Food TV Phraseology

[kpurvis]

Kathi's my hero!!!!

Aw, thanks, bubba. Better to be a hero than a gyro. Or a zero.

[CtznCane]

I can't believe I read 4 pages of posts (since I'm new here I have to catch up) without seeing a mention of "kick it up a notch', or ' its lettuce in the head, and rubber band in the stretch'.... Let's face it though these phrases are part of their shtick, part of what makes them who they are, and part of why they are so successful. It is like "The real thing" - Coca Cola, 'Any place, anywhere, overnight' - Fed Ex, these are their tags. Even in bitching about them you are acknowledging them, and what is the saying? No such thing as bad advertising?

Fact is we all like personaliities or don't like them. At the same time these phrases are what catch us or keep us in the beginning.

How about favorite phrases? I cooked a lot when I was married, then went through a hiatus (cooking wise) till my present relationship 4 years ago. While surfing I hit on Emeril Live when he was mixing masa flour for tamales. He leaned on the mixer and said something along the lines of 'if it's too thick add more water, if it's too thin add more flower, It isn't rocket science"

Don't get me wrong, I bitch as well but it is still an acknowledgement. Either the look, voice or phrases. If we like them we emulate them, if we dont' like them we rip them. For me? Martha Stewart, I do though promise to watch the first show of 'From Marthas Jail Cell.

So much for my early morning rant, I haven't had enough coffee yet and it's too early for a beer. Well maybe not, maybe time to go pop one open.

[Toliver]

Kathleen Purvis of the Charlotte Observer wrote about this thread in yesterday's edition: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/liv...ood/9254566.htm.  Kathi's my hero!!!!   

I have a quibble with what she wrote:

Egullet is not for the faint of heart or opinion. Its regular posters are passionate foodies who are never shy about proclaiming their opinions, or "shouting down" dissenters in type.

I have yet to see a good "shouting down" here on eGullet.

I can't find it now but there was even an eGullet discussion about how civilized eGulleteers are to each other, especially when compared to other food-related web sites.

"Shouting down" indeed...

[daniellewiley]

On the issue of "Cross-Contamination"... the worst single thing I ever saw on Food TV was many, many moons ago on what was my favorite show back then, "Taste", hosted by David Rosengarten.

He had a big pile of fresh, raw thighs on his wood chopping board and after triming them, threw them into a bowl and then placed a rather large handful of salad greens directly onto NOT only the same board BUT the exact spot that mere seconds before hosted the raw thighs.

**Note- He hadn't washed his hands, his knife, the board... nothing. There was even a slightly reddish puddle of raw chicken blood juice underneath the fresh greens.

When I worked at the Food Network, one of my jobs was opening the "fan" mail. We used to get quite a few complaints about Rosengarten's cleanliness, or lack thereof.

I'll also never forget the nude photo that someone sent to Emeril.

[Laksa]

I'll also never forget the nude photo that someone sent to Emeril. 

Nude male or female?

[daniellewiley]

Occasionally, Mario gets into the "lookit me, I can pronounce things in a sophisticated Italian way!" mode. Mario, you're from Jersey. You went to Rutgers. You and Martha Stewart sure seem to forget you're New Jerseyans.

I genuinely like to hear foreign words pronounced in the way a native speaker would say them.

I do too. My husband and I bicker over that all the time! During the Tour de France, I hated hearing stage pronounced Americanized instead of "staaahg."

And, when I hear Bruschetta prounounced like brooshetta, I get shivers up my spine.

But, I'm a snob.

[daniellewiley]

I'll also never forget the nude photo that someone sent to Emeril. 

Nude male or female?

It was a female, posing on a chaise lounge in her backyard. She claimed to be Bob Guccione's daughter.

[Free Martha]

Besides Motto Mario re-runs the food network is a complete bore-snore, thank goodness for Tivo.

[Joon]

Sorry to dig up such an old post, but I can't believe no one has picked up on Tyler's #1 catch phrase: "CLASSIC".

Every single dish he makes is a "CLASSIC" whatever. Ugh. I can't stand it. Especially when he's making ethnic dishes that are FAR from how they are done "classically." Anyone see the episode where he makes "Korean" food?

[Jason Perlow]

No Joon, but I bet that would be enormously entertaining.

[jgm]

I'd like to offer a dissenting opinion here. TV is harder than you think. (I've done it, but I wasn't cooking.) Most of the people mentioned here are cooks first, TV people second. And they're speaking pretty much extemporaneously, which can get a person into trouble, fast. (Just watch small market TV reporters who are live on a scene. They often look and sound as if they have no brains whatsoever.) I suspect that many of the show hosts are people who have had to learn to be a lot more gregarious than they naturally are. The ability to relax on camera and just be who you are, takes a substantial amount of comfort in one's own skin, which is something hard to come by for a lot of otherwise very talented people. And who knows what they've been coached to do.

Take a day or two to listen to the people around you talking to each other. The people you're around every day. You'll hear the same phrases over and over from them, too, but it's not as irritating as it is on the screen because the setting is more informal. And whereas most of us might say, "just dump all that shit in the pan" a host has to find a way of stating it that won't be offensive to anyone, and it's often not a very natural way of speaking.

It occurs to me that the one person not mentioned in this list of gripes is Sara Moulton. She's an extremely serious cook, but obviously a basically nice person, and it's to her credit she hasn't fabricated a persona to use on the tube. Andrea Immer is someone of whom that could be said, too, I guess. And well, Julia was genuinely Julia, too, and that's why so many people loved her.

Here's my point: one thing you DON'T want on TV is 'dead air'. The small silences that are natural when two or more people are face-to-face, are deadly in a formal situation where one person is a presenter and others comprise an audience. That's where all this inane chatter comes from. They're trying to be entertaining and friendly so that you'll keep tuning in. Seems to me that Emeril was one of the first hosts of "How to Boil Water" (or a similar program, I can't remember) and without the showman persona he later adapted for Emeril Live, the show was bo-o-o-o-o-o-ring and probably had about 2 viewers.

Ever been on TV or radio? It can be terrifying, and is for most people. I had a several-year broadcast career, and I didn't stop getting the shakes until I realized that I'd weathered several disasters, live on the air. Not only was I still alive, but I couldn't then imagine anything could happen to me that was worse than what I'd managed to handle already. End of nervousness.

The Food Network people are, in my opinion, doing a really good job of adapting to the strange world of cameras and ratings. Yeah, they get irritating from time to time, and like everybody else on this thread, I have those I love and those who get on my nerves. But that's the nature of the beast. Cut 'em a little slack, willya?

[phifly04]

4.  Emeril- None that I can think of really 

How about some:

Pork fat RULES!

Are yah with me?

It's not rocket science!

Oh yeah baby! (I see that was mentioned already..and it get my vote as well)

Lets add some GARLIC...(has to emphasise that word, no matter what, so the audience can have their applause-fest...)

And any of his wink-wink-nudge-nudge POOR sexual inuendos as he thinks they relate to his sausages, sauces, etc. He probably has dozens of others but I stopped watching him years ago basically because of the above.

---

Wolfgang Puck: "Ummmm" or "Yummm" after every addition of ingredient

Ina Garten: The constant grunting of "Uh!! UH!!" "UH! This is going to be SOOO good...UH!!" after eveything blessed thing she does. Let's add her bleating, staccato laugh in there too. "EHH EHHH EHHH EHHH EHHH EHHH."

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Emeril-Now i dont know where you get your water but............

Dave s

[monavano]

Well said JGM. Every cook/chef on the food channel has their own particular "isms". Some are endearing( Paula Deen's olive awl), some are annoying (EVOO followed by extra virgin olive oil). But the phrase "It's not as easy as it looks" really applies here. I believe I saw that Emeril? was asking for tapes to be sent in from viewers, showing them doing their own cooking show. Very scary indeed. To coordinate chopping, stirring,and talking with avoiding slicking your fingers off, keeping your language "G" rated and not using um, like and ya know must be very hard indeed.

[tommy]

Cut 'em a little slack, willya?

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puh-leeze. then what would we do to feel better about our insignificant lives?

[emilymarie]

Cut 'em a little slack, willya?

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puh-leeze. then what would we do to feel better about our insignificant lives?

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I'll toast to that, tommy.

In all seriousnes, though, I will say that the most annoying people on Food TV (IMO), Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee, are not food people first, at least not in the same way that Wolfgang Puck, Emeril (long, long, long ago), Tyler Florence, Jacques Torres, and Sara Moulton are all food people. And I even think that a lot of what appeals to many Food TV viewers is Rachael's "bubbly" personality, giggles, EVOO, and all.

To me, the thing I wish someone at Food TV would change is Tyler Florence's penchant for constantly talking OVER his co-host Jack Corrigan (sp?). I'm not sure if he even realizes there's another person in the room the way he talks over, around, and under her--not to mention condescends to her constantly. I think, though, that you don't need to talk through all of the dead air. Sara Moulton isn't that big a talker when she's working, neither is Martha Stewart or Jacques Torres. A little quiet time while you're working isn't that bad really...

[Mabelline]

I'd like to be able to watch the tapes folks'll be sending in for that FNW promotion-contest-casting call?- of "Are you the next Food Network Host"? Anyone here showing up and throwing down??

[eunny jang]

Sorry to dig up such an old post, but I can't believe no one has picked up on Tyler's #1 catch phrase: "CLASSIC".

Every single dish he makes is a "CLASSIC" whatever. Ugh. I can't stand it. Especially when he's making ethnic dishes that are FAR from how they are done "classically." Anyone see the episode where he makes "Korean" food?

←

Tyler Florence vaguely reminds me of Ewan McGregor. Therefore, though his smirks make me want to sock him across the kisser, he can do no wrong by me.

I HATE HATE HATE when anybody says anything is "cooked to perfection." Is there any lazier descriptor?

[tommy]

I HATE HATE HATE when anybody says anything is "cooked to perfection."  Is there any lazier descriptor?

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are there many better descriptors?

one of the goals of cooking, presumably, is to have your product cooked to perfection. from a reinforcement and teaching standpoint, it doesn't hurt to announce this fact when presenting the final product.

let's think of a bunch of other ways of describing something that's "cooked to perfection." and remember, don't use too many words as we only have 22 minutes of program and want to cut to the chase during the wrap sequence. i'll throw in: "perfectly cooked."

[Daniel]

Rachael Ray in 40 dollars a day talks to the locals a little too much if you ask me.. And she is always making these huge feasts for all of these friends of hers. I suspect she has very few.

[jgarner53]

let's think of a bunch of other ways of describing something that's "cooked to perfection."

"GBD" - Golden Brown & Delicious

courtesy of Alton Brown

Of course, this can only apply when the food in question is supposed to be GBD.

[eunny jang]

The problem is, people who say this use it most often as a (they think) more authoritative "this is good" - "Gee Mary, your tuna casseroles are always cooked to perfection".

"This steak is cooked to a perfect medium rare." I'll buy that for a dollar - but sorry, it's just plain lazy and stupid to say that a jello salad or lamb vindaloo is "cooked to perfection" unless you really mean that "this has been cooked for exactly the right length of time at just the right temperature". I guess my problem is that it's only appropriate when you're actually talking about the temperature the food has been brought to, and people use it as a catch-all description of something that tastes good.

Yours,

The Semantics Nag

Edited November 18, 2004 by eunny jang (log)

[ghostrider]

He's going off topic again, somebody stop him..... Too late!

David Caruso on CSI Miami couple weeks back, explaining why the villain did what he did:

"Nature threw him a curve ball, so he had to switch to a hurry-up offense."

OK, nothing to do with food, but it is TV phraseology, & it's so tortured that I just had to share it.

[hsm]

Isn't Bourdain working on a cooking show? Or did I just dream that? And if he is, can we wait to hear what gets repeated there?