Carrot Top

Okay, I'll bite. What is it: the dreaded, overcooked red X? ← Heh. I got all excited because I saw an answer and now I see that my photo is only coming up "sometimes" and the rest of the time it just says "user posted image". Just goes to show how regrettable my photo-posting skills are, too. Let me try to figure it out - it may be a little while because I actually have to finish cooking dinner. Pah.

Okay. Here. I did this on purpose, just for you guys. C'mon, ask me what that IS.

I could care less what he does or says. Just as long as he keeps that tongue out of any newspaper I have to look at.

Those pears - they almost look as if they were in a Dutch painting rather than in a real Dutch life, Chufi! Gorgeous.

Your points are valid, Corinna - except that I can not believe that his shock tactics will either entice nor charm any woman into wanting to enter a home kitchen.

So he IS being sexist. Just checking. ← Yeah. He's sexist and using it to get attention for himself, too.

Again, I would like to mention the value that "professionalism" (or even aspects of all that glitters) holds here in our society (USA). I tell people that I was an Executive Chef and I am wreathed with smiles and interest, with curious questions and excitement from people. I tell people that I am a mother - who cooks for her children at home - and the sorts of things that I like to make. . .and I am suddenly surrounded by a fog of glazed disinterest, with glances around to see who else might be pounced on by the audience for a "better story". When (or where) home cooking is respected by the society, you will have people cooking at home.

Extending the quote from GR I made in my earlier post, you can see that he is saying that the same standard does appear to apply to young men: "Seriously, there are huge numbers of young women out there who know how to mix cocktails but can't cook to save their lives, whereas men are finding their way into the kitchen in ever growing numbers." I'd agree with that as well - all the friends of my generation who are most into cooking are men. ← I know equal amounts of people (male/female) both older and younger that are "into cooking". Let's face it - it is not the most common thing to find in a person today. One small difference here that has some sort of internal effect that I'd like to mention, though: Men who enter the home kitchen are lauded and hung with accolades, slapped on the back and told what a fine fellow they are. (And indeed, they certainly are.) Women who enter the home kitchen are *generally* not. Generally what they hear is a holler out from the other room of "Bring me a beer, will ya?"

Let's take another look: Clickie

Gordon Ramsay's statements are designed to get attention. For himself, not for any goal of solving any greater "social problem."

Yeah. The problem is that kids are getting fed utter *shite*. I don't know the answer, that's for sure. But I do know that pointing fingers at *one* group as was done in that article (however it happened, through GR's antics or through the writer's words or through the editor' angle) is divisive and destructive rather than helpful. Sigh.

And I've figured out what *really* bothers me about Gordon Ramsay and this article. Don''t you think that any celebrity chef who sets himself up to be such a thing has a responsibility to be well. . .desireable? Sexy? .......................................................................... All I know is that if I were sitting across a table from a man having a wonderful dinner and all of a sudden he shoved his face towards me and stuck out his tongue with his eyes in huge round mad circles and with a diamond "F" from some dinky charm bracelet sitting sparkling in the gobs of spittle, there would definitely be no nooky that night from me. I'd pick up my damn miniskirt and take it elsewhere. Of course who knows. That ploy may have had millions of women swooning. I could be wrong.

"Home cooking" is not something that is valued in our society today in the US as a general rule. Women may stand out as being different from their mothers or grandmothers in this respect today because they have *not* been encouraged to learn the ways of the home kitchen. (We'll set aside men who are another topic - just to avoid confusion here.) Women today have the defined task in our society (as a general rule) that is the same as men: to develop their own capabilities into something that could be called a "career" or at the least, a "job" that will bring in income. Oh, plus they still are the ones that bear children. Nobody has quite figured out how to completely equalize this thing between the sexes yet. Our mothers and grandmothers performed a needed task when they cooked. The food *needed* to be prepared for the family. There were not the options for finding ready-made meals everywhere else in sight, as there is now. And they were (hopefully) appreciated when they did this neccesary task. Walk into a room full of people chatting some day. Watch the woman who is telling someone about her new job and her marvellous career prospects. Watch the response of people to her - both men and women. Then watch the woman who is telling someone about what she cooked for her family's dinner the night before. Watch the response of people to her - again, both men and women. ................................................................ It is natural for people to aim towards doing things that will bring them appreciation and rewards. Young women today are not thinking of being homemakers "first". They are thinking of finding some sort of way to support themselves financially "first". Then all they have to worry about, later, is how to make a great meal in the time left after work after doing the housecleaning and after taking care of the kids. That's all they have to figure out. Minor stuff.

Plus that photograph of him with his tongue sticking out right into the camera (with the lovely little diamond F centered ever-so-cutely) was really gross. Why do men do this? Have themselves photographed with their fat rubbery tongues sticking out into the camera lens? I've seen it more and more lately. Is it sort of biologically determined mating behavior? Or perhaps a "I am a dominant male, look at my tongue" thing? Or does it really just mean "I am an ass." (?)

Yes, I can understand that. Watching someone else say things that really need to be said is certainly a pleasure. Personally my own politeness slips often enough so that generally it is others are watching me with a sort of shock and embarrasment (for me as well as for themselves ) that I'd rather spend my free time watching people who seem to be able to restrain themselves. A long time ago someone told me this saying: "There are two sorts of people in the world - those who give ulcers and those who get them." I've been working on being the one who gives them ever since. Not always successfully but I keep trying. (It's not his rudeness that gives me a sense of bad taste in my mouth - it is a seemingly burgeoning sort of greed for media attention that has something to do with media and "celebrity". This bothers me in two ways - first I sort of like to think of chefs as spending their time in the kitchen not with their PR people and secondly I am one of those people that is just rubbed the wrong way by a society that seems to be in love with other people's "celebrity" rather than with other ideas and issues and things that might bring a sense of more fulfillment into their own lives in a real way. But who am I to say? If people actually are made to feel good about themselves by somehow attaching their own egos and thoughts to someone they do not know except for pictures and words in mass media, well -okay. I just "don't get it".) Plus the angle of the story seemed wrong to me. As Shelora noted, it is not just women who are not in the kitchen.

And I have to say, that although I uh. . ."enjoyed" those cheese-deadly entries from that book, I still think the posts of regrettable foods made by eG'ers are much better. Much better. Those photos were deadly. Heavy. Frightening. "Our" photos have vitality! Grinning fish about to jump out and "give one a kiss"! Corn on the cob that traipsed around the world and looks like it! Odd little fairy tale guys laid out on their backs on plates awaiting a fork! And let us not forget milt. I am so proud of you all.

I thought it was supposed to be a Zen-like statement about something - the plate looked like a character from the Japanese alphabet. Food? It was supposed to be food? This needs to be paired with Grub's blackened corn cob, I think.

It's more like those fritters are excellent conveyances for the sauces, I think, Katie, but thanks. Next time a whelk wanders across my path, I'll try to write down the recipe to send along. This may require a Florida Keys vacation. Yes.

Hmmm. What can I say. I am tempted to say "Harrumph." I like to smell things before eating them and I just plain don't like these sorts of smells. ................................................. Nevertheless, your remark is an interesting one. Maybe I'll hold my nose for five minutes or so if he happens to appear on a screen that wanders before my eyes.

I am remembering something someone wrote in another thread recently: I have the same question.

What Shelora said. And the "F" word right back at him with a "U" attached to it, please. As a matter of fact, add a A and an H to that, too.

I've had the pleasure of "catching" both octopus and whelk and really, this idea of "fresh" takes on new meaning when the octopus is slithering off down the dock like a prehistoric monster as you chase it with your knife - and whelk is even more trouble for you have to extract the thing from its shell which is no small task. Makes one appreciate the canning industry. But conch *is* rubbery. Worse than octopus. Gives new meaning to the word "ominivore". Heh. "One who eats anything", perhaps.

Scungilli. Yes, conch (or whelk). It is good with pasta, as you mentioned - but I think even better "caught" fresh from the edge of the sea then taken home to make into conch fritters with a bit of coconut milk added then dipped into a spicy mint-coriander sauce or hot tomato sauce before gobbling down with maybe a beer or two. Yeah. Watch out - those whelks are hard to "catch". They run really fast.

Hi, Sam! Thanks for making your first stop right here on eGullet at the Gallery of Regrettable Foods! I love those cards - they are awesome.

I wish you hadn't asked that question, Pontormo. Now I'll just have to reveal the truth. The Devil is still alive. He lives up in the sky somewhere, residing for the most part behind dark clouds and all the boats lost in the Bermuda Triangle, for they are up there too. The Devil's hair, as you may guess, is quite long - and it grows very rapidly - many many thousands of miles each day. It is important that the world not discover where he lives, (as you can imagine!) and this growing mane would identify the place were it left to prosper. To assist in this ruse he is surrounded by winged bevies of mad little spirits with spiteful scissors, who all chop away at his hair endlessly. These bits of hair fall to the earth. As they tumble rapidly through the sky, they turn into little seeds which burrow into the ground. And spaghetti squash is born. Whoever first found it had a terrible palate, but they were hungry, and they liked that bright yellow color that reminded them of a schoolbus. (Is the Devil blonde, you may ask? My current research has no proof of this, but the question does remain an important one.) So they stuck some little stickers in primary colors onto the global monstrosity and took it to the market. It apparently sells, for it is still there and they keep re-stocking it. The only suggestions I can offer you for using spaghetti squash are to use it as a doorstop till it rots. Alternately, it can be substituted for a greased watermelon thrown into the pool for the kids to play with in the summertime but be sure the dog does not eat it as it lays drying in the sun afterwards, for problems for both you *and* the dog are sure to follow.