There are very few areas of my life in which I've grown in talent ... sports? Nope. Guitar? Peaked at 22. Fashion? Come on -- were it not for my wife showing me what and how to dress, I'd still be wearing Members Only jackets.
But cooking -- ah, when it comes to food, I've only gotten better at preparing and serving it. I always tell people that I learned most of what I know from my mom, and that's true, to a point ... mom and grandma both were extremely handy in the kitchen, and I learned my ease and comfort from them.
Most of what I know how to make, though, has come to the fore in the past few years, and for that, I can only thank the Food Network. While other people watch MTV or CNN on lazy afternoons, I'm glued to the Food Network. And the first thing I ever made that I consider to be a resounding success was "mini meatball soup" from Rachael Ray. I knew it as Italian wedding soup, but she can call it what she wants -- it's a good recipe. It was so good that I think it's my wife's favorite meal I make. We even made it together on our honeymoon, it's that good.
That's what started my love affair with Ms. Ray. And she's only gotten more popular over the years -- 11 cookbooks (by my count), a few shows on Food Network, and even an Oprah-produced talk show coming up this fall. It's Rachael's world, and we're just cooking in it.
Which is why, I think, so many people hate her with a blind passion.
She is often annoying, especially with the "EVOO" thing she's popularized. It's extra virgin olive oil, and it doesn't hurt to say it all the way. She does use way too much of said oil, and at too high a temperature. And that hideous "garbage bowl" just makes me want to wash my hands repeatedly.
But why the haters? One suspects most of the anger comes from two areas: jealousy, and snobbery. The former is hard to prove, but I'm sure that an average cook with average looks getting a talk show from Oprah™ makes more than a few serious amateurs pretty green with jealousy. The latter, though, is more provable -- at least, it is to me, because almost all anti-Ray rants seem to contain two words that prove beyond a doubt that snobbery and foodie-ism fuels the rage:
Anthony Bourdain.
Bourdain is to Ray what Bill Cosby is to Larry the Cable Guy. What Charles Winchester is to Frank Burns. What Johnny Unitas is to (insert Bears' quarterback name here).
Bourdain is an effete food snob -- and I love his Travel Channel show. A good friend of mine is just a huge fan, and actually turned me on to him. He's fun to watch precisely because he's honest, he's direct, and he's not afraid to speak his mind.
One can be a fan of both -- it's not hard, actually, to enjoy Rachael for her easily accessible recipes, and also enjoy Bourdain for his excellent taste and finely tuned taste buds. Ray's recipes I find easy to modify for my own purposes, which gets me to thinking more about the ingredients I mix together, and how they might pair with side dishes, wines and desserts. Bourdain shows me places I've never known, and lets me see a side of cooking that makes me strive to be more professional and exotic when I have friends over for dinner.
Ray vs. Bourdain -- is this the Beatles-Stones argument of my generation?
No comments:
Post a Comment