HI,
The article I linked to was written by Kate Bernot, who was once a food writer in Chicago. She now lives in Montana. I thought it was interesting how this originated with someone who was not present, though she probably knew people who were there. I will guess they wanted their opinion known without messing their local connections.
I have gone along to press dinners with friends who were writing about them. I was warned in advance these are work dinners with a concentration on documenting their dinner. The pleasure of their company was the drive to and from the event. Dinner was spent watching them take pictures, document their experiences for social media and otherwise fret about details. When dinner was over, we each paid a tip of $20 to the staff.
It was an interesting experience, though not exactly a fun evening and not an experience I needed to repeat too often. It may not the best way to spend an evening, if this is not your work.
As for shilling, in my book (and it is what gets a pulled on this board) is when you have a undisclosed relationship with the restaurant and pretend to be your average customer. Better yet, you are the owner of the establishment pretending to be your average customer. One of the giveaways in that scenario is complimenting a detail customers give scant notice to. In one case it was how well the printed menu looks. Yeah, you'd obsess if you spent a lot of time thinking and planning about it. Otherwise, who cares?
As for why are not more LTH people invited to these dinners. Some years ago, a few players here started blogs. Next thing I know, they are going to these press dinners. I asked a publicist about this who knew full well about LTH. The explanation they were too busy to follow the inside baseball to identify who are influencers and who are not. Whereas a blogger who wrote about food was easier to identify. So we are untouched, because PR people were just a tad bit lazy. I wasn't willing to create a blog just for this.
The last PR driven meal I attended is one I still thank my lucky stars: meeting Jonathan Gold. His daughter attended, who was then a student at University of Chicago, sat at my table. What I came away with how he was a wonderful family man. I was pretty certain with his recent death, he would given everything for another day with his family. My invitation was related to my food history activities. I did see some people from LTH there as well.
Regards,
Cathy2