Good Food, Bad Taste

I have always been a fan of the Food Network and its many varieties of shows, I consider it to be sort of a guilty pleasure to sit and watch delicious food being made. I've watched shows like Emeral Lagasse, Iron Chef, Food Science, Man vs. Food and my personal favorite Diners Drive-Ins and Dives many times. I watch the shows for entertainment value, some delicious cooking recipes and just some common cooking knowledge that is helpful to know.

Paula Deen is a cook, with her own show and her own style of cooking. People watch her show not just to learn how to make her food but to be entertained by her sense of humor and her antics in the kitchen. It is a show for viewers to enjoy, not a show to lecture on what a person must eat, or to teach what food is healthy for a person. When Paula announced that she was a diabetic, people freaked out, and stopped watching her show. I think this is ridiculous. If people do not have the sense to know what is healthy for them and what is unhealthy, then they should consider watching another channel, because most of what I watch on the Food Network is people making and eating unhealthy food. Paula is not saying, “Hey now, go home and fee this to everyone so that you will get skinny and nothing bad will happen to you.” Paula is saying this food is delicious to eat, not healthy to eat, not good for you, she is just saying that it is delicious and it probably is.

The real problem I see that Paula made, is that now she wants to be the face of a diabetes drug. I think that it would be fine for her to donate money to help fund diabetes drugs and give to diabetes related charities, but I think she should not be the face of speaking out against diabetes. She hasn't changed anything on her show saying, “Now if your a diabetic then you can't eat this,” so I believe that her being the face of a diabetic drug is a bit hypocritical. Also, I am surprised that a drug company's Public Relations team would even consider Paula for being the face of the advertising for the drug especially now.

Other than that, I don't think Paula really did anything wrong. It's her business if she wants to reveal she has diabetes or not, and it's her business if she wants to keep the show the same or not. It's her show so she can make whatever she wants, and why not continue doing what she has been doing for years. Let her put 4 sticks of butter into her mashed potatoes and add more beacon grease into her sausage lasagna, she is allowed to do that because it is her show. Most people understand that her food is unhealthy and that it probably shouldn't be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have shows like Myth Busters where before the show they say. “The following should not be tried at home because it is dangerous, and these experiments on the show are done by professionals.” Should a show like Paula's have something like that before her show starts? “The food on this show should not be eaten if you have diabetes, or have heart problems or it you are trying to lose weight.” I mean that is ridiculous if people have to be told that this is bad for you so don't eat it. Come on people let's use our brains not our bellies to think with.

Andrew Grandinetti
Communication Studies
Wilkes 2013