Diner en Blanc organisers accept responsibility for PR fiasco

SINGAPORE: The Singapore organisers of the highly—anticipated pop—up picnic, Diner en Blanc or "White Party", have accepted responsibility for the online uproar over a comment about local food.

A statement posted on its official webpage on Wednesday said the comment was wrong and was "withdrawn, corrected and apologies tendered", but the "damage lingers".

Diner en Blanc is organised worldwide, and requires participants to dress entirely in white and bring their own food.

Singapore is the first country in Asia to host the event.

The controversy started when a local food blogger, Daniel Ang, wrote a post recommending Singaporean dishes, including tau hway and chicken rice, for the event.

Mr Ang subsequently wrote that he was asked by organisers to take down the post as "local delicacies were not in line with the image of the picnic".

Mr Ang also put up a screen grab supposedly taken from Diner en Blanc Singapore’s Facebook page, which said that local food was not permitted at the event.

He also claimed that he, along with other bloggers, were uninvited from the exclusive event.

Mr Ang’s post sparked a huge uproar online among netizens and bloggers over the weekend, with some calling for a boycott of the event.

Diner en Blanc Singapore has since clarified that all food is welcome.

It added it will review its communication guidelines.

— CNA/cc