Awkward Moments With Paula Deen
Paula Deen's trademark cackle and urge to fry everything can be endearing. But her business partnership with Smithfield foods? Now that's offensive, at least for some animal rights activists in Washington this weekend. She was in town for the convention center's second annual Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining show, and during her first cooking demo—she had three, each of which were sold-out with more than 500 in attendance—protesters scattered about the crowd and started yelling out against Smithfield.
"What's that they're saying?" She tried to zero in on chants but wasn't too successful in the huge auditorium. Security guards quickly yanked out the activists. They were dressed in average street clothes and got an early start that morning, protesting while in line for the 11 a.m. show. Why? According to vegetarian literature at GoVeg.com, Smithfield kills more pigs "than any other company in the world" and treats them pretty badly. Pumping the animals with so many drugs and hormones that the poor piggies can "hardly walk, and about one in five die before they can be sent to slaughter."
But this wasn't the only unexpected weirdness at the Paula portion of the trade show. Major tension charged the stage chemistry between her and husband Michael Groover, the white-bearded, Santa-reminiscent tugboat pilot from Savannah. As his wife babbled on and on about the mundane ("Mmm, gumbo") and the more serious (her agoraphobia, which she suffered from for 20 years and left her housebound), he got progressively more tomato-red and embarrassed.
The pinnacle was her kitchen metaphor to sleeping with him. Her "oven" can't bake anymore bread, she admitted, (no third sons, apparently), "but we'll keep trying, right honey?" She kept pinching his cheeks and attempting wet sloppy kisses, but Groover stood on stage deadpan urging her to "start cooking." Oftentimes, he interrupted her mid-sentence, "get over here and cook, Paula."
Deen hardly touched a pan the entire show. Mostly, she just shoved the demoed gumbo and pumpkin gooey butter cakes into her mouth, prepared by local Stratford University culinary instructors. By the end, she was cackling while escorted off stage, ready to sign books around the corner. A very long chain of adoring fans formed, as if in line for a Stones concert. Some people even paid money to get up closer. Oh, Paula.
About the author: Erin Zimmer, Serious Eats's Washington, D.C., correspondent, is a just-graduated Georgetown gal following her nose about town as Washingtonian magazine's Dining intern and Best Bites blogger. She got her start as the Hoya campus paper's food columnist, and since entering "real person-hood" has ached for her dining hall's omelet station.
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8 Comments:
Smithfield is also bad for workers...
emily20008 at 12:25PM on 11/05/07
Paula is an earthy person by reputation. I have a friend that accompanied her on a book tour 2 years ago. She said that Ms Deen was a saucy southern gal. This confirms everything I heard.
Paula appeals to home cooks with her warm, friendly, earthy manner. I just dig her personality, but not her cooking. The fried butter balls
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_34925,00.html
was an SE thread http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2007/04/paula-deen-is-trying-to-kill-u.html
I have the original set of Paula's cook books that I got as a gift
http://www.amazon.com/Lady-Savannah-Country-Cookbook-Collection/dp/0812965221/ref=pd_bbs_5/104-1615079-9672764?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194285342&sr=8-5
I use them as a reference when I am cooking low country.
Pork is a big deal, and Smithfield is a huge employer in NC. I don't think you will see Ms Deen walk away from her nicely compensated endorsement. She has built a brand around her name and that brand is going strong.
JerzeeTomato at 12:59PM on 11/05/07
Interesting story, Erin. In checking the web site for the conference, looking at the information about its founder and the list of sponsors and presenters, I suspect there's yet another story here. I wonder if Paula Deen was featured because this is a start-up venture, or if the founder of the trade show truly admires this particular celebrity for her contributions to the culinary world. Smithfield seems like a good match.
Eliz. at 2:05PM on 11/05/07
OH MY GOD! I never thought that I'd have to think about Paula's "oven"...
jonfoxx at 2:38PM on 11/05/07
My boyfriend would leave me for Paula in a heartbeat.
I wonder if this will change his mind or speed up his departure.
LoDega at 3:12PM on 11/05/07
Paula Dean's deal with Smithfield is, in every sense, reprehensible. Smithfield is a massive polluter whose factory farms in North Carolina and elsewhere are environmental disasters. If you're unfamiliar with them, read this recent Rolling Stone article and you'll get a better feel for how slimy this company really is.
Do yourself a favor, find some local farmers who raise pastured pigs, and buy their pork products. I guarantee you they will taste better than any pork product you can get in the grocery store, many of which come from Smithfield, and you will know that you aren't supporting companies who trash the environment and make the people who are unfortunate enough to live near their factory farms very sick.
Fillippelli the Cook at 9:26AM on 11/06/07
Thanks Fillippelli! I started to look for options to Food Network shows when they ran the Smithfield Farms ads. PBS has an incredible line up with great chefs and cultural insights.
ExpatChef at 12:04PM on 11/06/07
what a dumb article. if you are so concerned with the inhumane treatment of pigs. get out in the street and do something. dont just write bitchy articles. i feel like the idiot because i actually read it.
bigassbob at 6:40PM on 02/05/08