KUALA LUMPUR – The recent World’s Cuisines Ranking released by experiential travel guide TasteAtlas that saw Malaysia positioned a lowly 46th out of 50 countries has courted substantial controversy.
Questions have been raised over whether the methodology used credibly reflects the merits of a country’s delicacies and whether the public should buy into the list.
Social media users and critics were quick to pour scorn on the ranking released by TasteAtlas on June 4, with its announcement on Twitter amassing thousands of negative comments disputing the ranking.
Among the main criticisms was that the survey could be manipulated by fake or biased reviews.
WORLD'S CUISINES RANKING Update (June 2022)
— TasteAtlas (@TasteAtlas) June 4, 2022
Opinions?
Each country's rating is obtained by the users average rating of the 30 best dishes, beverages and food products in that country. Countries that are not on the list do not have enough items rated. pic.twitter.com/iRunTiy1Oo
TasteAtlas has stated that each country’s rating is based on users’ average scoring of 30 of the country’s best dishes, beverages and food products.
Apart from Malaysia’s appalling ranking, users also took issue with the United States’ rather high position in 13th, and the fact that European countries took up seven of the top 10 positions.
In an exclusive comment to The Vibes responding to the criticism, TasteAtlas has defended its methodology in determining the ranking.
The company explained that while users are given a free hand to rate the dishes, it uses artificial intelligence to establish and validate if the ratings that are keyed are genuine, and that scores would only be counted if the user is estimated to be “real”.
“For example, users that give excellent ratings to one country from one location and bad ratings to other countries are eliminated.
There are a number of other criteria according to which the system assesses whether the user is real and well-meaning or whether the bot or voice is nationalistic,” the company said.
According to TasteAtlas’ updated June ranking, Malaysia only managed to obtain an average rating of 4.19 out of a possible 5, with only Egypt, Bolivia, Uruguay and Slovenia recording a worse score.
Italy topped the list with a rating of 4.78, with Greece (4.75), Spain (4.65), Romania (4.57) and France (4.54) rounding out the top five.
Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand are the only other Southeast Asian countries on the list, ranked 14th, 19th and 21st respectively.
TasteAtlas is a Croatian-based project founded by journalist and entrepreneur Matija Babić. It claims itself to be an encyclopaedia of flavours and a world atlas of traditional dishes, local ingredients and authentic restaurants.
To date, the company, comprising a team of about 30 authors and researchers, has catalogued over 10,000 foods and drinks, and some 9,000 restaurants across the globe. – The Vibes, June 9, 2022
