 2015), and differences in profitability between starred and non-starred restaurants (Daries and Cristóbal-Fransi, 2021). Therefore, to validate the relevance of Michelin stars from a business perspective, it is necessary to directly compare the changes in the marketing performance of Michelin-starred restaurants, before and after receiving Michelin stars. ...
... Hospitality studies have mainly addressed consumer behaviors, especially in restaurants that have already been awarded stars (Chiang and Guo, 2021;Kiatkawsin and Han, 2019;Kiatkawsin and Sutherland, 2020;Leong et al., 2020;Vásquez and Chik, 2015). For example, Kiatkawsin and Han (2019) demonstrate that snob, bandwagon, and hedonic effects increase gastronomic involvement-visiting Michelin-starred restaurants-which positively affects customers' willingness to pay a price premium for a luxury experience. ...
Purpose
Receiving Michelin stars is considered an effective marketing tool and a prestigious certification in the restaurant industry. However, the direct effects of Michelin stars on restaurant performance remain unclear. To bridge this gap, this study aims to empirically validate the “Michelin effect” on the consumption values of restaurant patrons before and after receiving Michelin stars.
Design/methodology/approach
The data, collected from OpenTable, consist of over 160,000 reviews written for 218 restaurants, including 109 Michelin-starred (treatment group) and 109 nonstarred restaurants (control group). The authors measure perceived consumption value using the collected user-generated review data. The authors estimate fixed-effect difference-in-differences regressions to validate the Michelin effect.
Findings
Michelin stars enhance social, hedonic and service quality values, which are nonfunctional values. However, no significant effects on functional consumption values, such as economic, food quality and ambience quality values, are observed, even though Michelin stars are pure awards for kitchen performance.
Practical implications
Michelin stars can be an effective marketing tool for fine-dining restaurants because customers consider emotional and nonfunctional benefits such as hedonic and social values, which are more important than functional benefits such as food value. Furthermore, Michelin effects are heterogeneous depending on the number of stars awarded, price range and customers’ gastronomic involvement. These offer a strong rationale for monitoring social media, which may help managers better understand their customers and improve their performance.
Originality/value
This study extends the current literature on the Michelin effect by quantifying consumption values using user-generated review data. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study offers the first empirical evidence that directly validates the Michelin effect.
... Excerpts 1-5 exemplify the use of predicate adjectives, revealing that these employers did not only praise the quality of meals but also regarded the various gastronomic practices of FDHs as crucial, such as the ingredient preparation and presentation. The detailed and vivid descriptions of individual dishes accord with the observation of Vásquez and Chik (2015) that Hong Kong online culinary reviewers often attend detail to the texture, smell and flavours of individual dishes. The display of aesthetic appreciation of food recontextualises the discussion forum as a food review site, where the employers discursively portray themselves as foodies or food critics, and the FDHs as chefs. ...
... The display of aesthetic appreciation of food recontextualises the discussion forum as a food review site, where the employers discursively portray themselves as foodies or food critics, and the FDHs as chefs. Vásquez and Chik (2015) argued that the reviews of Michelin-starred restaurants in online review sites show the social hierarchy of individuals. Similarly, we argue that in the context of FDH discussion forums even the detailed descriptions of ordinary home-cooked dishes highlights the social hierarchy of employers, serving to show off their multi-talented FDHs. ...
This study investigates the online narratives Hong Kong employers construct around foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) and aims to compensate for the existing gap in discursive research and mainstream media, which tend to focus on the perspective of FDHs. It examines how employers portrayed FDHs both positively and negatively, as well as how they represented themselves in online environments. Critical discourse analysis was used to analyse more than 2000 Facebook posts on the subject of FDHs, identifying discursive strategies used in constructing both power dynamics and identities. The findings revealed that nomination strategies dominated the discourse, constructing both the in- and out-group identities of FDHs. Other strategies, such as predication and augmentation, showed how employers portrayed themselves as opportunity-givers and food critics, which further contributed to the inferior self-perception of FDHs. The study concludes that employers have developed a sense of ideological ambivalence, in which they perceived FDHs as motherly figures while simultaneously maintaining their superior status.
... Vásquez and Chik analyze user-generated reviews of Michelin-starred restaurants reviews on Yelp (in the United States) and on OpenRice (in Hong Kong). 34 The researchers argue that by making references to celebrity chefs and high dining costs, recalling their visits to the countries where cuisines originate, and providing elaborate descriptions of the dishes (their textures, tastes, and even missing ingredients), the reviewers claim culinary capital and construct their identities as foodies. Vásquez and Chik, in line with Mapes,35 observe that while reviewers overtly reject the "snobbish" label foodie, they indirectly confirm this identity by showing specialized knowledge about food and fine dining. ...
Linguistic and discourse analytic studies of food-related communication demonstrate how people construct identities and (re)create and contest ideologies that focus on food but extend well beyond it to issues of socioeconomic class, culture, gender, and privilege. Scholarship in this area considers how people engage in food-related communication across contexts, including in mealtime conversations, on restaurant menus and food packaging, in recipes, on social media, and as represented on infotainment food television. Analyzing the details of human interaction and texts also illuminates the role of specific linguistic and other communicative strategies—such as use of adjectives and metaphors—in constituting the food-related discourse that helps constitute human experience.
... In to an appreciation of both high and low forms of cultural and culinary production. (Vásquez and Chik, 2015). For example, omnivores go beyond traditional status foods such as French cuisine and differentiate their habits by consuming a wide range of ethnic restaurants, street food, and even working-class food (Hyde, 2014). ...
The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of cultural omnivorousness levels on restaurant preferences. Qualitative research approach was adopted in this study. At the same time, ethnographic interview method was used in order to examine the cultural consumption patterns of individuals in the study. As a result of the research, the findings are presented in two categories: cultural participation and the relationship between cultural participation and restaurant preferences. The result of the research shows that some people interviewed have a different and hierarchical judgment of taste in restaurant preferences. Cultural consumption, as a reflection of cultural omnivorousness, serves to make sense of people's tastes/likes. However, there has not been found such an examination of restaurant choice and its use in cultural omnivorousness studies. This article fills the identified gap, adding to the discussion about restaurant choice and cultural consumption.
... In to an appreciation of both high and low forms of cultural and culinary production. (Vásquez and Chik, 2015). For example, omnivores go beyond traditional status foods such as French cuisine and differentiate their habits by consuming a wide range of ethnic restaurants, street food, and even working-class food (Hyde, 2014). ...
The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of cultural omnivorousness levels on restaurant preferences. Qualitative research approach was adopted in this study. At the same time, ethnographic interview method was used in order to examine the cultural consumption patterns of individuals in the study. As a result of the research, the findings are presented in two categories: cultural participation and the relationship between cultural participation and restaurant preferences. The result of the research shows that some people interviewed have a different and hierarchical judgment of taste in restaurant preferences. Cultural consumption, as a reflection of cultural omnivorousness, serves to make sense of people's tastes/likes. However, there has not been found such an examination of restaurant choice and its use in cultural omnivorousness studies. This article fills the identified gap, adding to the discussion about restaurant choice and cultural consumption.
... Given the current plurality and popularity of upmarket dining, the rise in the number of social scientific studies touching on the practice is unsurprising. Recent studies have, for instance, illuminated how top chefs and restaurants currently operate and strive for creativity (Leschziner 2015;Opazo 2016), explored upmarket restaurants in the framework of (reverse) globalisation (Lane 2011(Lane , 2019, concentrated on the question of cultural intermediation and taste making by analysing restaurant consumption from the perspectives of various types of gastronomic guides (Warde 2009(Warde , 2016Lane 2013;Vasquez and Chik 2015;Henderson 2017), and offered a comparative analysis of the current condition and historical development of the Michelin-star restaurant sector in Britain and Germany (Lane 2014). These studies and many more can be linked to the literature on the history and geographical spread of the French 'haute' restaurant (e.g., Mennell 1985;Spang 2000;Ferguson 2004;Drouard 2007;Shore 2007), and they have expanded the relatively scarce sociological literature on eating out (see Paddock et al. 2017). ...
This dissertation explores the artification of upmarket dining from the perspective of practice theory. Regarding the concept of artification, the study draws on theorisations in the field of aesthetics. Accordingly, it aims to elucidate how the practice of upmarket dining has adopted ways of thinking and acting conventionally associated with the societal domain of modern high art. Concerning practice theory, the study leans on the Schatzkian approach as frequently applied in empirical research on consumption since the early 2000s.
The study investigates the artification of upmarket dining in the 2010s in Helsinki, Finland. It aims to elucidate how a more artful mode of dining out has been recently performed as interlinked components of a practice, that is, as materials, practical and general understandings, and ‘teleoaffectivity’. Based on the analysis of these performances and sociological literature on taste, the thesis also aims to provide the more artful mode of dining out with a specific definition. Additionally, the study responds to the question of whether the more artful mode of upmarket dining can be conceptualised as an integrative practice of artful dining.
The empirical data consist of media representations of dining out, interviews with diners and restaurant professionals, and participant observation at different types of restaurants and gastronomic events. The data analysis drew on the practice-theoretical notion of practices as consisting of components.
The results indicate that performances of a more artful mode of dining out draw on the principles of aesthetic novelty, nonconformity and complexity, the importance of which have been underlined in sociological studies on contemporary taste hierarchies. The results also show that the more artful mode of dining out can be conceptually understood as an integrative practice of artful dining. The difference between conventional upmarket dining, or fine dining, and the practice of artful dining more generally reflects the subtle and distinctive difference between aesthetic and artistic aesthetic (non-art) practices.
The emergence of artful dining illustrates the diversification of dining out and upmarket dining. Relatedly, the study suggests that sociologists of consumption focusing on practice theory and dining out could fruitfully grasp the current variety in practices of dining out and upmarket dining through dividing these practices into smaller practice-entities. Lastly, the study looks beyond the restaurant world and calls for critical sociological debate on the role and nature of the aesthetic in late modern food culture.
... MSRs are usually positioned as fine-dining restaurants which offer high-quality food, innovative menus beyond the norm, pricing that is expensive compared to casual restaurants, and social status and self-expression values when consumed [37]. Although customers usually do not visit those higher pricing MSRs as regularly as casual restaurants [38], MSRs still have profound impacts at individual, sector, and societal levels because of their prestige [39]. MSRs could also lead food trends and promote culinary-related initiatives in the food system due to the high profile of Michelin Stars in food media and the wider restaurant industry [2]. ...
Sustainable practices are increasingly promoted in the restaurant industry. One significant aspect of sustainability in restaurants is the use of local supply chains, especially for food, which also serve as a means for restaurants to promote freshness of produce, sourcing, and quality. Considering the prevalence of locality in menu marketing, this study aims to explore the relationships between sustainability and locality at fine-dining restaurants. Michelin-starred restaurants are significant influencers in the restaurant industry, as well as food fashions overall, and may therefore serve to promote sustainability practices. This study examines the sustainability of 135 Michelin three-star restaurants by conducting website content analysis. By identifying restaurants’ sustainable practices during the processes of procurement, preparation, and presentation and analysing the official websites of 135 Michelin three-star restaurants, this study finds that although all sustainable practices are mentioned by less than half of the reviewed websites, most practices could be interpreted as being embedded in their locality, especially local food and restaurant history. This study suggests that promoting locality could therefore help sustain sustainability in the fine-dining restaurant industry. Although this study is limited to the website content of official websites for Michelin three-star restaurants, it provides potentially valuable insights on the promotion of sustainable restaurant practices.
... Sehingga Foodie dipahami sebagai suatu kesatuan hidup berupa kelompok dan/atau komunitas yang terdiri atas "generasi konsumer", yang dalam kesehariannya mengkonsumsi satu atau beberapa jenis makanan populerkomersil meski tersedia pada wilayah yang berbeda-beda dengan jarak yang memisahkan, dengan tujuan yang tidak terkait fungsi makanan dalam konteks biologis namun dalam konteks sosial Watson, Morgan, dan Hemmington, 2008Cairns, Johnston, Baumann, 2010;Getz, Andersson, Robinson, dan Vujicic, 2014;Vásquez dan Chik, 2015). ...
Konsep makan para foodie bahwa konsep makan itu sendiri masih relatif berbeda-beda bagi setiap foodie. Namun Adapun kesamaan-kesamaan terkait batas-batasnya seperti makan yang dibatasi dengan ketersediaan nasi atau tidak dalam sebuah sajian, ngemil sebagai sebuah makanan yang ‘ringan’ (praktis dan cepat) dan pengganjal yang bisa berupa apa saja, namun dengan porsi yang lebih kecil. Para foodie juga telah mentransformasi nilai-nilai yang bersifat non-materi hingga bersifat materi dari makanan ke dalam makna-makna yang dijadikan medium berinteraksi secara sosial. Hal tersebut kemudian dapat berlaku baik hubungan antar kelompok maupun perorangan.
Pengetahuan dari proses pengalaman hidup seorang foodie dan hubungannya dengan makanan menciptakan perilaku yang ‘mendudukkan’ makanan sebagai obyek aktualisasi dan mereproduksi diri. Makanan juga telah menjadi medium bagi para foodie dalam mengekspresikan diri dan pengetahuannya tentang makanan baik untuk kepuasan diri maupun sebagai ‘hadiah’ kepada orang-orang disekitarnya.
Dalam dimensi pengetahuan dan perilaku terhadap makanan, terdapat proses penilaian terhadap makanan yang telah menjadi bagian dalam pendiskusian tentang makanan dan dasar bagi seorang foodie untuk memuaskan diri maupun orang disekitarnya. Dari rasa, perasaan terkait pelayanan, dan kondisi tempat makan, tidak ada yang dapat berdiri tunggal sebagai yang paling dominan dalam menentukan penilaian seorang foodie terhadap makanan. Salah satu dari faktor tersebut dapat menggugurkan penilaian baik di faktor lain. Disisi lain, dalam melakukan sebuah penilaian, para foodie mendasari penilaiannya secara umum dari ekspektasi terhadap citra makanan, pembuat makanan, tempat makan dan juga harga makanan.
... Instead, amateurs' culinary knowledge production offers insight into the endurance of traditional institutions of culinary authority and their distinct claims. It is significant, for instance, that OCR sites like TripAdvisor are full of negative reviews of Michelin-starred establishments (Vásquez, 2021;Vásquez and Chik, 2015), with diners complaining about small portions, poor value for money, staff snobbery and leaving hungry despite having spent a fortune. ...
Through historical, economic and technological contextualisation and empirical data analysis, this article explores the cultural purchase the image-sharing app Instagram and the printed Michelin Guide have on contemporary food criticism. Both platforms contribute to popular understandings of ‘good food’. Yet, there are important functional and discursive distinctions in how culinary criticism is done in Instagram vis-à-vis Michelin. To that end, this article focuses on London’s restaurant scene and proposes the concept of the Instagram gaze as a means of understanding the representational repertoires and knowledge claims advanced by foodies on visual social media platforms. The Instagram gaze also facilitates insight into the relationship between Instagrammers’ culinary judgements and Michelin’ s.
... It is noted that research in consumer behaviour has now increasingly emphasised the importance of online restaurant reviews in determining consumers' restaurant visitation and dining behaviour (Zhang & Hanks, 2018) and pre-dining authenticity perceptions . In addition, online restaurant reviews have also been used as a platform for 'foodies' to share their culinary knowledge with other users with similar interests (Vásquez & Chik, 2015). Online reviews have opened a myriad of research possibilities for further understanding dining experiences (see Rodríguez-López et al., 2019). ...
The quest for authenticity in dining experiences has become increasingly important. This paper explores authenticity dimensions that are of value to customers in dining experiences, and by that gains a multi-dimensional understanding of authenticity in this context. Following an integrated learning approach using text mining and classification techniques, this paper explores and confirms different dimensions of authenticity by identifying and classifying authenticity judgements in online restaurant reviews. The results suggest that authenticity is a multi-dimensional concept encompassing Authenticity of the Other, Authenticity of the Producer, and Authenticity of the Self as first-level dimensions. Additionally, besides historical and categorical authenticity which have been previously explored in the literature, a new type of authenticity - Deviated Authenticity - emerged as a second-level dimension falling under Authenticity of the Other. This paper enhances existing conceptualisations of authenticity and establishes avenues for exploring the multi-dimensionality of other consumer research concepts using user-generated content.
... It is noted that research in consumer behaviour has now increasingly emphasised the importance of online restaurant reviews in determining consumers' restaurant visitation and dining behaviour (Zhang & Hanks, 2018) and pre-dining authenticity perceptions . In addition, online restaurant reviews have also been used as a platform for 'foodies' to share their culinary knowledge with other users with similar interests (Vásquez & Chik, 2015). Online reviews have opened a myriad of research possibilities for further understanding dining experiences (see Rodríguez-López et al., 2019). ...
The quest for authenticity in dining experiences has become increasingly important. This paper explores authenticity dimensions that are of value to customers in dining experiences, and by that gains a multi-dimensional understanding of authenticity in this context. Following an integrated learning approach using text mining and classification techniques, this paper explores and confirms different dimensions of authenticity by identifying and classifying authenticity judgements in online restaurant reviews. The results suggest that authenticity is a multi-dimensional concept encompassing Authenticity of the Other, Authenticity of the Producer, and Authenticity of the Self as first-level dimensions. Additionally, besides historical and categorical authenticity which have been previously explored in the literature, a new type of authenticity - Deviated Authenticity - emerged as a second-level dimension falling under Authenticity of the Other. This paper enhances existing conceptualisations of authenticity and establishes avenues for exploring the multi-dimensionality of other consumer research concepts using user-generated content.
... This stimulated several researchers to start investigating this pervasive online genre. Discourse analysts focused on the genre, pragmatic and linguistic characteristics of online reviews concerning a variety of topics, as, for instance, movies (De Jong and Bergers, 2013;Taboada, 2011), Amazon-sold products (Feng and Ren, 2019;Ren, 2018), books (Virtanen, 2017) and restaurants (Vásquez and Chick, 2015). In her book on consumer reviews, Vásquez (2014a) provides a comparative analysis of the different types of prosumer discourse on several review platforms (e.g. ...
The emergence of the Web 2.0 profoundly changed the tourist experience and its modes of interaction and communication. Among the most pervasive forms of contemporary tourism discourse we find online reviews posted on social media platforms as TripAdvisor. Previous research on online travel reviews focused almost exclusively on negative reviews and mostly considered monolingual English dataset. In the present study we will explore positive reviews and we will add a cross-linguistic analysis comparing reviews written in English, Italian and Dutch. In this contribution, we first explore the move structure of reviews, and then delve into their different linguistic realizations, paying particular attention to potential cross-linguistic similarities and divergences. Our results show that positive reviews are generally formed by four main moves: positive and negative evaluations, offering extra/background information and future-oriented recommendations. These moves represent stable and recurrent features in reviews written in all three languages under examination. Further, also the topics of the reviews display a cross-linguistic tendency towards similarity, with the preferred topics being the accommodation, its services and the staff. The findings also highlight some divergences among the three language groups, especially not on what is said but on how it is said. For instance, in reviews written in Italian we found expressions of thankfulness and congratulations to the staff, while these are practically absent in the other languages. Moreover, we observed that Italian reviewers tend to realize positive evaluations in a more intensified way (e.g. through the use of superlative lexical expressions) while these strategies are used far less frequently in British and Dutch reviews. With this study we seek to contribute to research in the field of (digital) tourism discourse providing one of the first discourse-oriented analyses on reviews of positive polarity. Moreover, performing a comparative analysis, we aim at gaining a deeper insight on the issue of multilingualism within (online) tourism communication.
... Some studies have considered how people talk about food, drink, and eating practices in online space, such as in restaurant reviews (e.g. Vásquez & Chik 2015), online discussions on picky eaters (Gordon & İkizoğlu 2017), and conversations about coffee on Twitter (Zappavigna 2014). ...
Mukbang is a Korean livestream where a host eats while interacting with viewers. The eater ‘speaks’ to the viewers while eating and the viewers ‘type’ to each other and to the eater through a live chat room. Using interactional sociolinguistics along with insights from conversation analysis (CA) studies, the present study examines how sociable eating is jointly and multimodally achieved in mukbang. Analyzing sixty-seven mukbang clips, I find that mukbang participants coordinate their actions through speech, written text, and embodied acts, and that this coordination creates involvement and, by extension, establishes both community and social agency. Specifically, recruitments are the basic joint action of eating, as participants, who are taking turns, assume footings of the recruit and the recruiter. The host embodies viewers’ text recruitments through embodied animating and puppeteering. As in street performance, the viewers often offer voluntary donations, and the host shows entertaining gratitude in response. (Mukbang, footing, recruitments, agency, involvement, constructed action, multimodal interaction, computer-mediated discourse)*
The digitisation of modern societies has brought about an increasing interest in communication among Internet users. In this sense, talking about, as well as assessing communication, has become a common trend in, among others, experience-based online consumer reviews. When it comes to platforms such as BlaBlaCar, the importance given to conversations is expressed even in its name. Against this backdrop, this study examines the metapragmatic comments and labels found in 1000 Spanish online reviews with a positive bias, extracted from www.BlaBlaCar.es. The aim is twofold: firstly, to examine the ways in which users describe their past communicative or relational carpooling experiences; and secondly, to explore the extent to which metapragmatic comments can inform about the users’ identity (Bucholtz & Hall, Discourse Studies 7:585–614, 2005), and the discursive processes that enact those identities. The findings reveal that the metapragmatic comments found in BlaBlaCar reviews are highly informative of users’ identities. Users construct and verify the drivers’ and their own identities by means of, mainly, processes of adequation and authentication (Bucholtz & Hall, Discourse Studies 7:585–614, 2005), but also by shifting language style and interactional footing, adopting epistemic orientations and positioning themselves as part of specific gender groups.
This chapter looks at the discursive construction of YouTube reviews through identity projection. In a world of constant connectivity, ubiquitous digitality contributes to the everyday practices of selfhood that are realised through different forms of participation against the background of the so-called connectivity culture in which everything, from thoughts and opinions to images and videos, is highly shareable. Viewing identity as being socially constructed in interaction (Bucholtz & Hall, Discourse Studies, 7:585–614, 2005; Eckert & Rickford, Style and Sociolinguistic Variation. Cambridge University Press, 2001; Zimmerman, Identities in Talk. Sage, 1998), this work reports on a case study of the way participants foreground different aspects of self in the discursive construction of 25 YouTube smartphone reviews. More specifically, the study focuses on how affective stances towards the products being reviewed are directly and indirectly manifested through discursive work that involves acts of self-presentation in the textual comments or small reviews posted in Spanish on the sites.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine the global perceptions of social equity in the fine dining business model as a result of the surprise announcement for the 2024 planned closure of the Michelin three-star restaurant, Noma.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used critical discourse analysis to inductively analyze 91 source documents retrieved through a lexical database search. The analysis yielded five overarching themes and six subthemes.
Findings
Findings from this study serve as a benchmark in retrospect for capturing a rapidly accelerating global conversation from January to March 2023 around the long-term viability and social sustainability of the fine dining business model.
Research limitations/implications
Against the backdrop of labor challenges in the restaurant industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath, the announced closure of Noma precipitated criticism of the stage (unpaid intern) system and the intense pressures of attaining and maintaining Michelin star status.
Practical implications
Results from the discourse analysis suggest certification for fine dining restaurants, perhaps through the Michelin Guide, for demonstrating a commitment to social sustainability as a qualifier to achieve a Michelin star.
Social implications
Findings from this research reveal a palpable change in societal tolerance for a more socially sustainable fine dining restaurant business model that advances equitable solutions for its workers while assuring the economic sustainability of restaurants.
Originality/value
This study drew upon a foodscape lens to reveal a juxtaposition between well-executed environmentally sustainable initiatives in the fine dining business model and the threats to the social sustainability among its workers.
This study aimed to find out to what extent the restaurant reviews available in Google Maps reflect the expert evaluation of Michelin inspectors in the example of Prague City. We analyzed 5755 Google Reviews of 26 restaurants included in the Michelin Guide for Prague. First, quantitative statistical analysis of online Google Reviews showed a strong relationship between overall quality evaluation and food quality evaluation. Michelin Guide declares their inspectors award only the quality of the cuisine. The crucial role of food quality was confirmed also for regular guests. Regarding price analysis, the frequency of Google Reviews decreases with increasing meal prices. However, the increasing price level surprisingly decreases the overall satisfaction of regular guests with restaurant facilities. Second, quantitative statistical analysis incorporating Michelin Guide awards showed that a Michelin star or Bib Gourmand award does not mean increased price levels. From the point of view of regular guests, visiting such awarded restaurants means more frequent publication of online reviews. Paradoxically, visiting awarded restaurants does not result in greater satisfaction with the food or higher overall satisfaction when compared with non-awarded restaurants. Such a result indicates an apparent discrepancy between the evaluation of experts and ordinary consumers. Our study also concluded that consumers visiting an awarded restaurant perceive its atmosphere slightly worse compared with a non-awarded restaurant.
The growth of competitive culinary culture and the widespread use of restaurant guides have increased awareness of culinary creativity in literature. This understanding extends beyond traditional media to evaluations and critiques found on social media platforms. This review examines the main characteristics of culinary creativity, with a particular focus on the definition provided by the researchers. The research profile outlines the publishing years, affiliations, and themes of the 4Ps, which were investigated using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The review focuses on the 4P dimensions: creative process, person, product, and press, adapted to culinary creativity. The conclusion section identified areas of gaps and research questions for future studies on the possibility of defining and measuring culinary creativity in different dimensions using the 4Ps.
Claims and evaluations of authenticity are a powerful resource in food discourse: reviewers use evaluations of authenticity to demonstrate their expertise, and restaurants viewed as authentic receive higher star ratings. But the multivalent nature of authenticity presents challenges for researchers. This contribution seeks to understand authenticity by combining computational and corpus driven discourse analysis methods. O’Connor et al. (2017) sought to quantify the impact of authenticity on consumer perception via four theoretical authenticity types (type, craft, moral, and idiosyncratic). This method is tested using a sample of US restaurant reviews and compared to sentiment analysis metrics computed from the same dataset. All types except for moral authenticity showed a positive effect on sentiment. Authenticity in restaurant reviews is further investigated by examining collocates of terms referring to authenticity and compiling keywords of subcorpora created from high and low scoring reviews. Reviewers most often topicalize authenticity in terms of place, taste, and descriptors of ethnicity. These findings illustrate how combining corpus driven discourse analytical and computational methods can illuminate evaluation from multiple perspectives and provide insights which may help to improve computational approaches in the future.
This chapter discusses the sentiment classification of text messages containing customer reviews of an online restaurant service system using machine-learning methods, in particular text mining and multivariate text sentiment analysis. The study determines the structure of value proposition factors based on online restaurant reviews on TripAdvisor, collecting information on consumer preferences and the restaurant services in St. Petersburg (Russia) quality assessment and examines the influence of service format and reviews tonality on ratings restaurants factors. The service format context is proposed as the main attribute influencing the formation of the restaurant business value proposition and of relevance for online reviews. The results showed the key factors in the study of the sentiment were cuisine and dishes, reviews and ratings, and targeted search. MANOVA analysis represented that for special offers and features, reviews and ratings, factors and quantitative star ratings influenced the negative and positive sentiment of online reviews significantly.
Bu araştırma Michelin Yıldızının sosyal medya platformlarına olan yansımalarını ve gastronomi turizmine etkilerini kapsamaktadır. Araştırmanın deseni durum çalışması, analiz tekniği de içerik analizidir. Çalışmanın evrenini Michelin Rehberi oluşturmaktadır ve belirlenen evrenden amaçlı örneklem yöntemlerinden biri olan ölçüt örnekleme kullanılmıştır. Buna göre araştırmanın örneklemini İstanbul’da yer alan ve Michelin Yıldızına layık görülen 5 restoran oluşturmaktadır. TUTAK Fatih Türk 2 yıldız, Neolokal, Mikla, Nicole ve Araka ise 1 yıldız alarak Michelin Rehberinin yıldızlı restoranları arasındaki yerlerini almışlardır. Araştırmada Michelin Yıldızının verilmesi restoranların Tripadvisor yorumlarında nasıl yansıdığına, Tripadvisor yorumlarında öne çıkan ana temaların ve alt temaların neler olduklarına cevap aranmıştır. “Deneyim Hakkında Geribildirim”, “Genel Deneyim” ve “Mekân” araştırma sonucunda ortaya çıkan üç ana temadır. Yıldız verildikten sonra sosyal medya etkisini merkeze alan az çalışma olması sebebiyle bu araştırma önem arz etmektedir. Bununla birlikte, uluslararası bilinirliliğin artması ve yıldız alan işletmelerin artması bakımından da işletmelere bir bakış açısı sunabileceği öngörülmektedir. Son olarak, sosyal medyanın günlük hayatın ayrılmaz bir parçası haline gelmesi nedeniyle bu iletişim kanalının yansımalarını anlamak ve uygun aksiyon almak her paydaş için önem arz ettiğinden çalışmanın literatüre katkı sunacağı düşünülmektedir.
Bu çalışmada günümüzde son derece popüler olan mukbang videolarının bireyler üzerinde oluşturduğu motivasyonların belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmanın örneklemini Eskişehir’ de yaşayan ve mukbang videoları izleyen bireyler oluşturmaktadır. Katılımcıların belirlenmesi aşamasında her görüşme başlangıcında bireylere sosyal medyada bu videoları izleyip izlemedikleri sorulmuş olup izlemeyenler araştırmaya dahil edilmemiştir. Katılımcıların belirlenmesi için basit rastgele örneklem yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Mukbang videoları izleyen 20 kişiye ulaşılmıştır. Araştırmada veri toplama aracı olarak yarı yapılandırılmış 9 sorudan oluşan görüşme formu kullanılmıştır. Görüşmeler 10 - 25 Nisan 2023 tarihleri arasında gerçekleştirilmiş olup, 15-28 dakika arasında sürmüştür. Verilerin çözümünde nitel veri analizi yöntemlerinden betimsel analiz yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Yapılan analizler sonucunda mukbang videolarının oldukça ilgi gördüğü, birçok katılımcının bu videoları rutin bir şekilde izlediği ve hayatına adapte ettiği tespit edilmiştir. Dahası yayın esnasında tüketilen yiyecek miktarının fazlalığı, fenomenin karşısında yer alan yemeği bitirme hızı ya da kendi yemek kültürümüzde yer almayan yiyeceklerin tüketilmesi katılımcılarda şaşkınlık, hayret ve şoka girme gibi duygular uyandırmaktadır. Bulgular doğrultusunda ayrıca mukbang videolarının rutin yemek yeme alışkanlıkları üzerinde bir etkisi olduğu belirlenmiştir. Katılımcıların mukbang videolarını izledikleri esnada kendilerini tok hissetmelerine rağmen iştahlarının arttığı ve fast-food yeme veya restorana gitme eğilimlerinin oluştuğu sonucuna varılmıştır.
Purpose – Food has entered commerce as an intangible cultural heritage (ICH) because
consumers want authentic food and memorable consumption experiences. Food culture
and the marketplace are arenas for the creation and articulation of identities and meanings,
enabling dynamic conditions that encompass multiple positions and authenticity validations
in consumption experiences. This study offers insight into the authentication of gastronomic
heritage from a consumer culture perspective.
Design / Methodology – A thematic review is conducted to analyse and summarise the
literature on gastronomic heritage, authenticity, commercialization, and consumer behaviour
in the food industry.
Approach – Literature works from databases and academic platforms were used to highlight
several key thematic points and arguments related to the authentication process and consumer
behaviour.
Findings – Food authenticity is socially negotiated by a variety of actors who mobilise
resources and a web of interactions, creating identity and value according to their position
as they respond to differences in market culture. The negotiation of authenticity mediates the
assumption of legitimacy, quality, and identity that diversifies consumption patterns.
Originality of the research – The article contributes to a theoretical discourse that extends the
conceptualisation of authenticity in addressing food heritage within a dynamic consumption
context and commercialisation agenda.
As a multiracial country, food is a significant component of the Malaysian culture. Local cuisines serve to portray the different ethnicities which make up its population. Reflecting the nation’s unique identity, Malaysian Heritage Food (MHF) has become internationally acclaimed due to the rise of the digital era. The Internet has enabled easy access to information on various local and international cuisines, ranging from personal food vlog channels to dedicated culinary expert websites. The quest and appreciation for famous cuisines and technological convenience give rise to a relatively prominent digital genre: online food reviews, a significant source of information for gastronomes worldwide. Thus, this paper explores online food reviews focusing on Nasi Lemak, a specific MHF Malay cuisine and Malaysia’s national dish. Employing a genre perspective, I investigate the roles of text and visuals in these reviews to make sense of the form, function and meaning of this digital genre. This paper establishes the interdependence and integration between the textual and visual modes to decipher the online representation of Nasi Lemak in a Malaysian context and the digital space. The online Nasi Lemak review as a genre illustrates the significance of its multimodal nature in describing the Nasi Lemak story, simultaneously offering potential early insights into the sociocultural nuances surrounding this MHF.
The purpose of this study was to develop a restaurant authenticity scale (RAS), containing multiple restaurant attributes and authenticity conceptualizations. A four-step approach was used to develop this scale. Ultimately, the RAS contained 20 items and three dimensions: authenticity of ambiance, authenticity of cuisine, and authenticity of people. Findings from the current study show that the authenticity of cuisine dimension explained the greatest amount of variance of restaurant authenticity. With regard to theory, the current study has determined which items, authenticity conceptualizations, and dimensions should be included in the RAS. The current study offers guidance to restaurant practitioners by calling attention to key restaurant attributes which are critical to guests’ perceptions of restaurant authenticity.
This chapter discusses the sentiment classification of text messages containing customer reviews of an online restaurant service system using machine-learning methods, in particular text mining and multivariate text sentiment analysis. The study determines the structure of value proposition factors based on online restaurant reviews on TripAdvisor, collecting information on consumer preferences and the restaurant services in St. Petersburg (Russia) quality assessment and examines the influence of service format and reviews tonality on ratings restaurants factors. The service format context is proposed as the main attribute influencing the formation of the restaurant business value proposition and of relevance for online reviews. The results showed the key factors in the study of the sentiment were cuisine and dishes, reviews and ratings, and targeted search. MANOVA analysis represented that for special offers and features, reviews and ratings, factors and quantitative star ratings influenced the negative and positive sentiment of online reviews significantly.
In order to thrive and lead the post-Covid pandemic crisis recovery, service managers are seeking effective ways to design and stage delightful experiences. Thus, this paper reviews relevant findings in the existing literature and provides critical new perspectives from cognitive psychology, transformative service and service marketing. Continuous business communication with the customer focusing on the authenticity of the service
provider and service design to fulfil changing consumption goals/needs in the new normal context consists of possible avenues to offer delightful service experiences. Research gaps and remaining research questions are also discussed to recommend directions for future studies in this area.
This study investigated culinary capital manifested in online reviews of Michelin restaurants using netnographic analysis. Considering the growing number of online-related research in the dining area, our study was a meaningful attempt to identify the methodological usefulness of netnographic analysis in online research. We derived universal concepts on culinary capital through the analysis and provided a sophisticated structural system. We also identified significant differences in the level of culinary capital from online reviews in three cities where Michelin restaurants are located. Considering that Michelin restaurants are visited by global consumers with diverse cultural capital, it is worth noting that the perception and evaluation of the restaurant experience can differ based on the level of consumer's culinary capital. The findings empirically verified the role of the digital media environment in providing a new space where culinary capital is produced and distributed. This paper has focused on the social functions of contemporary cultural capital, highlighting the important role these online contents perform.
The quest for authentic experiences has been evidenced in modern society, either as a pursuit for product purchases, leisure experiences, or true self. Many studies have investigated authenticity and attempted to operationalise this complex concept in several ways. While being well examined since the 1970s by tourism researchers such as MacCannell (1973, 1976) and Cohen (1979), scholarly interest in authenticity remains prevalent in current hospitality and tourism research. In the dining context, the extant literature has only studied authenticity from the dimensions of the cultural/ethnic theme displayed, the food, and the servicescape, lacking a multi-dimensional approach for understanding authenticity in dining experiences. Nevertheless, a small number of studies have started considering dining experiences as a product, which directs research attention to the backstage role of the producer-organisation in constructing authenticity cues. Delivering authentic experiences in restaurants has moved beyond the core product itself (the food), and increasingly demands the producerorganisation to project its own true qualities to co-construct these dining experiences. This thesis attempts to offer a comprehensive understanding of consumers’ perceptions of authenticity in dining experiences. In doing so, it also conceptualises authenticity as a multidimensional notion by incorporating conceptualisations of authenticity from various disciplines. Following this line of argument, the overarching proposition of the thesis is that authenticity is a multi-dimensional concept, encompassing Authenticity of the Other, Authenticity of the Producer, and Authenticity of the Self. The thesis was guided by three interrelated research objectives to address the proposition. A three-phase mixed-methods design was adopted to fulfil the research objectives and a dataset of over a million online reviews was scraped from a popular restaurant review platform, which was subsequently sampled and analysed using an integrated learning approach. This thesis is structured as a series of papers. The research began with a systematic review (Paper 1) to investigate the gaps in the existing literature and three research directions were subsequently explored in the papers which followed. Informed by the gaps identified in the review regarding advanced analytical approaches of online reviews, Paper 2 served as the methodology employed in the thesis, proposing a systematic approach that integrates traditional research methods and machine learning to conceptualise multi-dimensional concepts using online reviews. Reflecting the utility of the methodological approach proposed in Paper 2, Paper 3 used traditional data collection and analysis method (quota sampling and thematic analysis) in the examination of online reviews to understand how consumers form authenticity perceptions in dining experiences. In addition, Paper 4 applied integrated learning which used the outcomes from proportionate random sampling and manual classification to direct machine learning in classification modeling, in order to determine the multi-dimensionality of authenticity in dining experiences. Overall, the findings suggest that authenticity is a multi-dimensional concept, encompassing Authenticity of the Other, Authenticity of the Producer, and Authenticity of the Self, thus supporting the overarching proposition. Additionally, beside historical and categorical authenticity which have been previously explored in the literature, a new type of authenticity - Deviated Authenticity – emerged as a sub-dimension of Authenticity of the Other. Through the close-up examination of online reviews, a demonstration of consumers’ judgements about authenticity in dining experiences is also provided, which depicts several authenticity cues in the dining context. This thesis offers theoretical, methodological, and practical contributions. Theoretically, it advances the current conceptualisations of authenticity not only in dining experiences, but also in tourism, management and organisational studies contexts. Methodologically, the thesis calls for greater attention to well-documented and systematic integrated learning approaches in text analytics to conceptualise multi-dimensional concepts in consumer research. It does this, while heightening the important complementary role of traditional research methods in the era of more prevalent machine learning and big data analytics. Practically, this thesis informs restaurants and other service-based businesses how to identify and segment their consumers based on their assessments and expectations of authenticity, as well as what constitutes authenticity in dining experiences, and the interaction of restaurant attributes in constructing authentic dining experiences.
This article conducts a discursive interface analysis of World Fixer, the most visible online platform currently connecting foreign correspondents with local news workers who
can help them translate interviews, navigate unfamiliar places, and stay safe in the
field. Placing Johanna Drucker’s theory of the digital interface into conversation with
the critical frameworks found in global communication studies, anti-colonial theory,
and anti-racist communication scholarship, the goal is to illuminate both the opportunities that the World Fixer site provides its users, as well as the inequalities that the
website still perpetuates.
This paper examines online discursive representations of migrant domestic helpers (MDHs) by Hong Kong employers. Unlike existing research, which concentrates on the experiences of MDHs from their own perspectives, this study focuses on positive narrations about MDHs by their employers. Using critical discourse analysis, this study identified the discursive strategies deployed to portray MDHs in more than 2,000 Facebook posts. The findings reveal that, although the interlocutors attempted to commend the MDHs in their employ, they also emphasised their own superiority by portraying themselves as gastronomic experts, good educators, and benefactors, thus developing an ideological paradox. Another dimension of ideological ambivalence concerned the discursive conflict between their high expectations from the MDHs and their underlying belief that domestic work neither requires skills nor deserves high pay. Taken together, these factors are responsible for the entrenchment of the inferior image of MDHs in Hong Kong society, despite the persistent endeavours of activist groups to spread awareness of their exploitation.
Receiving a Michelin star was once the ultimate culinary reward for the hard work and dedication that chefs have demonstrated in making their restaurants a success. However, for some of them, the stars seem more of a burden than a blessing. In recent years, several chefs have given up their Michelin status, closed the doors on their restaurants, and begun a new professional life away from haute cuisine. Many have opened up about the reasons leading them to neglect Michelin, the most prominent of them being the pressure involved in maintaining the stars, rather than obtaining them. Yet there are less obvious, but not less important, reasons to explain this behavior. In this article, we argue that chefs’ increasing reluctance to Michelin stardom is reflective of the shifts in today’s culinary profession and industry, triggered both by new attitudes in food consumption and media that increasingly influences ideas about what good food should be, mean, and look like. Drawing on the most prominent scholarly literature, writings by food journalists, and analysis of audiovisual materials, we show how the fine-dining industry is redefining itself outside the traditional systems of valuation and judgment.
The current study assessed the influence of restaurant authenticity on tourists and whether this influence differs between general and food tourists. Responses from 575 tourists were collected from six restaurants. A Mehrabian-Russell-based model was tested using SmartPLS 3.0. Findings showed that restaurant authenticity directly positively influenced tourists’ satisfaction and indirectly positively influenced place attachment and restaurant loyalty. Yet, a multigroup analysis found no significant differences in restaurant authenticity’s influence on general and food tourists. There are both theoretical and practical implications from the current study. Regarding theory, findings from the conceptual model imply that restaurant authenticity plays an important role in indirectly forging consumers’ restaurant loyalty and place attachment. From a practical standpoint, since the multigroup analysis found no significant differences, destinations may want to consider developing marketing campaigns which appeal to both food tourists and general tourists.
Luxury restaurants are expected to offer outstanding culinary talent and expertise; be authentic, creative and consistent; and provide exciting quality food. Currently, culinary art discourses include a social dimension in which social networking sites are used to share gastronomic experiences and check recommendations. User-generated reviews are thus an intersection of participatory culture and ‘foodie' discoures. This study's main objective was to examine this phenomenon by analysing web reviews to identify the expressive dimensions that describe guests' experiences. Mixed-method content analysis was selected for this research, using qualitative text interpretation to supplement quantitative word counts and factor analyses. Content analysis of reviews of the top three Michelin-starred restaurants (i.e., two stars) in Portugal identified concepts used to assess haute cuisine experiences from the client's perspective. The results include a concept map encompassing the following dimensions: ‘food', ‘restaurant', ‘experience', ‘menu', ‘wine', ‘special (dinner)', ‘view', ‘beautiful (food)', ‘friendly (staff)', ‘chef', ‘visit' and ‘dessert'.
This study developed a conceptual model to test the influence of restaurant authenticity on customer perceptions and behaviors at restaurants serving a destination’s authentic regional cuisine. The framework for the study was grounded in social cognitive theory, the Mehrabian-Russell model, consumer-based model of authenticity, congruence theory, and associative network theory. Overall, 804 surveys were completed at restaurants in the American Southeast serving authentic Southern cuisine. All relationships in the model were significant and restaurant authenticity had the strongest influence on peak experience. Academic contributions from the study added to the literature on restaurant authenticity, which is limited. For restaurant practitioners, the findings suggest that it may be beneficial to develop a loyalty program in authentic regional restaurants which can allow individuals to stay connected with a restaurant on an ongoing basis and help establish a personal connection.
All humans eat and all humans speak – activities which in social life often, but not always, co-occur: We talk while eating and drinking with others, but food is also a prominent literal and metaphorical discursive topic which contributes to establishing communities and identities. This omnipresence of eating and drinking in our daily lives has led to a public fascination with foodways. The contributions in this edited collection investigate the connection between language and food from a variety of perspectives. As food discourses operate on local, global, and mediated levels, they are intertwined with notions of identity and culture and thus shed light on intimate understandings of ourselves as human beings. Talking about Food – The Social and the Global in Eating Communities provides up-to-date and thought-provoking contributions to the linguistics of food. The book is essential reading for anyone interested in food-related subjects.
As the coronavirus crisis worsened, a series of news stories documented “panic buying” on grocery staples, including bread, yeast, and flour. News outlets began reporting what I had already concluded based on my own social media: in response, many people had started baking bread. Baking specialty bread, like sourdough, is a time-consuming process, which pre-COVID-19 was a leisure activity for some. Baking bread during isolation is an activity whose purposes are threefold: providing sustenance; filling newly available leisure time; and offering a way to demonstrate one’s skill and activities on social media. I consider the sudden attention given to this niche area of cooking, and the ways that bread-making-as-identity is already being disputed online, with attempts to frame an increased interest in what is, ultimately, successful completion of domestic labor, as a threat to ‘authentic’ interest in specialty bread as culinary capital.
Food can be “enjoyed” visually. Current technology makes human can “enjoy” the visualization of food without restrictions
of time and place. People easily on “enjoy” food by just noticing to its pictures in social media. In many previous studies
show that food pictures in media attract people. One of the concepts is visual hunger that describes an individual’s exposure
to food images result their natural urge to notice food images and subsequent array from neural, behavioral and physiological
responses on somebody. Visual hunger appears even there is an absence of hunger. This study aims to see people’s way of
"enjoying" food from the visual (photos or pictures) that appears in Instagram. The study was conducted by in-depth
interview on informants living in major cities in Indonesia. The research shows that informants not only see food photos, but
also find enjoyment too. There is a desire to taste the food because of the interesting display of photographs. Not only
showing the desire on food, the three informants also justified that they are interested in high calories food pictures than the
low fat one.
Keywords: enjoy; food; photo; Instagram
Local food is a motivation that drives international tourists to visit a certain destination and to enrich their experiential quality. Although considerable effort has been exerted in investigating the relationship between the importance of local food and satisfaction and future intentions, no study has explored gastronomical experience by using fuzzy set analysis. The present study aims to explore the influence of local food attributes on customer satisfaction and intentions to recommend through a fuzzy set analysis. This study uses empirical data from 1,376 international tourists visiting Hong Kong. Findings suggest that the attributes of local food and their influence on the intentions to recommend vary in accordance with the type of restaurants operating in Hong Kong. The results of this study shed practical implications, such as the development of different symbolic meanings of gastronomy and service for international diners at different restaurants.
As global dining culture turns increasingly homogeneous, there is a parallel interest in reconnecting with locality. Two global food movements codify this return to the local: the Slow Food and New Nordic Cuisine movements, both European in origin. I explore the characteristically modernist global-local ambivalence in the work of Virgilio Martinez, Peru’s most highly awarded chef, whose project of bringing together a culturally rooted Peruvian cuisine appears closely aligned to the New Nordic Cuisine movement. Drawing on a decolonial framework, I argue that Martinez’s desire to connect with Peru’s ancestral cultural roots, not uncommon amongst upper-class Peruvian chefs, is hindered by an epistemic divide dating back to colonial times. Further vestiges of colonial history are also present in Martinez’s taxonomic search for new ingredients and the visual focus of his aesthetic, both reminiscent of the Spanish botanical expeditions of the late 18th century. Martinez’s latest project, Mil Centro, a restaurant and research centre located in an Inca archaeological site, offers new possibilities. The participatory involvement of neighbouring Quechua-speaking communities could signal new openings.
This article examines the promise of market democratization conveyed by consumer rating and review websites in the restaurant industry. Based on interviews with website administrators and data from the main French platforms, we show that review websites contribute to the democratization of restaurant criticism, which first started in the 1970s, both by including a greater variety of restaurants in the reviews, and by broadening participation, opening restaurant reviewing to all. However, this twofold democratic ambition conflicts with the need to produce fair and helpful recommendations, leading review websites to seek compromises between these two dimensions.
This article draws on interviews with “foodies”—people with a passion for eating and learning about food—to explore questions of gender and foodie culture. The analysis suggests that while this culture is by no means gender-neutral, foodies are enacting gender in ways that warrant closer inspection. This article puts forward new empirical findings about gender and food and employs the concept of “doing gender” to explore how masculinities and femininities are negotiated in foodie culture. Our focus on doing gender generates two insights into gender and food work. First, we find that doing gender has different implications for men and women within foodie culture. Alongside evidence that foodies are contesting particular gendered relations within the food world, we explore how broader gender inequities persist. Second, we contend that opportunities for doing gender in foodie culture cannot be considered apart from class privilege.
The use of an experiential, postmodernist approach to studying hospitality markets opens many opportunities for research with an emphasis on the consumer, not on the product. This paper uses virtual ethnography to explore how a community of foodies creates meaning, understanding and identity as a consumer ‘tribe’, through nuances in communications on an Internet blog. These foodie customers derive added value from their ‘skilled consumption’, and this is evident in their knowledgeable contributions to discussion and sharing of their experiences of restaurants. The existence of the community to whom the experience will be reported alters the nature of the experience before, during and after the act of consumption, and gives additional meaning, as a symbol of shared values and identity.
The concept of omnivorousness has become influential in the sociologies of culture and consumption, cited variously as evidence of altered hierarchies in cultural participation and as indicative of broader socio-cultural changes. The 'omnivore thesis' contends that there is a sector of the population of western countries who do and like a greater variety of forms of culture than previously, and that this broad engagement reflects emerging values of tolerance and undermines snobbery. This article draws on the findings of a study of cultural participation in the UK to explore the coherence of the omnivore thesis. It uses a survey to identify and isolate omnivores, and then proceeds to explore the meanings of omnivorousness through the analysis of in-depth, qualitative interviews with them. It concludes that, while there is evidence of wide cultural participation within the UK, the figure of the omnivore is less singularly distinctive than some studies have suggested.
There have been famous chefs for centuries. But it was not until the second half of the twentieth century that the modern celebrity chef business really began to flourish, thanks largely to advances in media such as television which allowed ever-greater numbers of people to tune in.
Food Media charts the growth of this enormous entertainment industry, and also how, under the threat of the obesity "epidemic," some of its stars have taken on new authority as social activists, while others continue to provide delicious distractions from a world of potentially unsafe food. The narrative that joins these chapters moves from private to public consumption, and from celebrating food fantasies to fueling anxieties about food realities, with the questionable role of interference in people's everyday food choices gaining ground along the way.
Covering celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Rachael Ray, and popular trends like foodies, food porn and fetishism, Food Media describes how the intersections between celebrity culture and food media have come to influence how many people think about feeding themselves and their families - and how often that task is complicated when it need not be.
The vast increase in online expressions of consumer sentiment offers a powerful new tool for studying consumer attitudes. To explore the narratives that consumers use to frame positive and negative sentiment online, we computationally investigate linguistic structure in 900,000 online restaurant reviews. Negative reviews, especially in expensive restaurants, were more likely to use features previously associated with narratives of trauma : negative emotional vocabulary, a focus on the past actions of third person actors such as waiters, and increased use of references to “we” and “us”, suggesting that negative reviews function as a means of coping with service–related trauma. Positive reviews also employed framings contextualized by expense: inexpensive restaurant reviews use the language of addiction to frame the reviewer as craving fatty or starchy foods. Positive reviews of expensive restaurants were long narratives using long words emphasizing the reviewer’s linguistic capital and also focusing on sensory pleasure . Our results demonstrate that portraying the self, whether as well–educated, as a victim, or even as addicted to chocolate, is a key function of reviews and suggests the important role of online reviews in exploring social psychological variables.
Introduction
While product review systems that collect and disseminate opinions about products from recent buyers (Table 1) are valuable forms of word-of-mouth communication, evidence suggests that they are overwhelmingly positive. Kadet notes that most products receive almost five stars. Chevalier and Mayzlin also show that book reviews on Amazon and Barnes & Noble are overwhelmingly positive. Is this because all products are simply outstanding? However, a graphical representation of product reviews reveals a J-shaped distribution (Figure 1) with mostly 5-star ratings, some 1-star ratings, and hardly any ratings in between. What explains this J-shaped distribution? If products are indeed outstanding, why do we also see many 1-star ratings? Why aren't there any product ratings in between? Is it because there are no "average" products? Or, is it because there are biases in product review systems? If so, how can we overcome them?
The J-shaped distribution also creates some fundamental statistical problems. Conventional wisdom assumes that the average of the product ratings is a sufficient proxy of product quality and product sales. Many studies used the average of product ratings to predict sales. However, these studies showed inconsistent results: some found product reviews to influence product sales, while others did not. The average is statistically meaningful only when it is based on a unimodal distribution, or when it is based on a symmetric bimodal distribution. However, since product review systems have an asymmetric bimodal (J-shaped) distribution, the average is a poor proxy of product quality.
This report aims to first demonstrate the existence of a J-shaped distribution, second to identify the sources of bias that cause the J-shaped distribution, third to propose ways to overcome these biases, and finally to show that overcoming these biases helps product review systems better predict future product sales.
We tested the distribution of product ratings for three product categories (books, DVDs, videos) with data from Amazon collected between February--July 2005: 78%, 73%, and 72% of the product ratings for books, DVDs, and videos are greater or equal to four stars (Figure 1), confirming our proposition that product reviews are overwhelmingly positive.
Figure 1 (left graph) shows a J-shaped distribution of all products. This contradicts the law of "large numbers" that would imply a normal distribution. Figure 1 (middle graph) shows the distribution of three randomly-selected products in each category with over 2,000 reviews. The results show that these reviews still have a J-shaped distribution, implying that the J-shaped distribution is not due to a "small number" problem. Figure 1 (right graph) shows that even products with a median average review (around 3-stars) follow the same pattern.
- Naccarato P.