Food for thought? Taiwanese critic jailed after negative restaurant review

A Taiwanese food critic has been jailed and fined - for criticising food.

The blogger was sentenced to a month of detention and two years probation after making comments that a High Court judged ‘exceeded reasonable bounds’.

These comments included the writer stating that the Taichung noodle restaurant in question had cockroaches in its kitchen and that its dishes were ‘too salty.’ In addition to her sentencing, the blogger, surnamed Liu, will have to pay up NT$200,000 (€482).

The restaurant owner, surnamed Yang, that took up the case against Liu has said that the ruling will "teach her a lesson". Liu had described the owner as a 'bully' in the review, which was written in July 2008. By the sounds of things, she was completely right.

After publishing the review, the article received over 60,000 hits and according to Mr Yang, meant that he constantly had to field questions from potential customers regarding the sanitary conditions and cuisine quality of his establishment.

Health officials that visited the restaurant did not spot any cockroaches and deemed the conditions sanitary, meaning that the High Court ruled that the NT$200,000 fine would cover revenue lost from the publishing of the article.

We're sure that hefty imposition left a worse taste in Liu's mouth than the food did to begin with.

[Pic via eazy traveler/Flickr]