The SF Chronicle's Restaurant Critics Failed Their Ethics Test Once Again

Tina Martin <tina_martin@sbcglobal.net>

To:soleil.ho@sfchronicle.com

Jun 30 at 3:35 PM

Dear Ms. Ho,

I appreciate the fact that "Plant-based options" became part of the restaurant reviews when you came on, but it's really disappointing that you and your team couldn't find a single vegan restaurant to list among the top 100.  It's also alarming that you can address the question "Where do ethics fit in?" without mentioning  plant-based dishes.  

I agree that it's ethical to factor in sexual harassment and assault allegations when going through the list as well as how the restaurant staff are treated.  But it's essential to consider the move to a plant-based diet when considering ethics.  

The way animals are treated in factory farms is unethical.  

It's unethical to expose workers on factory farms to what they have to face. 

 It's not sustainable to have animals given the space that would be their natural habitat if they're going to be used for meat on a planet with more than 7 billion people.

It's unethical to let our habitual diet harm the environment when we could change our habits and move towards a plant-based diet..

I feel sympathetic to you (and slightly envious) that you have to sample so many restaurants in a year, but if you can't make it to vegan restaurants, couldn't you hire a vegan reviewer who could?  

Sincerely,

Tina Martin

Just Egg (from plants, not a chicken)

The Zazie brunch menu didn't look very promising for vegans because it was so heavy on egg dishes, but the server told me that they had "Just Eggs" as a substitute for the kind that torture chickens.  These are, I think, the ones from Hampton Creek--the same that I sampled with Philipe,  Jutta's former student, the bio-tech guy who is making milk in Emoryville!

Boulibar Should Put Vegan on the Menu

My friend Mary and I tried Boulibar, a somewhat price but pleasant restaurant in the Ferry Building.  We shared a pizza--cheese her half, broccoli and beans mine.  We both thought my half was better.
Boulibar should put the vegan version on the menu.  I wonder why they don't.

Soleil Ho's Interview with Ruth

Soleil Ho, the San Francisco Chronicle's new restaurant critic, had a two-age interview with Ruth Reichl in today's Chronicle (Sunday, April 21, 2019), "Ruth Reichl's life in food criticism/The author speaks with Soleil Ho about change."

The vegan movement isn't mentioned at all.

Ruth Reichl recounts how Thomas Keller decided "that if he was going to cook meat, he should have the experience of killing his own animals."  She goes on to acknowledge the "bloody and gruesome" scene that resulted. 

"Rabbits scream like humans," he said, "And this one screamed."  The rabbit tried to escape and his leg broke off.

You'd think that this might lead to a different kind of epiphany from the one that Keller had. Yes, he understood that "food is life itself," but he also decided that he was going to cook "the best rabbits anyone had ever eaten."

Soleil Ho comments that Reichl's boko is about "taking risks and doing things that you're scared of," and Reichl, in the context of publishing unpleasantly revealing features, says "When something terrifies me, I now that it's important."  In the context of the cook's terrifying experience with the rabbits, I'd wish that he had come to the conclusion that it was important NOT to do what he was doing!

The article on Reichl speaks about the "moral questions" that come up:  hunger, the two-tier food system ("writing a column for rich people"), workers in restaurants, race, gender, and social justice for the people who raise our food.

But what about the torture of animals?  What about the workers in factory farms?   What about the environmental degradation?

I'd like to write a letter to the editor about this, but since the San Francisco Chronicle
printed one from me this past week, I doubt they'd print another now.

Stonestown--A Vegan Desert? Another Reader and I Have Our Say

As you can see, I responded to the letter to the editor that commented on an article about the new restaurants at Stonestown.  I dashed the letter off because I had so little time that day and wanted to have my say in time for Earth Day, so I see some things I'd change, but I'm still grateful to have a voice.

Ecru in Rome, April 2019

Open Letter to SF Chronicle on New Restaurant Critic, Soleil Ho

I'd been looking forward to seeing new food critic Soleil Ho's byline in the Food Section, and I certainly wasn't disappointed today!  {Her byline was on absolutely EVERYTHING.}

Like many of your readers who are concerned about climate change as well as the welfare of animals, I support the movement towards a plant-based diet, so I was pleased to see that with each review she gave the plant-based options.  However, I do think it's important to make a distinction between vegetarian and vegan.  Reviewing Chez Panisse she mentions the mediocrity of the vegetarian pastas, which probably have egg or dairy.  It's much easier to find vegetarian dishes than vegan ones in most restaurants, where the idea of vegan is removing cheese or a hard-boiled egg without offering any substitute.  Soleil Ho says, laudably, in reference to bypassing the pizzeria of Charlie Hallowell, accused by former employees of sexual harassment and verbal abuse, that she doesn't want the cost of your pizza to be the pain of others.  Those of us who have seen the pain the dairy industry inflicts upon animals and the environment have lost our appetite for it and have really found some very delicious, satisfying alternatives, which restaurants could stock up on.