Heroes and Villains

[Alice Levitt]

When reporting this story, the owners of Bon Temps Gourmet and I got talking about who we like and dislike among famous foodies. Greg Labarthe went to NECI with Alton Brown is a fan. Gretchen Saries and I are more Tony Bourdain girls.

I have already said much about my disgust with Julie Powell. I blame Michael Pollan and his ilk of taking the fun out of food.

Of folks not on TV, of course, I have a lot for which to thank the King of Forcemeats, Georges Auguste Escoffier. Since I was a small child, I've loved glamorous actress and Indian food expert Madhur Jaffrey. There are my post-modern heroes like Wylie Dufresne and Homaro Cantu. Then there are my meat heroes like Fergus Henderson and the lesser-known but just as awesome Cole Ward, my personal meat mentor.

Who are your foodie heroes and villains?

[tonyo]

At this point, basically everyone on the Foodnetwork is ridiculous.  For example:

Sandra Lee; Stepford Wife making tablescapes and awful cocktails that combine prune juice, rootbeer schnapps, and slim jims and swizzle sticks.

Guy Fieri:  I like the premise of Diners, etc, etc. but he comes across as a jackass.  Listen to how many times he says "money" if you need further evidence that the Foodnetwork is more concerned with catchphrases than food (remember "Yummo" and "EVOO" ??)

The Chick that Looks Like Guy's Sister:  Yeah, it's real appetizing to hear someone use the word "crap" while they are cooking.  Very classy.........

Ina Garten: She's got cooking skills but is there a more pretentious person anywhere ?  And another question, is every man in the Hamptons gay???

The Show Chopped:  Again, good premise , but making someone make an edible plate out of seal testicles, cod liver oil, and Ovaltine is not all that interesting to me.

Giada: take away the cleavage shots and over "Italianzied" words like Par Ma Ge Anna Reg Geeeeeeeeeeee Anna and what do you have left ??

The channel concentrates on food about as much as MTV concentrates on music. 
 

[JasonFrishman]

I second  Alton Brown.  He is almost always who I go to if I am cooking something new, for the first time, and guests are coming over.

I don't watch much tv anymore and don't have cable, so i don't really know what is going on with the FoodNetwork, but I did used to like Jamie Oliver a lot.  I either liked him, or kinda just wanted to have his show... either way, i like his style and the things he's done with kids.

[Morganna]

Ina Garten: She's got cooking skills but is there a more pretentious person anywhere ?  And another question, is every man in the Hamptons gay???

Yes.   Except Ina's husband, of course.

I love Alton Brown, always have.  I like Diners, etc. in spite of Guy.  I prefer Anthony Bourdain, though.  Julia Child will always be a hero to me.   I loved Graham Kerr when I was a kid (as did my mother).  Wok with Yan, my mother loved the show though she never ever made any of the food (I wonder why not? They liked Chinese food well enough...).

I used to love Giada's shows (and TonyO, loads of Italian Americans talk like she does, you should hear my husband's family... ) but since she's had the baby, it's all about her boobs, which are lovely and fun to look at and probably bursting with nutritional goodness for the baby, but still... We want food porn, not porn porn.

Can't stand that almost homemade show, and I hate hate hate Emeril's style now (though when he was on "how to boil water" before foodTV went digital (we used to have a CBand big ugly dish), he was fun to watch, we called it "The Guido Show").  There's something about Bobby Flay's voice that drives me bonkers.  And don't get me going about Jamie Oliver's rubber lips.

Nigella, there's just something I really love about Nigella!

When I see Wolfgang Puck, I just can't stop imagining Arnold Schwarzenegger in the kitchen.

I still really enjoy watching Kitchen Nightmares (the BBC Version ONLY, the Fox version sucks yucky things off the floor) with Gordon Ramsey.

My favourite Mexican cookbook author is Nancy Zaslavsky, followed closely by Rick Bayless (can't stand watching him on TV though).

Oh oh and Two Fat Ladies.  They were great. I gotta stop now... 

[Morganna]

I did used to like Jamie Oliver a lot.  I either liked him, or kinda just wanted to have his show... either way, i like his style and the things he's done with kids.

I admire the work he's done in the UK.  He has practically singlehandedly improved the entire school system's food programs, getting kids in the British schools to eat way better things.   I just don't like his rubber lips.

[lovevtfood]

I've really enjoyed watching Tom Colicchio from Top Chef.  He is a very smart guy and understands what it takes to produce great food.

Villains I would have to say Emeril.

[slaphappiest]

On the hero side I would have to add John Thorne and David Cheng, his new book Momofuku is brilliant.
Villians?  The term "foodie."

[Morganna]

What's wrong with the term "foodie"?

[dtp123]

I agree with the post about the term "foodie" being villain . It implies snobbery. Like I'm better than you because I eat better food than you do. We all eat food and I would say we all enjoy eating food, no matter what or where that food may have come from. The choices we make may make ourselves better, but they do not make us better than someone else.

[Morganna]

Ok, see, I totally don't get that.  Not at all.  To me "gourmet" and "gourmand" are seriously snobbish terms, and THOSE are the ones that I find standoffish.

Foodie is fun, accessible, anyone can be a foodie, all you have to do is like food!

The words you're using to describe foodie are, to me, what describes gourmets and gourmands.

[dtp123]

Agreed that "gourmet and "gourmand" are snobbish too. The difference is that people who reffer to themselves as being a gourmand know they are being snobs. My point was that everyone likes food. Would you consider someone who likes chicken Mcnuggets a "foodie"?

[Alice Levitt]

I tend to chafe at the term "foodie" because it usually connotes snobbishness. What has calmed me down a little about it in recent years is the fact that I get referred to as a foodie a lot. I LOVE Chicken McNuggets and am vocal about it. If people still want to put that label on me after hearing that, I guess it can't be all bad.

[Morganna]

My point was that everyone likes food.

I heartily disagree with this assertion.  I know a -lot- of people who are indifferent to food, and who don't care what they eat, or consider eating a necessary evil.  And from the horrifying meals I've had at the hands of such people as this, I have to believe that it simply isn't true that everyone -likes- food.  Everyone certainly has to consume some sort of caloric intake every day to survive, but that doesn't follow that they all like it.

And I have no problem saying someone who likes mcnuggets is a foodie. What I think makes someone a foodie is more about passion about food, whatever food they particularly like, versus simply seeing food as sustenance and something to be gotten through quickly with little thought beyond that.

I think what started out as a fun term in reaction to "gourmand", an attempt to differentiate between the snobbish and the everyday person who just really likes food, talking about food, cooking food, nibbling, that sort of thing has become yet another thing that's been co-opted by people to make themselves somehow elite.  It's a shame, really.  I've been talking about food and cooking on the internet since before there was really an internet (on computer bulletin board services on FidoNet), and most of the people I remember using the term foodie way back then were really just looking for a word that expressed "someone who likes food but isn't snobby about it like a gourmet or a gourmand".