Publicizing Restaurant Cleanliness

According to this article, in New York City, restaurants will…

soon will share some common ground — a letter-based A, B or C — grading system aimed at informing diners about cleanliness and food safety.

And it has some restaurateurs worried that restaurants that earn a B or a C will go out of business as diners flock to the competitor with an A in the window.

Um, well, yeah.

This grading system is not a bad thing.

If you have to question and worry as to whether or not your restaurant and its kitchen is A-grade quality, then it is not A-grade quality.

David Chang says,

“It is our goal always to get an A.  If we don’t get an A, we fail.”

This publicizing of restaurant cleanliness is not a bad thing, and it is not a new thing.  I remember being in Toronto a few months back and noticing that all restaurants have a mandatory sign posted on the front, indicating if after inspection, the restaurant was a “Pass”, “Conditional Pass” or “Closed” in terms of cleanliness and food safety.

I’m not feeling especially democratic today.

Interview in the Globe and Mail today with University of Toronto sociology professors Josée Johnston and Shyon Baumann, authors of a new book, Foodies: Democracy and Distinction in the Gourmet Landscape.  The book “…explores the world of the food-obsessed – and finds that status-hungry authenticity seekers can put bragging rights before ethics.” 

I am conflicted by the statements made in this interview.  

I agree with the fact that foodie know-how “end[s] up constituting a kind of cultural capital people use to display their sophistication” and that “there is status and prestige implicated in all of our food choices”.  Yes, to be able to make choices about your food – from organic or local, to fine-dining or street meat – implies a sense of privilege and flexibility.  But stating that foodie culture is dominated by the white and affluent?  Based on the observation that this is what is portrayed in the mass media, and that whites dominate control of the media? Oh no they di-dn’t. Haven’t we learned by now that what’s depicted on the television, especially because of the people in control, is not representative of reality?