GastroBuzz: Chefs, Food Writers, and Bloggers on Twitter

Gastrosphere Reacts to James Beard Nominations

Josh Friedland — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:31:56 +0000

The James Beard Foundation has announced the nominees for its 2010 chef, book, and journalism awards. Read the reaction live on Twitter:

@foodimentary Scores Another Shorty: “OMG”

Josh Friedland — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:36:25 +0000

@foodimentary, the food trivia tweeting machine, won a second Shorty Award for excellence in the category of Food tweets.

His reaction, appropriately abbreviated:

Foodimentary

I WON! OMG. #shortyawards about 13 hours ago via Tweetie

Denny’s Social Media Snafu

Josh Friedland — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:14:19 +0000

Eater reports that restaurant chain Denny’s made a major social media faux pas on its dinner menus, inviting customers to visit the company’s Twitter account at @dennys, an account that is not owned by Denny’s. It so happens, that Twitter account is owned by a Taiwanese man named Dennys Hsieh:

If you’ve been to a Denny’s restaurant recently, you may have noticed that on the bottom of the back page of the dinner menu, the company invites you to “Join the conversation!” by, among other things, visiting it on Twitter at twitter.com/dennys.

There’s just one problem: that Twitter account is owned by a Taiwanese man named Dennys Hsieh, and of the 272 tweets he’s posted–the last of which was on July 19, 2009–none appear to have anything to do with the ubiquitous always-open restaurants with the yellow signs visible from freeways throughout America.

Oops.

Chefs Who Lash Out on Twitter

Josh Friedland — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:32:40 +0000

In the New York Times, Julia Moskin reports that Twitter has given voice — sometimes nice, sometimes nasty — to chefs and their critics:

For many chefs in the current economic climate, cooking no longer seems enough. To make their names, they need to develop online personas as well as culinary ones. And with instant access to the Web, chefs — who have traditionally been walled up behind the dining room — are bursting out and talking back, often more profanely than can be conveyed here.

Final Drive for Shorty Nominations

Josh Friedland — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:29:55 +0000

So, it’s come down this. Today is the final day of voting for nominations for the Shorty Awards — the Oscars of the Twitterverse.

As of 12:14 p.m. EST, here are the top 10 tweeps battling out in the awards’ food category:

Rick Bayless (942 votes)
Tyler Florence (690 votes)
Florentina (518 votes)
Foodimentary (386 votes)
NoReservations (220 votes)
Amy Cao (177 votes)
GunsandTacos (160 votes)
Chef John (130 votes)
Rebecca Varidel (118 votes)
David Archuleta (92 votes)

At the close of today’s voting, the top five will be the official nominees, moving to the final judgment round.

Vote your conscience on this important matter.

Apple’s iPad: The Gastrosphere Reacts

Josh Friedland — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:06:46 +0000

How is the Gastrosphere reacting to Apple’s iPad announcement?

Fear about the fate of magazine publishing? No.
Excitement over the possibilities of digital cookbooks? No.
Lots of menstruation jokes? Yes.

mbhide iPAD, I mean really? iPAD? Oh boy.. the thoughts in my head. 13 minutes ago

gastropoda RT @M_Barber: iPad… I still would have preferred this from Apple: http://ow.ly/115a4 11 minutes ago

bonnevivante 9/10 trending topics in Seattle are Apple/iPad related. One of them is hysterical. 11 minutes ago

drvino Jobs says iPad is $499; stock jumps 17 minutes ago

kimseverson About the IPad. Is it just for my light flow days? 17 minutes ago

bonnevivante RT @paulconstant: Say what you will about the iPad, but I think they just murdered the Kindle. 23 minutes ago

RonRuggless RT @hotfoodporn: Umm, I’m not sure I really want to be using something called an iPad, seeing as to how I don’t have iPeriods thankfully. 23 minutes ago

bonnevivante RT @fourchickens: To recap: the iPad will come with an iRag (to keep it clean) + some iBruprofen (to keep it working smoothly) + iWings … 24 minutes ago

heyyumsugar RT @geeksugar: The iPad Has Landed! http://geeksu.gr/7193441 31 minutes ago

gastropoda RT @hudsonette: Hilarious. RT @CroweJam: RT @JenSciFi: the new iPad commercial http://bit.ly/9LbmCP ///Prescient, too 40 minutes ago

glutenfreegirl RT @hchamp: iPad? Anyone who has ever menstruated would not have named a product that. 1 hour ago

PinchMySalt RT @kitchenMage: Women will be too busy laughing at the name to buy the iPad. Menopausal women will skip it entirely due to irrelevance. 1 hour ago

ColdMud Rt @meandmybigmouth But how absorbent is the iPad? 1 hour ago

PinchMySalt RT @HeatherinFresno: iPad sounds like a product for girls who have only recently started menstruating. 1 hour ago

thefoodsection Steve Jobs, via Gizmodo: “Grab the tablet that’s in the kitchen, go to the iPad and buy your tickets.” #ipad #reachingforfoodrelevance 1 hour ago

shewhoeats so it’s called iPad. #apple http://www.businessinsider.com/watch-live-video-from-apples-tablet-event-2010-1 1 hours ago

Francis_Lam RT @daveweigel: The iPad can tap Louisiana senators’ phones from 100 feet away, saving you a lot of trouble. #iPadrumors 3 hours ago

Hot Links: Testing Kids for Food Allergies

Josh Friedland — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:27:00 +0000

What’s the gastrosphere currently reading? A Wall Street Journal report on the trouble with diagnosing food allergies in children:

“Is Your Kid Truly Allergic? Tests Add to Food Confusion” [Wall Street Journal]

Bayless Widens Lead Over Florence

Josh Friedland — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:32:10 +0000

In the race for Shorty Award nominations in the Food category, chef Rick Bayless is leading the pack with 1,007 votes and counting. In second place: TV food personality Tyler Florence, with 904 votes as of this post. Trailing in third is gastro-babe “Florentina,” a self-described (Romanian-born) “woman of Florence.”

Shorty Award nominations close on January 29th.

New on GastroBuzz: Filter Your Tweets

Josh Friedland — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:33:15 +0000

New feature! A new “view” menu has been added just under the main menu. Now you can view all food tweets on the front page, or just read those by chefs, blogs, or print media.

Chef Gordon Ramsay Gets Schooled on Twitter

Josh Friedland — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:14:08 +0000

The Telegraph reports that celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is planning to make his big debut on Twitter on February 1st. And, to get ready, he says says he’s been getting an education in all the ins and outs of tweeting, following, and retweeting:

“I’ve gone on a Twitter course. I’m just going through all the stages in terms of prep, properly understanding it. I’m doing it personally. . . . It means a lot to me and obviously back out off to the States and the 1st of February we launch … I cannot wait.”