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"The Taste"

gfweb

By gfweb
in Food Media & Arts

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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted

Interesting study in decision making. Their standard seems to float all over the place.

The concept involves one bite with no description of the dish or chef. I think that this is pretty hard. The menu description helps me expect what to taste...they don't get that advantage. Given the number of rejections that they ultimately repent of, I think that the concept is flawed

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maggiethecat

maggiethecat

Posted
Posted

The whole concept is flawed. Nigella (too skinny) is the least self-serving celeb on the show. I'm embarrassed for Bourdain, who seems to have officially sold out. (I'm sure he has his reasons.) Ludo is a caricature of the jerk French chef, and I regret that I don't know who Malarkey is. The show is trashy and cynical.

I enjoyed it a lot.

Margaret McArthur

"Take it easy, but take it."

Studs Terkel

1912-2008

A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites

margaretmcarthur.com

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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
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Posted

I'm not sure what selling-out entails, but yes AB has. A curious concept, someone is said to sell-out if they go on to the next more lucrative stage of their career rather than toiling away with dignity in the trenches. Isn't getting a chance to sell out a legitimate goal? With the exception of a g few eg Dr. Oz, I don't look down on those who sell-out.

BTW I marvel at how AB has a great rep in the food world yet Fieri is perceived as a clown. Minus the bling, AB does about the same thing as GF, just on an international scale and less sober.

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Jaymes

Jaymes

Posted
Posted

Given the number of rejections that they ultimately repent of, I think that the concept is flawed

I'm not sure how much of that is genuine repentance and how much is feigned repentance to soften the blow.

But, I've noticed on other of these sorts of "select a team" competition shows that if, at the end of the first round, not every mentor has a complete team, they'll ask a few of the top contenders back for a second round. I think part of the "repentance" might be gamesmanship in case that happens. If you had thoroughly dissed someone, but you only have three cooks/chefs on your team, and you're battling another mentor for a top prospect, he or she might be considerably less likely to choose you if you had been really rude and dismissive.

Whereas pretend kicking-yourself would put you in a much better position to attract them to your team on the second go.

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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OliverB

OliverB

Posted
Posted

very strange show, not sure I'll stick with it. Very scripted, but every "reality" show nowadays is. I like the main idea of just a taste and "blind" so they can't just pick the hot girls, LOL.

I was surprised by the odd dishes people made, only towards the end things came that I'd consider as a spoon taster option, a bit seared tuna, some greens, etc. tappas or Asian style. And only one sweet thing? A great icecream or sorbet with something crunchy. Maybe I missed it, somebody bought pork belly during one of the shopping segments, but I didn't see it served yet? That would also be something I'd consider. Or something ethnic, especially with Bourdain being there. Asian street food, a soup. People really overthought things and tried to cram too much stuff on one spoon.

I'll watch it some more, but I have the feeling that I won't care who wins (but then I generally don't in these shows) and the format will get old quick. And yes, I also did not get the "I already pressed my button but I made a mistake, so sorry to say no" part at all. You suddenly liked it so much better once you saw the person or heard them speak? Hu?

In general I'm getting tired of these "competitions" on TV, be it cooking or singing or making a fool of oneself. All so overproduced and scripted it almost hurts.

It'll be interesting to see if that trash talking lady that ended up on AB's team will clash with him though, she's already made out to be the *itch on this show. (as usual with these shows, they have to have a selection of different characters, especially the lovable dofus and the *itch or *ss everybody loves to hate, and who stays on much longer than they should since only one thing counts, ratings.

so, overall I was very much NOT impressed with this "revolutionary cooking competition". And I think they should have a dunk tank for those that got rejected, that would add a certain fun twist :-)

"And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!"

- Thomas Keller

Diablo Kitchen, my food blog

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Bree20

Bree20

Posted
Posted

To Maggie the Cat - I was confused about who the blonde guy was too and it hit me about two hours ago when I was explaining to my husband who the 4 judges were - he is from Top Chef - he is the guy who cooked nothing but seafood and for the life of me I can not remember the season I think it was the 2 or maybe 4th.

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hsm

hsm

Posted
Posted

I'm not sure which Top Chef season featured Malarky (well, this kind, anyway), but he'll be my first reason for cutting out. I like the idea of a blind taste test, but I, too, was concerned about these "food experts" not knowing wtf was on their spoons--with eyes wide open. I agree that some of those embarrassing "crap, I meant to say yes" moments reflected them seeing someone they thought would be good for their team. Otherwise, it reflected just how drunk they were at the time.

And while I can still find Bourdain entertaining (it's what he does) at times, those are some lame-ass tweets about this show he's putting out: Enjoyed every minute working on @TheTasteABC . Would do it again in a hot second. (May indeed, the show won its spot in the ratings last night, fwiw.)

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FrogPrincesse

FrogPrincesse

Posted
Posted

To Maggie the Cat - I was confused about who the blonde guy was too and it hit me about two hours ago when I was explaining to my husband who the 4 judges were - he is from Top Chef - he is the guy who cooked nothing but seafood and for the life of me I can not remember the season I think it was the 2 or maybe 4th.

Re: Brian Malarkey, I wish I could just turn off the TV and forget about him. However he is unfortunately our local "celebrity chef" in San Diego since Top Chef Season 3, and he is everywhere. Half a dozen restaurants already and he is planning to expand his empire outside of San Diego...

Instagram @frog_princesse

Twitter @frogprincesse

My eGullet foodblog

My blog, Tartines to Tikis

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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

although over all the show is tedious, Ill try to catch a few of the Cat/Dog fights in the kitchen when ever that happens. if those people really quit there jobs for this, they should have gone into Studio D and had a chat with that bald guy with the orange head.

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Florida

Florida

Posted
Posted

So this is really just "The Voice" with food. Surprised they didn't sit in oversized chairs that rotated around when they selected someone...

It was simple entertainment. Between Bourdain's snark and Nigella's cleavage it was a decent watch, though I suspect once the "teams" are formed this show is going to go down hill quickly. Not sure how much I'll give a shit about Ludo telling Jim Bob the home cook that his sous-vide Indian style macaroni and cheese needs more pepper.

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Werdna

Werdna

Posted
Posted

I absolutely loved it! As a game the rules are well defined, sneaky, allow for bluffing (have not seen it yet though? or have I?), and all sorts of fun. I love well crafted game systems and this show is forging new ground. Blind bidding, then let the contestant decide, then team building, then more blind judging? Yes Please!

Who is judging it does not matter much to me in face of the above, though I like Ludo now more than after watching him on TC:Masters.

Also wondering where the common sense of the contestants has gone. Servings way too large, trying to put 5+ competing flavors in a bite, ack!

I'm rooting for Charlie Sheen's personal chef and am really curious if the girl who served desert can do savory.

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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted (edited)

Id like to comment on that, but I better not. She was always of the 'Fuzzy in the Kitchen School' this is not a complaint.

I do remember one of her older shows where she pulled out an old notebook, reviewed her notes, and made the Elvis Presley Sandwich. Who Knew? delicious it was!

Edited by rotuts (log)
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IndyRob

IndyRob

Posted
Posted (edited)

And I really don't understand why they don't pick people, and then feel guilty afterwards...

They sure seemed to develop regrets pretty quickly. I was pondering this as I read reactions here, and read a bit more elsewhere (Wikipedia already has an article with a handy leaderboard and some links to some other articles). I think there might be a few reasons why this might be....

1) They don't have a lot of time to decide. And during this short amount of time they're being filmed for a show. At least part of their mental capacity has to go towards trying to be entertaining while they try to do their job(s).

2) They're not quite sure what's available. As I understand it, they'll keep going until they have 16. If you're too demanding, you may end up with the last four applicants by default (I don't know if that would be a possibility, but surely there's some limit). The first person out might've been the best of the lot.

3) The show seems pretty heavily edited, but in a way that didn't really detract from what went on. At the very start we got the cocky guy in desperate need of a smack down and that's what we got. But I bet he wasn't first chronologically, just first in the producer's hearts. But putting that up front via editing didn't affect anything. Likewise, there was a segment where they basically fast-forwarded through some eliminations - which I didn't think added much to the show - other than to say "A bunch of other stuff happened." In the end, what made the cut were the more interesting moments. Including those where regrets were had.

I'm still not exactly clear where this is going once they get out of the auditions, but I'm intrigued so far.

Edited by IndyRob (log)
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