"Tom Fitzmorris=Dining Methuselah"--Article on Tom and Vietnamese Cooking

[ratcheese]

We are burying the lede here. Tom wrote that with few exceptions, Vietnamese restaurants were just serving variations on pho. This is not true. He then invited comment and criticism of his stance. Furthermore on the fantastic bouillie website he chimed in that pho (a traditional breakfast soup) and bun (a dry noodle dish with vegetables) are the exact same thing, save one has broth.

At best, his opinion represents a complete lack of knowledge concerning a growing ethnic community in New Orleans. At worst, it shows a wanton disregard to get out and explore the roots, differences, and techniques of a cuisine of the world. One, which we are lucky enough, to have in our backyard.

Again, it is his opinion, and he is certainly entitled to it, but the facts which he basis his opinion on are wrong.

That may have been Laurin's lede, but I don't think it is the story here. If you wanted to take the issue up on Tom's forum, I think you would be correct in asking him to stay on topic, but we simply can't answer for him.

I believe it did bring up a relevant underlying question, however: Is the quality of our local media coverage a reflection of our status in the food world?

[hungryone]

I believe it did bring up a relevant underlying question, however: Is the quality of our local media coverage a reflection of our status in the food world?

I think not. We're a small media market, by global standards, so we're downright lucky to have a full-time reviewer at the daily newspaper. On the other hand, the T-Pic still treats most food stories as features, stuffing them into the Living section (remember when Food had its own section?) We don't get much hard news coverage of food issues, and when food does pop up on the front page, it's often a silly angle story.

The relative dearth of food coverage makes it doubly disappointing when those writers/reviewers/critics with a platform get the facts wrong.