Colorado Voices: Don't knock Paula Deen, y'all

[DonCoquixote]

http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_19830843

An excellent article that shows why Diabetics do not need to be demonized, and that hoists Anthony Bourdain on his own drug addle petard.

[stopbush]

1. I like Bourdain. Can't stand Deen.

[TwilightGardener]

2. I like Deen. Can't stand Bourdain.

[tridim]

3. I like Deendain. Can't stand Bour.

[joeybee12]

4. Unrec...

Oh wait, I can't.

Deen makes her money off needless animal suffering...google Smithfield Farms and the Humane Society...

[HockeyMom]

5. Don't like either, but

at least Paula is funny.

[zipplewrath]

6. Not so excellent

Yes, Anthony goes a tad over board. Hyperbole is an effective method for making a point. But the crux of the criticism still stands. She sold an extremely unhealthy diet, long after she was diagnosed, and only found the "courage" to talk about it openly when there was a endorsement to be had.

The author is right, it is easy to go overboard here and re-victimize the victim. Even if we are victims of our own mistakes, some sympathy and understanding is called for. Especially, as you suggest, so as not to dissuade others from taking positive actions. But there was some reason for some raised eyebrows here, because the product originally being sold was known to be hazardous to ones health long before this issued surfaced. And it apparently took a product endorsement to bring it all out into the open.

It does make one go "Hmmmmmm"

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Who's demonizing diabetics? And neither one of them makes food anyone would,...

or should, eat.

I tried to make two of Deen's great recipes and both damn near poisoned me, the cat, two of my neighbors, and a seagull. No matter how I tweaked them, whatever I ended up with was inedible, at best. Both she and Food Network know very well cooking shows are entertainment and hardly anyone actually makes the stuff on TV. The few who do will assume the swill that results is their own fault.

Then, I watched her show one day when she walked up to a chocolate fountain and stuck her tongue in it-- lapped up the chocolate just like a cat at a leaky faucet. OK, who of us hasn't thought about that at a wedding, but actually doing it...

So, now she lets on that she had diabetes YEARS AGO but never mentioned it when slobbering down the bacon fat, butter, grits, and potatoes. Only now, when she has a deal with a drug company, does she say "Oh, by the way..." and while you're at it, get your doctor to prescribe these pills... And here's a new "healthy" diet...

If you thought her deal with Smithfield was hinkey, now you know she can't get sick without making a buck off it.

And Bourdain? Snarky fucker would pick a fight with Julia Child.

Fuck 'em both.

[LynneSin]

9. What he said!

Sorry I have an issue with the hypocrisy. Boudain is a bit of an asshole but at least he isn't a hypocrite

[frogmarch]

11. Excellent! I think

you should send it to the editor of the Denver Post.

Maybe minus the f words, though.

[bullwinkle428]

17. You nailed the most important point. She was diagnosed as a diabetic at least 3 YEARS AGO,

but waited until the ink was dry on that multi-million dollar drug endorsement deal to reveal that fact to the public. Never mind the fact that the swill she'd been promoting for the last three years pushed any number of her loyal viewers further down that dangerous plank poised precariously above the diabetic shark-infested waters.

[librechik]

8. Denver Post on the wrong side again. Shocker.

[msanthrope]

10. If not for Bourdain, I would have missed the infamous Kwaanza Cake debacle....

&feature=player_embedded

[RebelOne]

12. I watch Paula Deen's show for entertainment only.

I would never in a million years cook any of her recipes.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

13. I like Bourdeen can't stand Daine! .............. Sorry, had to do it. nt

[Lint Head]

14. I like James Dean.

[pinboy3niner]

15. You're tearing me apart

[LeftyMom]

16. Her new "healthy" lasagna recipe has eight kinds of cheese in it.

The prior version was breaded and deep fried. I'm pretty sure either one would permit Italy to bomb the shit out of Savannah, Georgia under international law.

Paula Deen's recipes sound only slightly more appetizing than licking a truck stop toilet seat, but the latter might be healthier.

[DonCoquixote]

18. 2 Points

I can agree that Paula should have acted sooner. There are many chefs, like Graham Kerr, who tried to modify their cooking to be healthier. However, a lot of what is thrown at Deen is that she makes Southern cooking, a lot of which is unhealthy because a lot of it is cheap, because it reflected the cheap food most southerners had to live on (and many still do)

Yes, I am sure that if we destroyed every cuisine and replaced it with California Vegan we might be healthier, we would also be poorer, as all that lovely organic produce is expensive. America cannot talk about cklass, especially the fact that class is reflected at the dinner plate. All those Italian pasta dinners, latino Rice dinners, are relfections of the fact that we needed cheap, good carbs. It used to be fat measnt rich, now, rich means THIN, especially if you have the money to blow on glorfied speed to keep you from eating.

As for Tony B, I am angry because this is a man that eats and makes things that would make Paula Dean look like a California Vegan. He also trashed the images of cooks, gloriofying the idea of doing coke binges all night to make it in the biz. If some kid out of culinary school is coking himself to an early grave because that is how Uncle Tony brags that he did it, is tony responsible.?

I like tony because he is honest, which is why the idea of him putting on a halo is disgusting; it's like Mitt Romney saying "corporations are people'; if he is really stupid enough to belive that, he needs to be slapped!

[GoCubsGo]

21. Good points.

I love Tony, and I love, love, love his show. But, you are right, he IS being a bit of a hypocrite. This is a guy who swoons over organ meats and pork products. Many of them are just as bad for you as the stuff Paula Deen makes. He has also mocked vegetarians numerous times on his show, stating that he prefers a meat-laden diet, which is no more "healthy" than the Paula Deen-Southern diet. And, the only reason he quit smoking is because he became a father. I really wish he'd just knock it off with the criticism of other chefs and cooks. But, conflict sells in the ratings game...

[Missy Vixen]

19. Interesting note in midst of article

I'm glad the author of the article mentioned extreme stress contributing to Type II diabetes.

My husband works in the software industry. He's now working as a network engineer; he was previously a systems analyst. He has worked for start-ups most of his career. MOST of his co-workers have been diagnosed with Type II over the years. None had a weight problem, or spent their days cooking and consuming Paula Deen's specialties. My husband loves what he does for a career, but he went back to dealing with hardware and networks, rather than dealing with tech support and unstable software issues. I know there's stress at his office, but not the killer type represented by oh, a boss that calls at 3 a.m. and demands everyone in his department show up at the office. (I wish I were kidding.)

He's happier as a result.

It's nice to see Anthony Bourdain called out here as well. I enjoyed Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential", but it is clear he needs to STFU before he tells ANYONE else what they can or cannot put in their mouths. He doesn't have clean hands in this, either.

Paula Deen is not the Great Satan. If people are going to climb on their high horse and proclaim she should be stoned in the town square for cooking with butter and frying things, they'd best be lining Ben and Jerry up with her, hm?

[DonCoquixote]

20. Thank you

and here is a quote that should be engraved in Gold:
If people are going to climb on their high horse and proclaim she should be stoned in the town square for cooking with butter and frying things, they'd best be lining Ben and Jerry up with her, hm?