What a Long, Strange Trip . . .

Axel, a marketing rep from TripAdvisor, called me recently. He wanted to discuss upping Etzlenu’s profile on their website. With zero reviews, zero advertising, and zero premium package, I have no profile on the TripAdvisor site. I felt duly chastised. I needed deliverance. I wanted to be liked.

I have to say, it was an impressively-structured 45-minute sales pitch. We reviewed my current presence on their site and discussed what pictures needed to be there. We discussed the concept of our menu and which dishes probably should be highlighted. He made suggestions of the three things he thought should be highlighted: the contemporary, southern cuisine; the close, personal attention to our guests, and, finally, our crabcakes. That last one threw me a bit, but so be it. And then we reviewed a steakhouse restaurant in Dubai, as a poster child for what Axel and TripAdvisor could do for me.

It’s been over 50 years since Marshall McLuhan came out with h is famous pronouncement that “the medium is the message,” but I still haven’t gotten the memo. Or perhaps I’ve gotten the memo but just don’t know what to make of it. Or perhaps I know what to make of it, but just don’t want to join in. Whatever the case, I know I need to market my business, because otherwise it will largely cease to exist (at least as a business). On the other hand, I really really really don’t want to be a part of all this craziness.

At the end of Hesse’s Siddhartha, the title character can be found along the banks of a river, where he ferries folks from one side of the river to the other. That’s always been a guiding trope for me in this food journey — being there to ferry others for a short while. No profile ranking, no carousel of pictures, no star-rating system. Just ferrying folks from one side of the river to the other.