Rachael Ray's murky values

A new Dunkin' Donuts ad featuring Rachael Ray has been pulled. While Dunkin' reps insist she was wearing a demure paisley pattern print scarf, other observers allege that she was wearing a traditional Arabic keffiyeh headdress.

Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin wrote in a syndicated column: "The keffiyeh...is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad. Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant and not-so-ignorant fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons."

Ah, so the scarf indicates that Rachael Ray is a terrorist sympathizer? Wow, that's a humdinger of a leap. But on the other hand, she's been a Dunkin' Donuts spokeswoman since March 2007. Jelly donuts, French crullers, old-fashioned cake...maybe she is involved in some kind of anti-American plot.

[hat tip to chad]

One toque over the line

Riddle me this.

In a government study released a couple weeks ago, workers who prepare and serve food (cooks, bartenders, servers) had the second highest rate of depression among full-time employees, at 10.3 percent. Government officials tracked depression within 21 major occupational categories. They combined data from 2004 through 2006 to estimate episodes of depression within the past year. That information came from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which registers lifetime and past-year depression episodes.

Conclusion: Working in a kitchen can be a crappy, soul-flattening job that beats you down until your amygdala is the consistency of loose Cream of Wheat.

Yet, Ludia Inc. announced yesterday that it will unveil video games based on the Hell’s Kitchen television series next year. Ludia founder and CEO Alex Thabet says, “The show has millions of viewers, and the game will bring the fun of the kitchen boot camp experience from the TVs to the PCs and consoles of this rapidly growing audience.” 

An electronic hell-spawn Gordon Ramsay will taste and comment on the culinary creations of players--browbeating, posturing and sprinkling those angry specks of spit all the while.

Conclusion: Working in an electronic kitchen presided over by a tiny, preening, British electronic chef is not a crappy, soul-flattening job that beats you down? Good times, good times.

Oh, and the video game comes with a recipe book.

Burger follow-up and then abrupt non sequitur

I got some decent feedback on my Five Guys story yesterday. Here's a sampling:

Laura, you really missed it with 5 Guys Hamburgers. First of all, this is not fast food. One waits quite a period of time for the food. I went there in the middle of the afternoon and the wait was excessively long, and they weren't that busy. Second, the burgers are hockey pucks. Overdone, dry, and overpriced. Third, the fries are very greasy. So much so that the bag is dripping with grease. The place is very much overrated and certainly overpriced. I wouldn't go back there if I were starving on a dessert island. -–William

When I found out Five Guys was coming to Pinellas Park, I read what others around the country thought of them. Seeing nothing but rave reviews I went to one already open in Tampa. I thought it was OK and felt the same about the one in Pinellas Park. While the fries may be better, since the name is Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries; I must judge them by their burgers. I feel for approximately the same price the Thickburgers at Hardees are more flavorful. I think the best burgers are at local places such as El Cap or Ted Peter's to name a couple; but if I am going to a chain restaurant for a hamburger; it's Hardees for me. --Thomas Dudgeon   

Loved your review on Five Guys. They are the best. We visited them often when we lived in the DC area. Can’t wait for the Trinity store to open. --Dave Milliman, Brooksville

Why does anyone eat this crap ...look at the photo people. Wait n see .... you'll all be walking toward the light soon!! Don't say I didn't warn you, this is how it all starts, moderation at first and then 2,3,4,times a week. Moderation,yeah right!!--by Health Nut
   
Best burger I have every had! The fries are excellent too! Everything in moderation. I would not eat here every day, but it is a nice treat once in a while! Love the peanuts too!--by Keysha

So, opinions vary. At the opposite side of the culinary universe from fast-food burgers, I'd like to take a moment to gush about Kim Severson's story in the New York Times Wednesday about Alice Waters, the founder of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif. and one of the biggest advocates of eating foods that are organic, local and sustainable. It was a stunning piece, with an unbelievable seven-minute video of Alice buying food at a farmer's market and her very first blog post on Kim Severson's blog.  Alice Waters is a true revolutionary and a tireless force in the effort to make us more thoughtful about our food. I actually got a little weepy watching the video.

One of the next projects on the horizon for me is a story on how celebrated/notable/bigshot restaurants in the Tampa Bay area handle the needs of vegetarians. Who's doing a good job, who is not. Love to hear your thoughts...

A tribute to Mamma Marcella

Quick, who said: “If the definition of poetry allowed that it could be composed with the products of the field as well as with words, pesto would be in every anthology”?

Longboat Key’s one and only Marcella Hazan. She’s the mother of Italian cooking in this country, the author of The Classic Italian Cookbook, Marcella Says, Marcella Cucina, Marcella’s Italian Kitchen, and a few other Marcella books in the same vein. She introduced balsamic vinegar to this country (by way of Chuck Williams, of Williams-Sonoma), and just as Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking was a book that many Francophile cooks slept with under their pillows, so too was Hazan’s first book in 1973 the kind of cookbook that serious students of Italian cuisine eventually had to replace with a fresh copy (too much sauce gumming up the pages).

Hazan’s in her 80s now and this native of Cesenatico, Italy has called Florida home for the past eight years. Having moved countless times, (“four times across the ocean,” in her words), she’s feeling settled.