3/9/2009

I recently decided to turn my writing towards food. I love food and I love to analyze it. I think there is a fine line between lusting and loving food. If one lusts food, then they succumb to the atrociousness that come with the aforementioned deadly sin. Lovers of food value each ingredients place in a recipe. Whether the meal be a salad, appetizer, main course or dessert, the breaking down and recreating the different ingredients makes me love food.

When I first became addicted to the culinary arts, I would continually watch the Food Network for tips, ideas and recipes. I still watch it, but think that the original stars like Emeril, Paula Deen, and Rachel Ray are a tad bit hokey. I don't doubt their skill or culinary training, but I think that they have become far too commercialized. I understand that these cooks make a bulk of their living from the merchandise that they sell. From Paula Deen's "Lady & Sons" restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, to the multiple locations of Emeril's dining rooms, each one bearing signatue recipes and motif to match the owners.

Cookbooks are a big money maker for these chefs. I would be lying if I didn't have an addiction to cookbooks as well. With the average price of around $30 for a signature cookbook, how can they not see dollar signs in printing these art collections. Ina Garten, the proprietor of The Barefoot Contessa, confessed that it takes upwards of two years to create one of her cookbooks. Two freaking years! One year to develop and perfect the recipes, and a year to take pictures. You have to at least respect that.

The Food Network is so much of a media powerhouse right now that they can create a chef just from simple cameos and appearances. Quite often, we don't even see the chef that prepares our food at any restaurant we go to, so the exposure they get from these shows is well deserved. It is so easy to create new shows just building on the personality of the stars. Alton Brown is one of my favorites (Go Dawgs). He began with "How to Boil Water" and "Good Eats." Now he is global. He can be doing a mini series on Carribean Cuisine or just be known as the resident food scientist, and the emcee for Iron Chef America. His appeal is so great, I recently saw him on a commercial for Welch's grape juice.

I have subscribed to some of my favorite food travelers on this blog. I encourage you to visit these blogs and watch their television series. Anthony Bourdain, Adam Richman, and Andrew Zimmern. Sadly, I have not figured out if Richman's Vlog can be subscribed to yet. They all appear on the Travel Channel and are each paving the way to a new era in food lover's television. Bourdain's "No Reservations" and "Bizzare Foods" both detail the food of faraway lands through the eyes of a chef. These shows have tought us how and what these other cultures enjoy eating and what they must eat to sustain. What we once thought to be strange or bizarre is really just not understanding the ways of these foreign lands.


Until next time, maybe I'll actually post a recipe or two. Who knows?

H.Staff