Beijing Duck Stall and bribes
Gifts. Complementary. Who doesn't want to be associated with flowery terms such as those? Yet in the food world, we all seemingly want to be Eddie House without being labeled a mercenary. I mean, that's what free food is in this realm. Is it splitting hairs? Sure. But what's been bugging me the most lately is that we're drawing a thin line between Sponsored Posts and regular posts. A Sponsored Post is where you get paid to 'review' something. There's a certain site out there (and let's not name names), where a certain someone often dolls out effusive love letters based on press preview food. Mmm.. press preview food. I actually don't know what that is. And recently on that same site I saw the site recommend some sweet treats that were "review samples." What the fuck is that? Seriously. Here's the thing about the food blogging world is that those of you in it... YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHICH SITE I AM TALKING ABOUT. But we don't say shit. Why? Because generally those folks are nice. I've met some of them and they're seemingly nice people. But the issue stands. Here are the two scenarios: I hand you a cookie, ask you how it is. You give me response. A second scenario is, I had you a cookie, you fucking give me three dollars. Then you tell me how you feel. In my world, those could not possibly be the same experiences. No way in fucking hell. I don't care how nice you are. I don't care how objective you think you are. I don't care how many iterations of that particular object you've had in the past. It doesn't matter. The truth is, we spend most of our time trying to acquire a scare resource (money) and in turn use that resource to acquire objects of desire. It makes sense that if you have to spend limited resources to acquire something, you'll want that thing to be awesome because you could have instead spent those resources on something else. So what you really want to hear is someone who also had to spend precious resources to acquire something and say it's worthwhile to use the precious resource. I think people get confused. They think it's just about whether it's worth putting it in your mouth, chew it a few times, and whether that experience is worth it. It don't make no sense!
So there this Beijing Duck stall in Flushing. I also like that we still call it Peking even though Peking is no longer used, and we use the more phonetically accurate translation of the name of the city. I just don't get it. It's like if I went and made a dish called Yugoslavia Soup. Damn it, that country doesn't exist anymore. Get with the program people. I blame Peking Duck House, the restaurant. And Justin Bieber. Fucking teen hearthrob, he is RUINING the dish with his hair! Fuck. Anyway so there's some duck in Flushing, they slice up a thin piece, add some hoison sauce and scallions, throw it in a steamed bun, and voila. Duck bun. It's a dollar.
See I'm ok with recommending things for a dollar. Because it's pretty good for a dollar. Now, if I paid like $65 dollars for a Beijing Duck. Then I'd wanna make sure every inch of the skin is crispy, that the meat is sufficiently juicy, and that it lived a happy life before my consumption demand caused the duckie to be killed (oh wellz). But! At one dollar, it's a good snack. It's not filling, but it gives you a taste. If you wanna double down and get two, well, that's fine too. You would find the price-to-satisfaction ratio is quite high. You could instead buy chicken McNuggets with your money I suppose... or save up 25 of it and be all Don Draper and shit. While you're in Flushing, consider White Bear for some dumplings or the Golden Shopping Mall if you have time.
To wrap it all up... food that's really cheap is awesome. If it's not awesome, at least you didn't buy a lot. As for free food... I think if people sent me cookies all day long, and one of the cookies was good, I'd feel compelled to tell people about it. But I think what you're doing is recommending a gift that you received, and all your readers would have to buy it instead of receiving it as a gift. It strikes me as odd. If a construction obbyist could buy a senator a dinner and then the senator finds ways to help get that bridge built to nowhere... well, then you'd have Ted Stevens. And I guess since he served in Congress for so long, I guess accepting gifts is all cool. I don't know, what do y'all think? Should I take free food and be like, "Oh no, I'm objective!" or should I continue to follow them invisible rules?
Edit: This is great. Make sure to load and watch the video. haha Newport State of Mind
Beijing Duck stall
Main Street and 40th Road.
New York, NY 11355
@James,
Lately I find it impossible to not talk about the price. The example of In-n-Out vs Shake Shake is an interesting one. I feel like regardless of what kind of quality per price that individuals get, there's still a happy medium between price and quality that people want. It's built into the way we're wired. Eating is an experience that most people would agree incorporate sight and smell, but an experience can't escape the economics of it all. I love that people like Sifton and other major reviewers don't pay for their food, and let the experience shine through... but when it gets exorbitant, I feel like they still let the readers know. But at the end of the day, I feel like most of us gotta pay for own food and we can't visit NYT starred places all the time, so prices have to matter somewhat.
Danny
September 13, 2010 11:49 am
The shittiest thing about getting the offers for free dinners/samples/etc is that they almost aways come from some PR agent who clearly has never read my blog or cares about my experiences with food. It's almost a non-question for me, since I have a huge economic and cultural bias against restaurants that can afford to hire marketing muscle, so every once in a while I take them up on the offer and write nothing.
I never feel bad about it because anyone who has taken the time to read my stuff wouldn't expect me to write up one of these events. When I was doing social media and PR for the AAIFF, I spent days just going through blog entries to make sure that the people we were reaching out to had a real interest in partnering with our festival. I think that internet culture has evolved enough for us to expect that someone whose job is "communication" understand the difference between news-cycle blogs, blogs that actually represent individual viewpoints and agendas, and blogs that have nothing to do with what you're pushing.
All reviews come down to context, and to a certain extent, consuming reviews (especially food reviews) is a reader-beware deal. In some cases, I think that ignoring price is actually essential to making a fair comparison. I'm one of few native Californians who would say that if I were given an In-n-Out burger for free and a Shake Shack burger for free, the Shake Shack burger would destroy the In-n-Out burger in terms of quality. Yet, In-n-Out die-hards will never tolerate that the Shake Shack burger is any better. They're beholden to the psychology of brand loyalty and low prices, even when faced with the fact that the higher price of a Shake Shack burger seems more or less proportional to its higher quality ingredients.
I'm rambling now... just my 50 cents!
James
September 12, 2010 4:23 pm
I love these little duck sandwiches! OMG, so good. So good that my friend's five-year-old kid outright STOLE one from me without my consent. Kids today.
JJR
August 17, 2010 9:33 pm
That's Corner 28! I've had their Peking duck before, which was pretty good, but that restaurant is wayyyy too crowded, especially the ground floor during lunch hours.
Lamchop
August 15, 2010 1:32 am
@FN,
Just for you! I will name the next one. haha
@Nicholas,
Yea, you're right to say that at some point we'll get something for free. I guess it's just one weird road we're on because traditional journalists get paid and mostly bloggers are like, 'Free shit!!'
@Tina,
Yea I think the thing about free meals or free gifts is that often readers may not know whether the writer ends up buying something you know? Like with the example I listed, the people got a free package of review sample cookies. And then who knows if they bought like 8 more dozens with their money.
@Lamchop,
Oooh! Thanks for letting me know, I didn't know that's Corner 28. I didn't even know it's a restaurant. haha
Danny
August 16, 2010 11:15 am
Definitely know what you're talking about. I get a weird feeling every time I get invites for restaurant review nights or get "review samples." As a general rule, I won't write anything based on something I received for free. If I like it, I may go and try it again on my own, paid for with my own money, and then maybe write about it if it's good.
bionicgrrrl
August 13, 2010 1:20 pm
It's funny reading the same argument Anthony Bourdain wrote in his recent book, Medium Raw. Food writers, publishers and bloggers are sometimes treated with free food hoping the restaurant gets a good review or something that favors on their side.
It's a moral/ethical issue that I do think, personally as one a food blogger, stuck with. Sometimes I do get free samples of products or get a meal and do write on my blog if it does taste good or works well. If it sucks, I tell it diplomatically, if possible, to the PR. But the weird thing from the restaurant end, they just want my photos. For free.
Tina
August 14, 2010 7:56 am
Should have mentioned, if the reviewed free product/restaurant was good and I did blog about it, I buy it myself or go to the restaurant on a different date and pay for a meal.
Tina
August 14, 2010 8:10 am
Dammit, there you go again! You didn't name the sucky food places a few posts ago either.
Name it, name it, name it!!
FN
August 12, 2010 11:06 pm
Your posts make me happy. Partially because too many bloggers nowadays piss me off with their highbrow opinion of McDonald's and anything below a certain cost threshold, but mostly because you equate everything to McNuggets... I can appreciate that.
As far as free incentives for posts (advertisements I guess), I have no problem with them. I won't take them as seriously as a traditional review (not that those are entirely 100% factual to begin with), but they're there, and it's fine. No lies though, at some point or another, every food writer is bound to get something extra, or for free... doesn't that just come with the territory?
Nicholas
August 13, 2010 7:00 am
It's been a while since I visited this stall in Flushing and I have no idea that the price has gone up to a dollar from 75 cents. Your post just makes me want to go back to check it out tomorrow haha. Thanks for sharing
Yi @ YiReservation
April 15, 2011 11:38 pm