Michael Ruhlman, on Bourdain's Food Network Rant
Michael Ruhlman discusses the online fuss generated by Anthony Bourdain's thoughts on the Food Network's hosts: "And the passion itself—over shows you don’t even have to watch. You’ve got to listen to George Bush; you don’t have to listen to Rachael. My god people care about this stuff. But will the food network listen? Not likely. They work according to their own methods, whatever those are. They’ve made their decisions based on something, and that something has resulted in the peculiar offerings addressed in Tony’s post. Clearly they know that the way to America’s vast girth is through mediocrity."
(Who's your most/least favorite food personality on Food Channel? is still a hot topic in Serious Eats: Talk, go add your two cents if you haven't already!)
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4 Comments:
Least favorite? Rachel Ray...no contest. Hands down. Why exactly does this woman have a network talk show? I'm baffled. The fact that we have to refer to these people as "food personalities" is frightening. It's a FOOD network! Can we bring back some chefs, please!
misssbhavens at 2:32PM on 02/15/07
I was hitherto blissfully unaware of Mr. Bourdain's rant. Much of what he says has merit, but he's so obnoxious that he makes me inclined to disagree with him simply because he's objectionable.
I abhor a lot of the Food Network's programming. Especially things like The Secret Life of ... and anything else where there's no actual cooking going on. ("Today we're showing you the top five foods that begin with Q!) That said, I don't think that chefs need to be the only people who have shows. There is a significant difference between what a chef does every day and what an excellent home cook does every day. It's entertaining to watch a chef be a chef, but it doesn't necessarily show you anything you can do in your own kitchen.
As for least favorite show, I really don't mind Rachel Ray at all, but Sandra Lee gets on my very last nerve. People really don't need to be encouraged to use cake mixes and prepackaged cookie dough or whatever.
anapestic at 3:40PM on 02/15/07
Frankly, I don't know why so many people knocking down Rachel Ray. I am not a great fan of hers, but at least she is not pretending to be something she's not. As Tony Bourdain mentions, she is telling us outright that she is not a chef. I don't know about you people, but for me personally, to put together a fancy-shmancy meal after a long day at the office + long commute + shopping for fresh stuff is just not doable on a daily basis. So I forgive Rachel for aspiring to simplicity, sometimes it just plain works.
Mr. K at 5:20PM on 02/15/07
Bourdain is God! Ray is the single most annoying person on television regardless of genre!
shawmor at 1:59PM on 09/29/08