BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Breaking a promise he had made to himself, CBS-TV correspondent Morley Safer apologized publicly Thursday to the people of Buffalo for a nationally broadcast commentary knocking the city.
'You've shamed me, really,' a repentant Safer told officials and a downtown crowd who offered him a warm welcome on Morley Safer Day despite his criticism of the Lake Erie city.
'This whole thing started in fun and I was determined when I came here to not apologize,' he said. 'Having had one of the most gracious and spectacular mornings of my life -- I apologize.'
Safer incurred the wrath of self-conscious Buffalonians -- sensitive to even the most good-natured slight after being rubbed raw for years with jokes about the city's hard winters -- with a commentary on Chinese chefs who traveled to the United States to learn American-style cooking in Buffalo.
'Why Buffalo?' Safer wondered in his broadcast. 'Eight-to-10 hours after eating the Buffalo cuisine, you're still not hungry -- you remember only too well your very last meal.'
Safer also referred to the 'aromatic shores of Lake Erie' and the area's 'chemical cuisine,' apparently a reference to the region's chemical waste problems symbolized by the infamous Love Canal landfill.
He also opined that training the chefs in Buffalo would have dire effects on Sino-American relations.
Safer later said he chose the commentary because Buffalo is not known for its good food.
'When Chinese chefs train in Buffalo, it's a man bites dog thing,' he said.
The broadcast brought a flurry of angry mail and an invitation to tour the city and sample its food from the Buffalo Area Chamber of Commerce, which has launched an agressive booster campaign called 'Talking Proud' that tells Buffalonians to stand up for the city against its misinformed knockers.
'Here I was expecting a scaffold and an angry mob and look what we've got,' Safer said approvingly of his welcome.
'It is interesting to see how the mythology of a city can do great damage,' Safer acknowledged. 'I was writing about the mythology of Buffalo.
'Now that I've seen the reality, it's a great city.'
Safer toured the city and was to eat dinner at the Buffalo Hilton Hotel where the Chinese chefs trained.
The hotel's owner, Clement Chen, who brought the chefs from China, is building a hotel in Peking to cater to American visitors.
Safer agreed to sample the Hilton's food when he decided to come to Buffalo.
'But only,' he said then, 'if you get some Buffalonian to take the first bite.'
