Paula Deen Fights Back Against Anthony Bourdain Insults

Jo Ann, I suspect he may have actually attacked all four of your favorite chefs, since he made a snarky comment about Giada's show to his wife on one of the Italian episodes, can't remember if it was Rome or Sicily.

I'm in an interesting place because I'm in the middle, I watch some of Bourdain, some of the others. I don't have an axe to grind one way or another. I think even Paula Deen would agree that her food is not the healthiest on the Food Network, but then Southern food generally isn't, if you want low fat and healthy, you're watching Ellie Krieger, not Paula. It meets a need, or at least a want, or a taste in food. But then, I've seen Bourdain eat some stuff too that clearly wasn't geared towards health, and its more than a little ironic hearing a fellow who has admitted to taking a good deal of drugs, and who has demonstrated repeated preoccupation with the acquisition of drugs (legal or otherwise), who drinks to excess and smokes IIRC, to be suddenly concerned with health issues.

Like many "serious" professionals, Bourdain has contempt for the Food Network, and he's made comments about their programs and philosophy in the past. Some of that disrespect may well be justified, and he certainly isn't alone in it. I've heard Christopher Kimball make repeated slams against TFN on America's Test Kitchen over the years, although obviously his style isn't nearly as abrasive, and his profile is lower.

But I also realize that while I generally learn more from PBS cooking shows than Food Network ones, everyone has to start someplace, and shows like ATK may be a little advanced, or even a little "clinical" for some people. Some people watch Food Network shows for entertainment value, and there's nothing wrong with that, either. Different strokes. I personally think whatever interests people in food, in expanding their food horizons is a good thing, however much fluff has to be added to make it more palatable.

Bourdain has made cracks about TFN before, that is part of his jaded world weary persona, or at least the persona he tries to project, but only on his own show that I know about, and he hasn't to my knowledge attacked so many of their stars and all at once. For someone so savvy he should have known that the media will try to start these kinds of catfights to sell papers, and he should have known better that the problem with attacking popular celebrity chefs is they have a loyal following that will defend them to the last breath, and if you attack so many at once, it amplifies the effective outrage. I'm not surprised he was inundated on twitter. It was incredibly naive of him not to expect such a public backlash.

And Paula Deen was right, too. Attack their food, say you don't like it, don't attack the people, don't attack their character. The two are not linked. And she's also right that she and her colleagues charitable efforts, and yes, the efforts to raise money and contributions to feed the hungry have been around for years and years, have probably done more good for the public than anything Bourdain's ever done. Its an issue particularly important to Sandra Lee for personal issues. But I suspect Bourdain has learned his lesson and will keep his opinions to himself in future.