Food Blogger Jailed for Complaining About Noodles

Be careful what you blog about in Taiwan. One woman, identified only as Mrs. Liu, learned that lesson the hard way recently, after she complained on her little-read blog about the Sichuan Flavor Beef Noodle Restaurant in Taichung. The place, she wrote, was full of cockroaches, the owner was a “bully,” and the noodles were “too salty.” The enraged owner sued for defamation, the Telegraph reports.

The judge decided that Mrs. Liu was perfectly welcome to complain about the cockroaches—that was a “narration of the facts.” But complaining about the noodles was out of line—she’d only eaten one dish of noodles, he reasoned, and hence wasn’t qualified to pass judgment. For this offense, Liu was sentenced to 30 days in prison and two years of probation, told to apologize, and ordered to pay the restaurant almost $6,900 in compensation. (More Taiwan stories.)