Michael Ruhlman provided a padded room in his blog to Anthony Bourdain recently. A riot ensued. A riot of colorful critique of the demonstrably sinking Food Channel, that is.
Yes, the old chefs are getting booted, replaced by the government and food industry inspired low-fat ritz cracker and cheeze whiz bobbleheads. It’s sick.
On Rachel Ray it all comes to a fine point:
Wallowing in your own crapulence on your Cheeto-littered couch you watch her and think, “Hell…I could do that. I ain’t gonna…but I could-if I wanted! Now where’s my damn jug a Diet Pepsi?” Where the saintly Julia Child sought to raise expectations, to enlighten us, make us better-teach us-and in fact, did, Rachael uses her strange and terrible powers to narcotize her public with her hypnotic mantra of Yummo and Evoo and Sammys. “You’re doing just fine. You don’t even have to chop an onion-you can buy it already chopped. Aspire to nothing…Just sit there. Have another Triscuit…Sleep….sleep….”
He has a point. Just why do people sit through a half hour show dedicated to how machines put the white glop inside a Twinkie, but don’t want to be troubled to learn cooking techniques that will make their own food preparation easier and the food tastier? This doesn’t make sense to me.
I mean, either way the Twinkie rots your teeth and provides pretty much zippo nutrition to your body, even if you don’t know its deep white secrets.
“Aspire to nothing.” Todays buzzwards? The century is, after all, the zeros.
Note to Food Channel: Send Mario to Italy with a crew and a camera. Please.
Note to Italians: Don’t let this happen to you!
NOBODY ASKED ME, BUT……
By Anthony Bourdain
More articles about Italian food
The Italian Gastronomia: Good Food, Great Advice for Tourists
Pignoletto Rosso Polenta, Oh My!
Davide Scabin: Innovative Italian Cuisine
Spaghetti alla Nerano and its Derivatives