After the events with Paula Deen this week... Which food network star has upset you

[Justice wanted]

or kept you from watching their show again after something they did or said?

I right now have two.


I have not watched Ina Gartner since she refused to cook with a "make a wish" child.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/barefoot-contessa-ina-garten-too-busy-to-meet-with-terminally-ill-child/


The other is Guy Fieri after the accusation of him being homophobic

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2051447/TV-chef-Guy-Fieri-accused-homophobic-producer-fired-Food-Network-show.html


Anyone else turned on a food network personality or any TV personality like that?

[ohiosmith]

1. Rachel Ray. Just because she's so annoying.

[blueamy66]

12. Yes she is.

I'm with ya 100%.

Can she even be called a "chef"?

[GoneOffShore]

31. Not with those knife "skills"

I'm just waiting for SNL to do a Rachel Ray skit in the same way they did Julia Child.

Rachel cutting herself and then being super perky about it as she bleeds all over the food. Maybe couple it with some Twilight or True Blood references.

[sakabatou]

2. Does Gordon Ramsay count?

[Justice wanted]

3. Sure why not he is a chef.

[csziggy]

7. Watching him once without the **bleep** would put me off

[RebelOne]

26. Sorry, but I am a fan of Gordon Ramsey, despite all the "F" words. n/t

[Initech]

50. One of my good friends was on his show.

It was the 2010 - 2011 season. He didn't last very long (got kicked out after the 4th episode) and he didn't really care after finding out what the real prize was.

[sakabatou]

57. What was it?

[Initech]

58. This is what he said.

You certainly get the full $250K but you don't get to run the restaurant for a year. Instead you become the shill for some wine company that sponsors the show. Like they have events (parties, tastings, etc) and they'll have the winner there as the representive like "Meet The Hell's Kitchen Winner" sort of thing. It's certainly not a bad gig but he wanted to run the restaurant, not hawk wine.

[BiggJawn]

4. Guy's homphobic?

With that hair? For real?

[siligut]

5. I used to love Ina . . .

She seemed so comforting. But slowly she has become different and this stuff about being to busy to meet with a make-a-wish child, that does it for me.

[monmouth]

74. I'm still mystified as to what happened with Geoffrey/Jeffrey...I liked him so much..n/t

[murielm99]

6. Why watch any of that crap in the first place?

[siligut]

8. My DH appreciates my cooking, but I can get in a rut

Cooking shows give me ideas and refine my methods.

[pokerfan]

34. I feel the same way

about porn.

[siligut]

65. LOL, I am watching S5 E3 of Californication and Charlie is fondly reminiscing about the old porn

Last edited Mon Jan 23, 2012, 02:18 PM - Edit history (1)

When breasts were real and people still had hair in certain places and before the *A to M stuff. *A$$ to Mouth. I kind of agree with him too.


Edit to correct the episode identifier, in case someone wants to watch it out of interest.

[pokerfan]

75. I agree

I believe the eighties are considered the golden age of porn.

[siligut]

76. Wow, I just noticed the new place to explain edits

I am going to experiment with it next time I make an error.

[blueamy66]

13. Because it entertains me. And I LOVE to cook.

Why watch the Cubs? They're never gonna go to the Series.

To each his/her own, ya know?

[ScreamingMeemie]

71. ...

We all have our own little Achilles Heel.

[Systematic Chaos]

9. All the Food Network is doing is helping make/keep people sick anyway, so fuck 'em.

Nothing but high-fat animal protein fests that promote every one of the west's common illnesses.

[UTUSN]

10. Emeril during the DEEN fracas week

Actually, I don't watch cooking shows and after years of just catching a minute or two of Rachael RAY and finding her annoying, I have succumbed in the past few months just because of her guests, not the cooking.

But during DEEN week, the Emeril dude also beat feet to pick up on the "in moderation" meme, like he was covering his own tracks, throwing in the "in moderation" words in his spiel at every turn. Now it seems to me that the preponderance of the media chefs are guilty of the DEEN egregiousness.

I haven't read all of the threads, posted one of the first ones calling her a dangerous and greedy hypocrite, and I know she has some defenders, but to review: 1) Perhaps her early unhealthy cooking career might have been excused as just ignorance, 2) but she covered up her diagnosis for two or three years and 3) she is changing course plus partnering with a "medical" product to continue to profit.

[blueamy66]

11. I cannot stand Giada and her boobs and her "Italian accent" on every

freaking word.

Just say pasta and parmesano reggiano...quit over-emphasizing the fact that you CANNOT speak a work of Italian.

Oh, and cover your teeth.

Okay, I am done.

[obamanut2012]

19. Giada is 100% fluent in Italiann -- she is a native speaker

Her family came here from Rome when she was a about seven-years-old, and she grew up speaking Italian in the home and visiting her relatives and family friends in Italy all the time.

[blueamy66]

22. and she still OVER enunciates every Italian word..it's so annoying

and she still slaps her boobs all over the place

just cook for cripes sake

[AngryAmish]

77. I like the boob slapping

[Justice wanted]

41. THank you I was just about to say that. She is actually one of the few I can stand.

I also love Alton Brown now he is getting a little annoying to me now

[obamanut2012]

54. Me too!

Love her recipes, and she is also a trained chef.

[blueamy66]

59. she's annoying

freaking annoying

[obamanut2012]

64. That's your opinion, I don't find her so

She is also extremely nice with fans, and has been known to spend several minutes speaking, IN ITALIAN, to people's elderly parents and grandparents at book signings.

[blueamy66]

67. she is still annoying....even while she signs grandparents' books

and where did she find that husband? ugh

[trof]

20. Aw, I watch her once in a while just for a 'cleavage check'.

[blueamy66]

23. there ya go

[trof]

24. My son-in-law says "Her head's too big."

I think he means physically, and not about ego.

[blueamy66]

25. well, one must have a big head to house those teeth

[Rhiannon12866]

62. There was a previous discussion here on DU about her

And folks were commenting then about the size of her head. I often like her recipes, but I haven't seen her since then without thinking of that...

[Amerigo Vespucci]

30. 75,910 YouTube viewers have watched her once in a while for a different reason

Of course, it COULD just be ONE person who's watched the clip 75,910 times.

[trof]

35. I've always thought 'there MUST be a better way to mash grapes'.

yuk
FEET?
TOE JAM?
How about your elbow?

[jmowreader]

48. The part of my family that makes wine, uses a washboard

I have a rather large contingent of Italians in my family tree, direct from Calabria in the old country. When they emigrated to the United States, they brought all the possessions they could fit in the wine barrel...so this thing must be 150 years old, at least. Anyway, if you manage to get it one year, it comes with the washboard they use to break the skins on the grapes. (We don't squeeze the grapes to extract the juice; we break the skins, throw the grapes and whatever small amount of juice happens to escape during the skin-breaking into the barrel, and let the weight of the grapes crush the ones on the bottom.)

Before washboards were invented, the Puccis would mash the grapes with their hands, once again just to break the skins.

Then came Uncle Skip and his winery...when he decided to start making dago red for money (okay, he didn't call it that but how else do you describe a winery that only makes zinfandel, the standard dago red grape?) he bought a hydraulic press and got written out of at least three Puccis' wills.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

47. omg..you forgot her HUGE head and hands

and how they pan in on them. My son knows I hate her and went out and bought a mag with her huge ass head on it just to irk me

I can not stand her. Her food is incredibly uninspired and she talks like she is talking to a third grader.

What's worse is when she is a judge on that Next Food Network star. she is so sanctimonious.

[blueamy66]

60. but she uses

PARMESANO REGGIANOOOOOO


She should just cook and stop talking.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

61. yes, but you'd still have to see them zoom in on her

big hands chopping an onion - like no one watching knows how to chop an onion.

Wish they would have more shows that just zoom thru all that

I actually love Emeril's food. He really took a nose dive. If you get to eat
at his restaurants, the man knows how to make great tasting food

[siligut]

66. Anthony Bourdain called her a bobble-head.

She does seem to have a huge head and, from what I have read, should not be on the tube, it is her famous family that has kept her on TV.

[blueamy66]

68. thanks for the laugh on this Monday morning

a bobble head....hysterical!

Do they really have bobble heads with those big teeth???

[siligut]

69. I think they do exaggerate certain features

And Giada does have a lot to exaggerate .

[UnrepentantLiberal]

15. Is there a celebrity chef who isn't in love with themself?

Guy Fieri annoys me more than the rest.

[RebelOne]

27. I am not a fan of Guy's, but I do love the rest of the chefs on Food Network.n/t

[TreasonousBastard]

16. Are there any more "Stars"...

Whenever I have time to watch, it's just Fieri and his diners. Don't get the Cooking Channel here.

(I truly miss Ingrid Hoffman, Mario Batali, and Alton Brown. Brown and Batali were encyclopedic in their knowledge of food, and Hoffman, well...)

[Justice wanted]

44. Alton is around still but basically producing and hosting Iron Chef. I don't think he is doing Good

Eats anymore.

[graywarrior]

17. I can't stand any of them

[obamanut2012]

18. The Ina Gartner thing isn't true

It's too long for me to write right now, because I have to go somewhere, but that is NOT what happened at all. She was unfairly maligned by the child's mother, and Make-A-Wish was very angry it happened, because Ina gives a huge amount of time and money to their organization every year.

[kurtzapril4]

39. Thank you!

And WHERE is it written that a celebrity has to meet with ailing children? Why should they? If they can fit them into their schedule, fine. If not, so what?

[UnrepentantLiberal]

40. PPR waiting to happen?

[obamanut2012]

53. TMZ and the other online gossip sites destroyed her

The Mother is the one who wanted Ina. The child was very young (5 or 6, I think). Also, the child was not terminal, and was basically well by the time of the third request. MAW had already denied the request twice. I'm trying to remember exactly, but I believe the mother contacted Ina's agent directly the last time, and she was told Ina was on a book tour. The woman then wrote it on her blog.

MAW was, apparently, ticked, especially since their name was used, and because Ina does alot for them and other charities.

When Ina found out about all of this, the very day after TMZ got it, it was too late. That's when MAW got involved.

There was something else nutty about the mother, but cannot remember.

Of course, what actually happened got little press.

I am not an Ina fan, but I thought this was ridiculous.


on edit: I agree, celebrities do not have an obligation to "perform" at will. Mila Kunis was very gracious and went to the Marine Ball, but alot of people think she was forced to do it to an extent (just as an example),

[TigerToMany]

21. Don't like Bobby Flay

For some reason he rubs me the wrong way, and plus 90% of his food is meat. It's hard to watch his show for more than 30 seconds without wanting to puke.

Also Mario Batali - just comes off as being a really macho, arrogant Italian guy.

[Myrina]

28. Can't stand Fieri ....

.... really, the pimp jewelry, the arm band and the backwards sunglasses? In addition to the hair? How old is he? Creepy-jeebies.

Since the channel devotes 2 or 3 nights a week entirely to his Diners and Drive-in's show, I've basically stopped watching.

I do enjoy Good Eats on the Cooking Channel, though; love Alton Brown's 'science behind the food' approach.

[DinahMoeHum]

33. Guy Fieri - the Liberace of the culinary circuit.

n/t

[UnrepentantLiberal]

37. Maybe that's why he doesn't want to be around gay men.

Too tempting?

[DinahMoeHum]

45. Actually, it's all that bling he wears. . .

just like Liberace used to.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

29. Barefoot Contessa because of the Make A Wish kid

That was pretty much unforgivable. She's 63 years old. Barring a small miracle, that kid's not going to make it to 63. She should be ashamed of herself. Maybe she is. Maybe she isn't.

[Arugula Latte]

32. I can't STAND Guy Fieri.

Everything about him rubs me the wrong way. His attitude. His I'm-too-cool schtick. The revolting-looking food he eats on that horrible Diners show. His stupid hair. Everything. If he is homophobic that just makes him even more repulsive to me.

[Arugula Latte]

70. Why doesn't Guy just legally change his name to "Giant Douchebag" and be done with it?

[YellowRubberDuckie]

36. Giada bugs the snot out of me.

I have trouble with chefs who are that skinny. It's just a thing.

[mrs_p]

38. The thing with Ina was blown out of proportion.

Here is a statement from the child's mom:

http://www.angelsforenzo.com/pleasestopthemadness.htm

And a little on the back story:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2011/03/barefood-contessa-ina-garten-to-meet-host-one-of-her-youngest-fans.html

[UnrepentantLiberal]

43. I find this hard to believe.

The second time the request was made, Garten's representatives --unbeknown to her --gave the family a "definite no."

[obamanut2012]

55. I posted a long explanation upthread

Saying this. Thanks for the links! I think Ina was treated very shabbily.

[HopeHoops]

42. None. I don't watch that shit and can out-cook any of them.

Boast I do not. I seriously can out-cook anyone. I'm that good.

[Initech]

52. I don't watch it either but the Paula Deen thing really bugs me.

Because rather than educating people on the dangers of eating everything covered in a stick of butter, deep fried and covered with bacon and sour cream, she's hawking dangerous pharmaceutical drugs that haven't been proven to unsuspecting people.

[HopeHoops]

63. Ouch. Hadn't heard that about her.

[kurtzapril4]

46. Not mad at "Pauler" at all.

At least about the diabetic part. Her hucksterism is disconcerting, though. I heard a few years ago that she was diabetic, so I wasn't really shocked when she said she was. I am kind of surprised at the poutrage, though. While you cannot get Type II diabetes from eating fatty or sugary foods, I think anybody with half a brain would know that she does not cook healthy food, and that you cannot eat like that all the time.

I don't like Guy Fieri, I think he's an idiot, but I do like Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. I've eaten at a couple of the restaurants he has featured, and they were both excellent. I hope to visit others.

My favorite chef is Elie Krieger. She makes healthy food that is excellent and looks good. She acts like a normal person, too! Her show is on @ 8:00 am CST on the Cooking Channel.

[Ilsa]

56. I have a cookbook by Elie,

But I haven't used it much because my kids hate eating healthy! I loved her show, though.

The last one I watched was from California, and she cooked Baja Ca food. Really good Mexican food. Very simple, too, but her over-enunciation bothers me also, like she's trying to prove she's Hispanic.

I also like Rick Bayless and America's Test Kitchen chefs. Nothing pretentious in their behavior. I skip the Food Network now.

[kentauros]

49. Is the owner of the Food Network a star?

If so, I'm mad at them. Their method of operating their "network" is that if you have the monetary means to produce your own series, then and only then will they give you a chance to have it aired. They offer no funding of their own. So, there are no vegetarian shows. That alone may not be the reason that there aren't any veggie shows, but they also won't get underwritten by a big meat producer, either.

Also, I have less than zero interest in competition shows, so really no reason to watch that channel.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

51. Two Fat Ladies is cool.

[geardaddy]

72. I loved them.

And Jacques and Julia.

All the others can go screw.

[geardaddy]

73. This is the best cooking show.

Minty: Next week on Posh Nosh, we'll be taunting an aubergine.

Minty Marchmont: When your chicken is noblesse oblige, embarrass a leg and some décolletage and disenfranchise,
[tosses them aside]
Minty Marchmont: and twirl some flakes into the pan sweat.

[Divameow77]

78. Sandra Lee

I cannot believe somebody hasn't said her yet, lol.

I'm also suprised I don't see more hate towards Bobby Flay.

I used to watch Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller, but I don't think it's on anymore. I really liked her.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

79. Can't stand people who just stir in a bunch of ingredients haphazardly just to see what comes up

Yes, Rachel Ray I'm talking to you...
Guy Fieri is out... at least for me

I'm Italian (born and raised) and I've championed the cause of real Italian food (as opposed to the Olive Garden type) in the U.S. (admittedly, a very frustrating cause).

I love Lidia Bastianich for several reasons. Firstly, she is actually Italian (well, technically from Istria) and she cooks reasonably true Italian stuff, not the Olive Garden/100% Garlic crap that so many others peddle. Secondly, she shows you the areas where the food comes from, showing a bit about manufacturing and artisanship for cheeses, meats, dairy, etc. Thirdly, she's not skinny and enjoys a good wine. There's an old Italian (or maybe French) proverb that goes along the lines of "Do not trust a skinny chef."

Giada's Italian cuisine has more of an Italian-American influence. While I don't despise her, I prefer Lidia for a more authentic feel.

Lidia, as well as her son and Mario Batali, is a co-owner of Eataly in NYC, the subsidiary of the Eataly in Torino (Turin).

[Lydia Leftcoast]

80. The whole idea of a network devoted entirely to food seems decadent

Watching other people cook? Nah.

Years ago, I saw an interview on PBS with an American woman who had married a Chinese during the 1930s and moved to China. She lived there all through World War II and the Maoist era, including the Cultural Revolution.

The interviewer asked her what people talked about socially during the Cultural Revolution, when it was possible to be arrested, exiled, even killed, for saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. She said that they talked about food, because Chinese culture has always valued fine food, so they would exchange recipes and talk about where to buy the best vegetables or which region's tea was best.

It was the only safe topic.

Are we getting there?