Thermomix criticism sparks backlash against blogger Lana Hirschowitz

SHE asked for someone to try to help her “fall in love with” her Thermomix, but what Lana Hirschowitz got in return just about blew her off her chair.

SHE asked for someone to try to help her “fall in love with” her Thermomix, but what blogger Lana Hirschowitz got in return just about blew her off her chair.

For simply stating “I just don’t love the Thermomix” Hirschowitz has endured days of online character assassination, attack and vilification that looks to the non-Thermo user as tantamount to cyber-bullying.

The Facebook pages of Thermomix cooking bloggers lit up with attacks on Hirschowitz at the weekend and the frenzy spilled over to Twitter, where one observer quipped “’sick of people calling it (the Thermomix community) a cult then stop behaving like members of one”.

Hirschowitz wrote a post earlier this month on her no-advertising blog Sharpest Pencil, which was republished on news.com.au, about how buying her $2,000 device turned out not to be “life-changing”, but the vitriolic reaction continues today.

In light of my recent Thermomix debacle @KerriSackville and I had a little er, chat https://t.co/ejWQk72k6R

— Lana Hirschowitz (@lanahirschowitz) March 23, 2015

Of the many insults levelled against her for the post, “scammer” has perhaps been the most personal.

Some commenters alleged she tried to get something out of criticising the kitchen appliance. One person alleged she knew that Hirschowitz was trying to get a NutriBullet for free.

“I don’t even understand how you can ‘scam’ somebody (with a blog post). I just don’t get that at all, I wasn’t asking for money. My blog is not monetised so would make no difference,” said Hirschowitz.

Having been a participant in Thermomix recipe-sharing forums, she was aware that to knock the appliance held up as a cooking holy grail by some buyers was risky.

“I’m almost scared to write this. I feel like I am speaking out against the cult. I worry that I’ll be ostracised like a leper from a community that prays before the Thermomix, but I’m taking the chance,” she wrote in her original post.

The Thermomix is a cult kitchen appliance with a loyal following.

It’s not the first time the costly device, which is sold by “consultants” and not in-store, has hit the social media radar lately.

A February podcast by comedians Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney in which they “pit the latest kitchen appliance moneysuck, the Thermomix, against traditional cooking methods” has been viewed almost 1.5 million times on YouTube.

The brand also suffered a global backlash among consumers after a new model was released late last year with what outraged consumers alleged was “inadequate warning”.

Complaints flooded to the German manufacturer after customers bought the old model for $1939 only days before the new one came out costing just $50 more. Customers alleged consultants told them no new model was imminent.

Lana Hirschowitz says the Thermomix is so untouchable in the eyes of its fans she has been labelled as “brave” today by supporters.

“I’ve had people say ‘you’re so brave to say that about the Thermomix’. It’s not brave – brave is going to war, not saying you don’t like an electrical appliance!”

Originally published as Thermomix criticism sparks backlash against blogger Lana Hirschowitz