Favorite/Least Favorite Food "Celebrities"

[Bacchusrogue]

Faves

Anthony Bourdain-Loved his books and show and learned a lot from his latest book

Anton Brown-Informative tho dorky

Nigella *sigh* A goddess who does indeed make cooking like fourplay and Im in love with her

Surreal Gourmet-only because I bought one of his books and made most of the recipes and they were great. His show I found annoying

Thirsty Traveller(cant remember his name)-love his passion for his job

Tyler Florence-not for him, but the people he talks to to get his ideas fascinates me

Julia-learned a lot from her

Graham Kerr-the old drunk version, loved watching him get smashed as a kid

Dislikes

Rachel Ray *shudder*

Cushing

Emeril -and I went to his restaurant in NO at halloween this year, prefer the hole in the wall Cajun Grille i went to instead.

Martha

[rancho_gordo]

Giada De Laurentiis --- simple, basic recipes, but perhaps I am biased toward Italian food shows, as that's my favorite cuisine 

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I doubt most Italians would recognize the meals she makes as their own cuisine.

[Dani Mc]

I wish Food TV would pick up the old Keith Floyd series'. I've never really watched it to learn anything, but I LOVE watching him get all sloppy on the vino while he's cooking.

[Phatlouie07]

likes:

Julia

Tony

Jacques Pepin

Jacques Torres

Mario

dislikes:

Rachel Ray(her usage of EASY O-O AND OJ at practically every episode of her show is just too old and ughh..hate it..why can't she just say extra virgin olive oil or orange juice? the fact that she "tips" the waiters a buck is extremely stupid. her perkiness is annoying beyond belief)

emeril

martha

calorie commando-yuck

[The Cynical Chef]

I am my least favorite food celebrity...

[tupac17616]

Giada De Laurentiis --- simple, basic recipes, but perhaps I am biased toward Italian food shows, as that's my favorite cuisine 

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I doubt most Italians would recognize the meals she makes as their own cuisine.

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I'm not saying your assertion is right or wrong, but it means nothing to me. Regardless of the authenticity (or lack thereof) of the meals she makes, it is Italian, or at least Italian-American food. I am neither Italian nor Italian-American, but that does not change the fact that those cuisines are my favorites, hence my enjoyment of a show which prepares meals in those culinary traditions.

[jschyun]

I enjoy speaking in Paula Dean's accent after I watch her show. I like her personality, very warm and friendly.

[cake]

         

Losers: ALTON BROWN - as a professional chemist, he offends me by professing to know anything about chemistry.  The man is just a loser who's found a gullible audience.  Do a little background check on him and his wife (producer) and you may be surprised at what you find.

As an expert in your field, I am sure you know a lot more than Alton. I feel the same way about watching so called "Designers" on some of the home-decorating shows. For example, I've only watched "Trading Spaces" once--I couldn't even watch the entire show as I was so horrified with what they were doing.

I am unsure of what you're referring to with regard to the "background check". Too many results come up for him in a Google search (even when his wife's name is added). I would be curious to know what you're referring to.

In any case, here are my specific reasons for liking Alton:

He demonstrates how to do things in a manner that I can reproduce in my kitchen with ease. And, he captures my attention.

I have learned a lot about cooking from him, and my food is much better than before I started watching his show (I only started watching him in October 04 and I have become SO much better of a cook since then!)

He does a good job, IMHO, of "demystifying" the process. My technique is much improved from watching him. Sometimes I feel like I have enrolled in cooking school. This is because a lot of what he talks about when he explains the "whys" of cooking results in me learning a lot about technique. While he isn't gourmet in his focus like some of the "fancier" celeb chefs, I have found that I can take what I learn from him and apply the techniques to any recipe--even if it is from a more "gourmet" cookbook or show. Technique is so foundational to cooking (the way theory is so foundational to what I do--which is design) that I think it cannot be overtaught. For the price of cable tv, I get great cooking lessons without leaving my house.

He shows you how to get a lot of use out of your equipment, and how not to buy more stuff than you really need. (Though--he has a LOT of stuff--way more than I do!) His book "Gear for your kitchen" enabled me to go rid of a lot of stuff that I never use, and the purchases I've made based on his recommendations have all been worth every penny.

I find him to be very entertaining. Of course, being new to his show, I admit that his "cleverness" may wear off eventually.

He's nice and seems truly appreciate of his fans. This is how he seemed to be when I met him at a book signing a few weeks ago. Very normal and friendly, a nice change from the self-involved style of the mainstream celebs that you bump into in these parts (I live in Los Angeles).

His show inspired me to start cooking again after I had taken a LONG hiatus. The combination of being newly single (thus not *having* to get dinner ready) and having a repetitive stress injury in both hands meant that I didn't really "cook" anymore, just assembled stuff. He inspired me to make more stuff from scratch, even when it is only for myself. I think that cooking (even if it isn't gourmet fare) is about taking care of one's self and is a cornerstone of self-reliance. And, I think that Alton thinks it is sad that so many people don't cook anymore. So, if that is the case, than I am one peron who exemplifies his success in that, because of him, I am once again cooking (despite the fact that it is difficult sometimes with my hands/arms being injured).

Emeril - what a joke!  Have you ever seen the meatloaf episode? If you have you know what I'm talking about.  The man is a walking disaster.

Please...do tell us about the meatloaf!

[NulloModo]

I actually love almost everyone on the F-Network.

Everything Bobby Flay makes looks delicious, and I love the side-trips to local stores in his shows. I think he uses way too much sugar, but I can always cut that out. I actually like his cocky-asshole attitude, makes him fun.

Alton Brown is a genius in my book, I love how he can explain things in such a way that anyone can understand. I have caught a few errors in his exact explanations, and the eay he glosses over things is somewhat annoying, but hey, for the most part his recipes just work, can't beat that.

Paual Dean is wonderful, she gets straight to the heart of southern cooking and isn't afraid to use lots of butter, can't beat that.

I love Rachel Ray, she has one of the best personalities of any of the FoodTV personas, and the 30-minute meal recipes are just the ticket when you get home from work and are too tired for a major expedition. Plus she is very cute, makes it easy to watch her show.

I like Jamie Oliver too, but then again, anything British is fun.

Mario makes some amazing looking dishes, but the camera angles and dubbed sound effects on Giada's show bug me, though I don't have issuewith her personally.

I love the Emeril show without the audience, but his 'Emeril Live' show has too much of an Oprah feel. I don't mind audiences or anything, but when they start thinking the host is a god, it gets dull.

Juan Carlos Cruz doesn't bug me. I don't find many of his recipes very appealing, and I am past the whole low-fat thing, but I have to admire his enthusiasm.

George Stella - Well, I respect that FoodTV has a dedicated LC chef, and I admire all the weight he has lost, but often his carb counts are off, and there are far better ways of preparing many of the recipes he makes. Perhaps it is because I am die-hard Atkins devotee and he takes a general LC approach to appeal to as many viewers as possible...

I don't really watch any of the other shows enough to comment. Sandra LEe seems to make tasty stuff from whatr I have see. I will say I Am not a huge fan of the Al Roker shows, or the one hosted by the guy who used to host Double Dare on Nickleodeon, they just seem to like anything even if it blatantly sucks.

[ghostrider]

Who is this Colameco guy? Well I see he's been around on TV for several years but I just discovered him thanx to NJ Channel 50 reruns.

I can't quite pin him down. He goes some interesting places & does some good profiles - his visit to Harlem in quest of fried chicken was a blast - but I like his testosterone-charged kitchen antics less. He's always hitting stuff - "now I'm gonna hit this with the glaze" - actually he's not, that's the problem, he talks the talk but doesn't hit the hits.

Now if he literally did all the things he says he's doing, he'd have a heck of a good comedy act. Hmm......

[markovitch]

As an oregonian, I've had enough of Caprial and John.

[zilla369]

I'll skip over the FN and other obvious celebrity chefs, since they've been well-covered above.

I used to love those two guys on "Cucina Amore" on PBS. One of them was a Carraba (as in Carraba's), and the other one was his cousin, i think.

Anybody seen this guy G. Garvin's show "Turn Up the Heat" on TV One? I've watched him a couple times and haven't made my mind up yet, but some of the food he makes looks really tasty. Some good-lookin' recipes linked off the show's page, as well.

[emmalish]

Nigella *sigh*  A goddess who does indeed make cooking like fourplay and Im in love with her

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Heh. That's one of the reasons I can't stand her show. Plus the shaky camera-work gets on my nerves. Added to that, I'm not entirely fond of her techniques.

Last night I saw her making some icecream. She was using a microplane to zest some citrus, but she wasn't really turning the fruit as she worked. Every once in a while she'd pull the fruit away to turn it, and you could see a flat white area where she'd grated right down into the pith. Then she halved the fruit and juiced them in a glass juicer, then up-ended it all into the mixing bowl, seeds & all. They panned to a shot of the bowl with its contents, and you could see the pips floating in the mixture.

Riiiiight.

[Mnehrling]

My fav list:

Tony Bourdain

Ainsley Harriot

Silvana Franco

Gordon Ramsay

Ming Tsai

Nigella

Jamie Oliver

Rick Bayless

Michael Chiarello

Alton Brown

Julia Child

Jacques Pepin

Hate List:

Rachael Ray (If I hear one more giggle...)

Mario Batali (Sorry yall, bad experience at his restaurant (Babbo) put me off forever.)

Dweezil Zappa & Lisa Loeb (Get out of the kitchen and just sing.)

Bobby Flay

Rocco

Lidia Bastianich

So-So List:

Emeril (Watch when you are drunk and its kind of fun).

Martin Yan (While I'm not crazy for him now, I cannot hate anyone that I grew up watching.)

[SamanthaF]

It seems that Mr Oliver is a hit in the US. Can you do us all a favour and keep him there.

Luvvly Jubbly.

[hjshorter]

It seems that Mr Oliver is a hit in the US. Can you do us all a favour and keep him there.

Luvvly Jubbly. 

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We'll trade you Jamie for Bobby Flay. At least Jamie is tolerable with the sound off.

I accidentally saw a couple of minutes of Rachael Ray's new show Inside Dish. It was more pleasurable than driving toothpicks under my fingernails, but only just.

[Toliver]

Last night I saw her making some icecream. She was using a microplane to zest some citrus, but she wasn't really turning the fruit as she worked. Every once in a while she'd pull the fruit away to turn it, and you could see a flat white area where she'd grated right down into the pith. Then she halved the fruit and juiced them in a glass juicer, then up-ended it all into the mixing bowl, seeds & all. They panned to a shot of the bowl with its contents, and you could see the pips floating in the mixture.

Riiiiight.

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Did she cook the mixture before making the ice cream? In regards to the pips/pits, often it won't matter what's in the mixture since it's usually strained before cooling in the refrigerator (especially if it's egg-based) before the final step. So the seeds wouldn't matter (the pith is another story altogether).

[emmalish]

Last night I saw her making some icecream. She was using a microplane to zest some citrus, but she wasn't really turning the fruit as she worked. Every once in a while she'd pull the fruit away to turn it, and you could see a flat white area where she'd grated right down into the pith. Then she halved the fruit and juiced them in a glass juicer, then up-ended it all into the mixing bowl, seeds & all. They panned to a shot of the bowl with its contents, and you could see the pips floating in the mixture.

Riiiiight.

←

Did she cook the mixture before making the ice cream? In regards to the pips/pits, often it won't matter what's in the mixture since it's usually strained before cooling in the refrigerator (especially if it's egg-based) before the final step. So the seeds wouldn't matter (the pith is another story altogether).

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Nope, there was no straining involved. She added cream (& eggs? I don't remember), whipped it, and refrigerated it.

[ghostrider]

As an oregonian, I've had enough of Caprial and John.

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As a member of the human race, I've had enough of Caprial & John.

Saw Colameco's segment on 9th Ave (NYC) last night. He is slowly winning me over....

[touaregsand]

I find it amusing that so many who put Julia Child in their hero column (quite rightly) put Emeril in their villain column, yet she's on record as giving him very high praise. Aren't they kind of best buds?

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Emeril knows his techniques. He did push it a little with the oversized plates, but that was his target audience folks who like more is more. I'm more of a less is more, keep it simple without taking out the "soul" of the dish sort of person. Regardless, I still think that Emeril is a talented and SKILLED chef.

Anyway, I don't really have a problem with most celebrity chefs. I figure I'm not the target viewer and switch channels. Even the "cool" ones are in the business of promoting themselves and making money, aren't they?

Flay and Ray are the only two that I found totally unwatchable.

[DeVeaux]

Fave is Tony Bourdain.

Cannot Stand Mister Food. Yeah, I know he's not on the Food Network, but our local CBS station shows this moron every morning on the news at 6:00 AM.

One minute of this talentless hack in a chef's hat whipping up an exciting dish the rubes never heard of, like twice baked potatos, and the saying, "Oooohhhh...it's soooooo good" in a voice that makes you want to smack him. I doubt he could be a fry cook at McDonalds.

[hjshorter]

Our PBS station has started showing shorts from The Hippy Gourmet between their weekend cooking shows. Thank God it's only 5 minutes and not the full program as he drives me insane. His food sucks too.

[JPW]

I always hated that goddamned Green Giant.

He always thought he was better than everyone else just because he was bigger.

And that little pipsqueak "Sprout"? What a tool.

Edited March 3, 2005 by JPW (log)

[touaregsand]

I always hated that goddamned Green Giant.

He always thought he was better than everyone else just because he was bigger.

And that little pipsqueak "Sprout"? What a tool.

 

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Casper's cousin the hermaphrodite Pilsbury dough boy. Boy? The know it all Mr Owl definitively saying, "it takes three licks to get to the center of a tootsie role pop" when it's obvious his assertion doesn't have hard scientific ground to stand on. Even a three year old can tell he crunched and bit on the third "lick"!

[hjshorter]

And that tired old Mrs Butterworth!

Edited March 3, 2005 by hjshorter (log)