Barbaric Yelp

A Chef Went After an Ultracritical Yelper on Live Radio

Chef Vikram Vij
Chef Vikram Vij Photo: George Pimental/Getty Images

Chefs raging against petty reviewers never really works out, but this one has a twist: CBC Radio hosted a confrontation of sorts between chef Vikram Vij and Raj Basdeo, a Yelper who says he’s a “gastronomic populist with an elitist twist,” which gives you some idea of where this is going. Badeo said he visited four times between 2006 and 2010, but only left this one-star slam last month. In it, he rambles about a “Faustian stroke of treachery” and “ghastly and flavourless concoction of oiliness” before saying his money should’ve gone toward wells in Darfur. For his part, Vij took the on-air opportunity to say the thrashing didn’t hurt him as much as it affects the busboys and dishwashers whom he has to fire when customers stop showing up.

Coincidentally, this isn’t even the first time in recent weeks that a confrontation has gone down over food and drink live on CBC. Earlier in December, a pair of hotheaded Canadian vineyard owners literally came to blows on the show This Is That, during an on-air taste test gone awry that sounds like it was written by Garrison Keillor.

[CBC via Eater]

A Chef Went After an Ultracritical Yelper on Live Radio