Not Writing About Sam Talbot

By David Rattiner

3 minute 01/24/2012

You know Sam Talbot…he’s the Executive Chef at the Surf Lodge in Montauk, a semi-finalist on Bravo’s Top Chef (and voted Fan Favorite on the show, to boot), a supporter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, a man who’s successfully built a following as a celebrity chef through his talent in the kitchen as well as via sharp public relations. Now he is holding a contest in order to get bloggers and food writers to draw attention to his new book, his work, etc. What’s the prize? A signed copy of said book. Here’s how he explains it on his website:

Your blog could include his new book The Sweet Life, his charity The Sweet Life Kitchen, or his executive chef duties at the Surf Lodge in Montauk. These are suggestions but not requirements. Blogs that exude knowledge of Sam and his background that tie in what he is about will be given winning consideration. Please be as creative and interesting as possible! Please note that blogs that contain “gossip” or cross personal boundary lines will not be considered. Outside of these parameters, please feel free to go in whatever direction you like with your blog!

Okay. I for one am not going to fall into the trap set by Sam Talbot, marketing genius. I won’t write about the book nor the contest to win the book, not about how The Sweet Life: Diabetes Without Boundaries shares not just 75 recipes but also real-world anecdotes from Talbot and such famous diabetics as Halle Berry, not about how his charitable event The Sweet Life Kitchen launched last year to raise awareness and research funding for JDRF, and certainly not about…

Update:

Sam has already changed the contest instructions. See here: http://www.samtalbot.com/news/sam-blog-contest/

A spokesperson for Chef Talbot responded to me in an e-mail after writing the post this morning:

“The contest was meant to be a way to further engage bloggers and those interested about the issues Sam supports such as diabetes awareness, healthy cooking and sustainable seafood. Unfortunately, the way the contest was written and presented, it was taken in a far different manner. We apologize for the misunderstanding and did not mean to offend anyone. Sam’s site has posted revised contest instructions. Thanks.”