From public foodie flagellations to mom groups outflixing Netflix
cook for you. Few places put these two obsessions into focus as beautifully as the world of Facebook groups.
I am in many food groups because I like good food and interesting recipes. The good part of food groups is that you learn about new restaurants or delivery outlets, their timings and menus, and often, group members share exciting recipes. But that's where it begins and ends.
For some reason, most people in food groups write posts phonetically. It's like being in a kindergarten class, where you're trying to guess the word being spelt out. Usually, food groups are — yes — manned by men, who take their job seriously. I've seen them tick off hapless women who write down intricate recipes, but shockingly, have added pictures of the dish instead of one, as 'allowed' by admin.
Rarely have I seen adults get pulled up so publicly for their transgressions, and then abjectly apologise and correct their mistakes. But they all have Stockholm Syndrome, and come back for more abuse with their next post.
My other learning is that you should not take the word of strangers when it comes to food recommendations, even objectively. Everyone will be raving about a lobster thermidor, only for me to find that it's a large prawn baked in a corn starch-rich white sauce. Forget Alain Ducasse, even a line cook in France would kill himself at the sight of this thermidor.
What you do see in these groups is their love for taking down restaurants if they didn't enjoy the food, or felt the bill was too high. Social media has created
