The lack of meaning in Gastronomic Communication

What the heck is “casual fine dining”?

As my readers know, I do not harbour the slightest compassion or understanding for most Gastronomic Communicators. Especially for Instagram butterflies that frolic in Gastronomic Events and Launching Lunches and Advs and Hashtag Sponsored and all the bullshit circus of events of any shape, sort or form.

There, I said it.

The lack of meaning in their communication is mind-blowing. The lack of content these “content creators” are peddling is an abyss into the nothingness gastronomy will soon become if we do not start investing brain power in thinking.

Any Digital Creator, Entrepreneur, or whatever bullshit title anybody wants to put on themselves is bullshit.

It is bullshit because none of these people can legitimately call themselves gastronomers. It does not matter what title one has. It matters how one positions himself or herself, and all these people want to be Digital Creators first, foremost, and last.

They create contentless shells that only function for a fraction of a second, and they appear online in the form of reels or stories. They do not outlive their short lifespan—as articles, blog posts, and books, which could even outlive their authors.

Nope.

Content Creators are bound to be vessels of emptiness, and their words and images are meaningless noise in a mounting inconsistency and incontinence of brain farts coming from every communication agency trying to sell a shrinking number of customers a dream.

Why shrinking?

Because customers are becoming stupider, unengaged, and relentless. There is already a growing gastronomic fatigue.

And someone thought of a brilliant idea: putting back casual into fine dining.

The Rise and Not Yet Fall of Casual Fine Dining

As if we did not have enough with white cotton socks and sandals everywhere.

In one sentence, “casual fine dining” is a marketing gimmick that, paired with the decreasing purchasing power of the aspirational middle class, is actively killing fine dining.

Do you remember pre-2020 when fashion brands still had a meaning? People would have the ambition to (buy a Birkin bag, purchase some Prada clothes, you name it).

Now, the only people you see purchasing “fashion” brands are non-Europeans.

What are Europeans buying: artisanal clothing, small productions, new and sustainable brands.

A complete overturn.

And actually, in many ways these new smaller brands make use of better sartorial tailors and experts than your average Armani, using sweatshop hands to produce their clothes (you notice by the stitches, the cuts, everything). There’s more in common between any Dolce and Gabbana and Zara than, let’s say, an Etsy artisan and them both.

Similarly in dining, the growing number of sustainable restaurants, fun dining and homely eateries is outnumbering fine dining. Maybe on the kitchen the chefs are as impeccable as in a fine dining, but good lord the service is completely different.

So much so that some restaurants started positioning themselves as “casual fine dining” as this wouldn’t be an oxymoron (it is, but people prefer to play ignorant and go with a catchy marketing flow than connect their remaining neurons).