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TDG: The eGullet Interview: Ted Allen

Fat Guy

By Fat Guy
in Food Media & Arts

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Fat Guy

Fat Guy

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Posted (edited)

Rachel Perlow chats with Queer Eye's Food Guy in Part I of our eGullet interview with Ted Allen.

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Be sure to check The Daily Gullet home page daily for new articles (most every weekday), hot topics, site announcements, and more.

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Edit: Updated links to the article: Part I and Part II

Edited by snowangel (log)

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Jinmyo

Jinmyo

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Great job, Rachel.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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hildi

hildi

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Great piece,it's interesting to get some background info on Ted's segment on the show and see how ambitious and enthusiastic he is. His view that his segment shouldn't be breakdown inducing rang true. I've only seen a couple of shows,on one of them the straight guy made sushi on his own and piled on the wasabi (although Ted had walked him through it earlier)-one of the guests was in for a minor shock:)

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Timo

Timo

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great job rachel!

ted is my favorite on queer eye, but i always felt sorry for him because he gets stuck trying to explain the importance of breaking the surface tension on a souffle to an ex-marine. and hildi i agree--what schadenfreude when the poor sister of the straight guy bit into a sushi roll stuffed with wasabi!!! haha, well atleast the food bit is often the most entertaining part at the end, even if things don't always work out.

"Things go better with cake." -Marcel Desaulniers

timoblog!

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bergerka

bergerka

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Terrific interview, Rachel--you're hitting ALL the things I wanted to know about Ted!

K, making a mental note about tonight's Queer Eye Holiday Special

Basil endive parmesan shrimp live

Lobster hamster worchester muenster

Caviar radicchio snow pea scampi

Roquefort meat squirt blue beef red alert

Pork hocs side flank cantaloupe sheep shanks

Provolone flatbread goat's head soup

Gruyere cheese angelhair please

And a vichyssoise and a cabbage and a crawfish claws.

--"Johnny Saucep'n," by Moxy Früvous

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hsm

hsm

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VERY nicely done, Rachel. I'm looking forward to Part 2.

It sounds like Ted is getting his hands around evolving his segment to best meet the needs of his guys, still be entertaining, and give useful ideas to viewers. It's quite the hat trick, but my $'s on Ted to pull it off. (Perhaps with more 3 ingredient dishes like the Thankgiving side and forgive me, involving a, uh, product placement without involving some dreaded Sandra Lee rip-off.)

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Rachel Perlow

Rachel Perlow

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Thanks everyone. Ted was a pleasure to talk to. He was especially excited as this was his first interview for the food press. He said, "in fact, this is my first interview focusing on food, I've done a lot of interviews, individually and with the other guys, but it's all been about Queer Eye or more general profiles. But I haven't really done a lot of work with the food press, you're the first."

Look for more on product placements and other behind the scenes details in Part II.

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JPW

JPW

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Love the interviews, but I've got to say, I find Ted's responses about sponsors to be very disingenuous.

No pressure from the show to use sponsor products?

How about last night's incessant shots of the barely potable Ecco Domani and absolutely unpotable Turning Leaf? I'm sure that there was no financial insistance on those product placements and that Ted chose them for the party because they are great wines for a reasonable price.

If someone writes a book about restaurants and nobody reads it, will it produce a 10 page thread?

Joe W

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Blondie

Blondie

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Great interview, Rachel.

Love the interviews, but I've got to say, I find Ted's responses about sponsors to be very disingenuous.

No pressure from the show to use sponsor products?

How about last night's incessant shots of the barely potable Ecco Domani and absolutely unpotable Turning Leaf? I'm sure that there was no financial insistance on those product placements and that Ted chose them for the party because they are great wines for a reasonable price.

I think this was discussed in an Ad Age article a few months ago (available for a fee now). As I recall a major consideration of the wine choice was wide availabilty. Keep in mind that viewers as food- and wine-savvy as eGulleters probably make up a very small percentage of the Queer Eye audience. By giving the non-wine drinker a brand they can find in their local wine shop, even if it's not up to your standards, Ted may be emboldening a whole new group of people to learn more about wine.

Sometimes When You Are Right, You Can Still Be Wrong. ~De La Vega

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Priscilla

Priscilla

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Fantastic work, Rachel! I love long, detailed interview answers (provided I am interested in the interviewee, of course), and Ted's were just so satisfying.

Interesting answers, but sparked by good questions. Truly, you oughta conduct more interviews!

Priscilla

Writer, cook, & c. ●  Twitter

 

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KatieLoeb

KatieLoeb

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Excellent work, Rachel! Love the article, and Ted is even more fascinating than I imagined. How cool that he enjoys reading eGullet. With quality writing like that, who can blame him? :smile:

Katie M. Loeb
Booze Muse, Spiritual Advisor

Author: Shake, Stir, Pour:Fresh Homegrown Cocktails

Cheers!
Bartendrix,Intoxicologist, Beverage Consultant, Philadelphia, PA
Captain Liberty of the Good Varietals, Aphrodite of Alcohol

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TrishCT

TrishCT

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Nice job, Rachel! I feel somewhat validated (about a comment I made on the QEFSG thread) that Ted acknowledged that his segment was going off on an uncomfortable tangent. (He mentioned the souffle thing which I also discussed.)

Ted is a terrific teacher :wub: and I enjoy when he gives the guys lessons outside of the kitchen... Wines, caterers, ordering in restaurants, etc.... (Idea: Take a straight guy to a deli and show him a bunch of charcrouterie and sausages, explain the different varieties, and then go shopping for fine beers..)

No need to try to turn these guys into gourmet chefs each show.

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kitchenbabe

kitchenbabe

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Thanx for a great interview! I catch the show about every other week and I've always been curious about "the Food Guy". It was also enjoyable reading about him interviewing other chefs.

I understand what he means about even people with resources don't always understand food. I work for a catering company here in Atlanta, and I heard a co-worker today talking about how he did a fruit and cheese display for a VIP event that Usher was attending, and he said he didn't even look at it, just sent the chef out to the Waffle House for scrambles egg whites! Sometimes you just never know...

:rolleyes::laugh:

"have a sense of humor about things...you'll need it" A. Bourdain

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Dana

Dana

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Both segments are terrific. I totally enjoyed both and hope to see more of your work. Hope you'll be able to be able to interview other people as interesting as Ted. He was great - very down-to-earth. Thanks a lot!!!

Stop Family Violence

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megaira

megaira

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Really nicely done... totally enjoyed it...great writing, great intervewee, great questions.

He's likeable on the show, but a whole extra facet of likeability came through there that I was really happy to see. Totally dug the picture in Part II as well. rawr

Also got the answer to my confusion/question about people/food pairings in the process. :biggrin:

". . . if waters are still, then they can't run at all, deep or shallow."

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Andy Lynes

Andy Lynes

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I really enjoyed reading the interview, a very nice job Rachel. I'm a big fan of the show and its great to get some insight into its production and especially the thinking behind the food and drink side of things. Look forward to hearing more from Ted on eGullet in the future if he can squeeze us into his schedule.

There will be a UK version of Queer Eye and the production company are on the look out for their Fab 5 right now. They can be contacted on 0208 600 6434 (ask for Richard) or by email at info@viadigital.tv

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