Distant Drums in the Distance

Mario Batali is not happy with some food bloggers.

Adam Roberts, aka "the Amateur Gourmet" rebuts this with supreme elegance, in his post "In Defense of Food Blogging":

"Because of our varying voices, our palpable passions, and—most important—our lack of editorial control, we are the distant drums in the distance growing closer and closer, our torches waving, our laptops poised for posting. Mario will disagree, but I think food blogs are the best thing to happen to food journalism in a long time."

Saint Christopher protect us! The drums are coming! They have torches, and they're waving them! The laptops are ready to post without human intervention! Soon, desktop computers will join them! And - most important - we have no editorial control!

Clearly, food blogs are "the best thing to happen to food journalism in a long time." If this doesn't convince Mario, well, I guess I don't know what will.

Batali Talks About Blogs

Mario Batali writes a blog for eater.com.

He makes a lot of good points, and though he's talking about food blogs, a lot of it applies to other blogs.

What a Croc!

OK, this is not exactly about food, but since it features one of my heros, Mario Batali, it's close enough.

Mario is now endorsing a new line of Crocs™, the Bistro model, said to be designed for food service industry professionals. Mario, of course, has been wearing his signature-orange Crocs™ for years.

The original Crocs™ model is the Beach (I think this is what Mario has worn up until now) and I have three pair of these in the most fashionable colors:

These shoes are very comfortable on tile-over-concrete floors, which is nearly every floor in Puerto Rico. They are also ideal for harvesting bananas when the ground is muddy. Crocs™ are very popular here.

The new Bisto looks very much like the Beach, but it's $10 more per pair. I'll stick with the Beach.