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Audrey Zenner Writing 2 28 January 2020 Yelp Restaurant Reviews as a New Genre

Audrey Zenner Writing 2 28 January 2020 Yelp Restaurant Reviews as a New Genre When asked to investigate a new genre, one of my favorite activities came to mind: eating. Specifically, exploring new places to eat at. One way that I find new restaurants is through the Yelp application and website. This websiteA constant throughout history is the importance of food. People gather and bond over meals, and they can carry cultural or emotional significance. It should make sense then that there exist many types of writing that revolve around food. From recipe books to entire magazines, people write and read about food for all sorts of different reasons. One important reason to read about food is to decide where to get it from. Today, a popular platform for picking restaurants is using an application called Yelp. Yelp was created to give consumers a platform to leave reviews of businesses for others to read and consider before going to that business. Yelp reviews diverged from the similar genres that preceded it by changing conventions and rhetorical situations. Other generations have employed different formsSome of the types of writing to make informed decisions about where to eat. Some of the that past tools that people generations used in this situation arewere newspaper restaurant reviews, and Michelin Guidebooks. Among other sources, these two publications can be categorized as antecedent genres, or genres that came before the discussed genre. These two antecedent genres are similar to Yelp restaurant reviews in that they serve the same broad purpose of guiding the decision of where to eat, however they differ greatly in the other two parts ofwhen the rhetorical situation is examined more closely. As we know from learning about Bitzer’s definition of rhetorical situations, audience, purpose, and writer play a very important part in determining genre.1 The audienceThese three distinctions can entirely change a piece of newspaper reviewswriting and they are the Michelin Guide is confinedkeys to people who are paying fordifferentiating between genres. The purpose drives the newspaper or book, whereaswriting and provides a reason to write in the audiencefirst place. Changes in author can completely redirect and alter a type of Yelp restaurant reviews is much broader and includes anyone with internet access. Another factor that guides genre formation is the writerwriting, as we learned from Bunn’s article How to Read Like a Writer. Bunn’s argumentBunn argues that the choices and techniques the author uses directly impact your experience as a reader, which is clearly reflected in the change in writers from newspaper reviews and the Michelin Guide, to Yelp reviews of restaurants.2 The authors of newspaper restaurant reviews are limited to columnists, while the writers of the Michelin Guides are mystery reviewers, and the writers of Yelp reviews are regular, everyday people. 3 In order to examine the way changes in both audience and authorrhetorical situation have contributed to the development of this new genre, I will examine three different reviews of the same local restaurant here in Santa Barbara. Mesa Verde is a restaurant that boasts “modern plant-based cuisine” from local farms, and has been reviewed by the Michelin Guide online, the Santa Barbara Independent, and 1647 Yelp reviewers.4 First, let’s take a look at the Yelp reviews of Mesa Verde restaurant. The writers of Yelp reviews are ordinary people who ate at this restaurant, as will soon become clear with some 1 Lloyd Bitzer, The Rhetorical Situation, (University Park, Penn State University Press, 1968). 2Mike Bunn, How to Read Like a Writer, (2011). 3Mike Bunn, How to Read Like a Writer, (2011). 4Mesa Verde Restaurant, www.mesaverderestaurant.com. review examples. One reviewer, Jessica K., displayed the use of slang in Yelp reviews: “The caper berries are CLUTCH. The Cashew Grilled Cheese Sandwich is BOMB. Polenta Fries - YUM”.5 The use of words like “clutch,” “bomb” and “yum,” in addition to irregular capitalization and grammar rules, shows the difference in conventions from antecedent genres. Changing conventions accentuate the change in authorship to your average Joe. The second thing to take note of in these Yelp reviews is the audience that they are aimed for. and purpose they serve. After reading many reviews, I noticed two audiences: the restaurant owners and possible future customers. The owners were mostly addressed when the customers wanted to air their grievances: “Get over yourselves guys. Serving vegan food doesn't make you super humans. Treat your customers [with] less rudeness and a maybe a little politeness”.4 Alternately, authors addressed future customers to give recommendations: “Whatever you are into for food they've got something you love and if you still have room for dessert try the baklava. To die for!”.4 This second type of audience is mainly people considering going to a restaurant near them and wondering what to order. These distinctions in audience lead directly into the multiple purposes of Yelp reviews. Broadly, the overarching goal of these reviews is to share their experience during a meal. What is unique about the rhetorical situation of Yelp reviews is that the audience and the author are very closely related to each other. These reviews could even be thought of as messages from the author to their past self (the reader), giving advice that they would have liked to have known before their meal. This relationship between author, purpose, and audience differs greatly from those of its antecedent genres. The As an antecedent genre, the Michelin Guide review has a handful ofsome similarities to Yelp reviews, and also has several noticeable differences from the Yelp reviews. One thing 5Mesa Verde Yelp Page, www.yelp.com/biz/mesa-verde-santa-barbara worth noting. Something to note is that the actual print Michelin Guide costs money, so I will be referring to their website instead of their book. However, the overall tone and most of the conventions remain the same, so I feel comfortable extrapolating my conclusions. The authorauthors of the Michelin Guide are anonymous inspectors who are thoroughly trained in the culinary arts and must go through official training in France.6 The change in composer from the antecedent genre of the Michelin Guide to Yelp reviews is a large part of the reason why Yelp reviews of restaurants should be considered a new genre. Michelin reviewers tend to use more formal language and be more informed on the particulars of the food. An example is the Michelin review of Mesa Verde, in which the inspector refers to the “umami” of the burger and specific details such as the crispness of the lettuce. 78 A professional reviewer is much more likely to be critical and note details with that level of precision. This antecedent genre also aims to reachaccomplish a very different audiencegoal than other genres. The Michelin Guide was originally created to increase tire sales by convincing people to drive more to the restaurants recommended by the guidebooks. Even today, their website states that their focuses are “driving, tourism, and the search for unforgettable experiences”.9 This is very different from the average Yelp user who is simply looking for somewhere to grab a meal nearby. The original goal was to encourage tire sales through tourism and increased driving, and although tire sales are no longer the main purpose of Michelin reviews, tourism still is. With that in mind, it makes more sense that Michelin pays experts to write reviews for their publication. Their goal is to generate spending in an economic sector, 6 https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-the-michelin-guide-2014-10 7 https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/california/santa-barbara/restaurant/mesa-verde 8 https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/california/santa-barbara/restaurant/mesa-verde 9 https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/california/about-us which makes them more willing to invest money on the front end through educated reviews. The audience is anyone who is considering traveling for a good meal, which aligns with the purpose. This genre is aimed towards readers who have the time and disposable income to read a longer review and spend more money on transportation and their meal. Lastly, let’s consider newspaper restaurant reviews as an antecedent genre to Yelp reviews. The first change in rhetorical situation is author. The writers of newspaper reviews are paid journalists and columnists who write about food for a living, whereas the creators of Yelp restaurant reviews are people with little to no experience writing full-length reviews of restaurants. A more experienced newspaper columnist might write with more descriptive and grammatically correct language and be sure to touch on all the points that someone might want to know about a restaurant. Yelp reviewers, on the other hand, mostly focus on a few parts of the dining experience based on their own impressions of the restaurant and use less than perfect grammar. An example in the Santa Barbara Independent is Matt Kettmann, a senior editor and author of a quick review of Mesa Verde titled, Street Taco @ Mesa Verde.10 Kettmann writes regularly for his job, and often writes short and snappy articles about food. Similarly to the Yelp review writers, he knows how to get a lot of information into a small amount of words, but unlike the Yelp reviewers he makes his writing sound professional. The audience of restaurant reviews in newspapers distinguishes itself from the Yelp audience, which also uploads/Geographie/ wp1-comparison.pdf