Hullabaloo

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

 
Yep, It Really Is Bad Food

By tristero

When Paula Deen admitted that she had diabetes (and that she and her family would exploit her terrible illness for huge profits), defenders of the faux-bourgeois worried that those of us who know eating passionately also means eating sanely would be practicing class warfare if we dared to criticized her:

Virginia Willis, a food writer in Atlanta, said that criticisms directed at Ms. Deen often reflect sexism and stereotyping about the South, in addition to food snobbery. “No one vilifies Michelin chefs for putting sticks of butter in their food,” she said. “But when a Southern woman does it, that’s tacky.” Contrary to popular belief, however, she said Ms. Deen’s fat-laden cooking does not represent the apotheosis of Southern cuisine.

“Paula’s food often reflects modern cooking and convenience foods more than Southern tradition,” she said. “She feels like she cooks for ‘real people,’ and for better or worse, that is how many people in this country choose to eat.”

Michael Mignano, a Long Island pastry chef who will appear on “Fat Chef,” said butterfat is a constant companion for chefs in high-end restaurants, where he has spent most of his career. “The only difference is that Paula Deen does it on TV,” he said

No, that's not the only difference. It is a matter of taste if you find disgusting Paula Deen's food disgusting. But that her food is disgustingly bad for you is simply a matter of fact.

Is there other food out there that's as godawful bad as Paula Deen's? Whether that is the case - obviously, no one would argue - that in no way makes Deen's food good food. Eating Deen's way every day - which a huge pile of Americans do (when they don't eat even worse food) - simply is not one of many equally valid lifestyle choices. Nor is strongly objecting to the quality of Deen's food and its daily consumption class warfare, sexist, or Southern stereoptyping. It's just common sense.

The comparison with "Michelin chefs" is misguided. At least for those of us who make less than Paula Deen's annual income, it's not routine to spend north of $150 per person for a dinner. In fact, it's a very rare indulgence. That is the point. It's a treat.

And of course, there is nothing wrong - nothing wrong whatsoever - in indulging yourself in whatever rocks your boat - whether it's Deen's fried chicken or Thomas Keller's leek bread budding. The problem (of course) is that unhealthy, Deen-style food is in fact the norm for an enormous number of people in this country. It's what people eat every day, and often more than three times a day.

Put simply, eating that way will kill you.

Can you die eating too much leek bread pudding? Oh, please: too much Deen food - that's the problem, not too much Keller.

And that brings us to the faux-bourgeois, a mask worn by many elites whose income depends on appearing to be "one of us." Paula Deen may have started out lower middle class, even poor, but that was a loooooooooooong time ago. She may not have as much of the green stuff as the Koch brothers, but she's way more a part of that 1% than you are - and she's been a 1 percenter for quite a while. She does not celebrate middle-class values, she merely makes money exploiting whatever she believes will make her the most money - regardless of whether they are middle class values - or even good ones.

That is not culture, bourgeois or otherwise. That is not even populism. That is simply greed and opportunism on a scale that "eltitist" chefs - no slouches when it comes to ambition and fame - can't even imagine. Oh, she may like ground chuck, she may shill for pork chops, but that bank account of hers is filet mignon - and we are fools if we let her make us forget it.

tristero 2/01/2012 09:00:00 AM |