Sorry, I didn't read through all if these posts. However, I get you. It's incredibly hypocritical of Anthony Bourdain to be on an absolute **** show like "The Taste". I'm a big fan of his, and I even tuned in, when I found out he was on it. He's the same old Tony, but man does that show suck... Anyways....
I do feel that I should stick up for the world of celebrity chefs, because they really are just taking a nice paycheck home to their families, and we'd all do the same. I'm a Tyler Florence fan (or I was when I watched Food Network). He, along with Anthony Sedlak (RIP), all of the guys on Iron Chef America in its early days helped keep me excited about cooking when I needed extra motivation or inspiration. When I was a kid, I watched Chef Pasquale (RIP), and "Wok with Yan" whenever I could. If I see these show on the air, I'll keep them on for a few minutes, get all melancholy and realize you can never go back to the green. It's just part of life. For me to say I hate celebrity chefs would be more hypocritical than anything Anthony Bourdain is currently subjecting himself and America to. These "chefs" made me love cooking, or at the very least, fanned the flames. As a matter of fact, since I became too good for these shows, my passion for food has waned. Maybe I need a heaping spoonful of trite celebrity chefdom to make me remember why I love to cook. I now cook at work (in a different setting than most of you here), and it feels damned good seeing a group of guys stuffing their faces with food I gave a **** about. When a new guy comes in and says, "I heard we eat well here, because of you", well that's pretty friggin' nice... Sadly, at home, until the past couple of months, my wife was not getting to eat the food I cooked with love, because after cookin at work, I didn't want to make anything complicated. She told me she missed seeing me in the kitchen, singing some stupid song, accidentally dropping a piece or five of food onto the floor for my dog to help clean up. I lost my passion for food, and it's now coming back...Thank God! Turns out I missed it too.
I can't help but think that many chefs "in the trenches" hold some animosity towards celebrity chefs because they make huge coin, and don't have to pull 70 hour weeks. I've come to realize that many chefs also hold some hard feeling towards the "Martha Stewart crowd", and it turns out I was getting caught up in the same BS. At least this crowd, or some of them, love doing what they're doing in the kitchen; look around the next time you're at work and count the people in there who truly give a **** about their craft. Then count the number who are doing it purely to pay the bills. Is one more honorable than the other? Not to me. Honor is in doing what you can and what is necessary to put a roof over the head of your loved ones and to make sure they have food in their bellies. If you can be passionate about what you do to provide for your family, then congratulations - you are blessed. However, just being a home cook, or someone who looks up to celebrity chefs is not something to be ashamed about. Is there anything wrong with going to work, picking your kid up from school, hugging, and I mean actually meaning it when you hug, hugging your husband or wife and then putting together a meal that was put together with pride and excitement for your family to enjoy? If there is, then I want out. Somewhere along the lines we must have forgotten what matters.
