Salon.com > Food television

“Freaky Eaters’” JJ Virgin on shock therapy and french fries

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:06:00 +0000

JJ Virgin has one of the stranger jobs out there: After spending 25 years studying health and fitness, she now spends her time on TLC, turning around the lives of food addicts on "Freaky Eaters." (No, that's not the show about people who eat laundry soap, a similar program on the same network called "My Super Strange Addiction.") "Freaky Eaters" documents the life of a person addicted to a certain type of edible food -- french fries, meat, and corn syrup have all been on the menu -- as well as their recovery with the help of two specialists, Virgin and Dr. Mike Dow.

We spoke to JJ Virgin over the phone about what qualifies someone to be a "freaky eater," as well as some of the more extreme measures they've taken on the program to make people confront their dangerous life choices.

This is the second season of the show, and there has been a lot of controversy about programs similar to "Freaky Eaters," like "Hoarders" and "Intervention." Some people are wondering if putting these people up on screen is helpful or just exploitative. What is your response to that sort of claim?

The five most ridiculous defenses of Ronald McDonald

Wed, 18 May 2011 17:19:00 +0000

McDonald's is under attack again for force-feeding our nation's children greasy, delicious fries. A group called Corporate Accountability International took out full-page ads today in several prominent newspapers, titled "Doctor's Orders: Stop Marketing Junk Food to Children."

And while this grievance might not seem new, exactly, CAI is launching another campaign on Thursday against Ronald McDonald himself, whom the watchdog group called a "Deep Fried Joe Camel." They claim Ronald's the equivalent of a drug pusher for MSG-addicted kids.

But how "friendly" is Ronald? A new study done by outside marketing group Ace Metric found that in a survey group of 500, an overwhelming amount found a guy with big red lips and white greasepaint more creepy than cute.

McDonald's refuses to give up on Ronald, though, and its defense on why it needs to keep a terrifying clown as its mascot would be charming if it weren't so ridiculous and backward. Below, five of the responses McDonald's has given for keeping Ronald on the payroll.

A burger by Daisy Martinez that says “party on my plate”

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:15:00 +0000

For Daisy Martinez, a great burger does a bit of tug-of-war in your mouth.

"I always like to put together flavors that complement as well as contrast each other. This concept is especially important when creating a burger because you should experience that 'kapow factor' with each and every bite," she said in an e-mail.

So for her contribution to AP's 20 Burgers of Summer series, Martinez sought a balance of salty and sweet, which she satisfied by pairing grilled fresh figs with serrano ham.

"It was a short leap then to add the piquancy of a Cabrales blue (cheese), which complements the beef component of the burger," she said. "Can you say 'party on my plate'?"

Martinez is a big believer in big flavor in her burgers, and over the years says she has enjoyed many variations, including ones made from Kobe beef and seafood, even veggie varieties. But in the end, her blueprint for a great burger goes back to her childhood.

"Some of my fondest hamburger memories involve making homemade patties with my dad when I was little. He would season them with salt, fresh ground pepper and onion powder, then we would grill them over charcoal briquettes in our backyard, and the result was a slightly charred burger on the outside that was pink and juicy on the inside," she said.

Police arrest Kobayashi for hot dog contest outburst

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:01:00 +0000

Hot dog!

Competitive eater Joey Chestnut has held on to his title at the annual July Fourth hot dog eating contest at New York's Coney Island, but one of his biggest rivals tried to crash the celebration and has been taken into custody.

Chestnut chomped down on 54 hot dogs in 10 minutes on Sunday to win the annual Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Contest for the fourth year in a row.

Watching from the crowd was six-time champion Takeru Kobayashi (tah-KEH'-roo koh-bah-YAH'-shee), who has not signed a contract with Major League Eating to be free to compete in contests sanctioned by other groups.

But Kobayashi went on stage after the competition. Police officers grabbed him, and he tried to hold onto police barricades as they took him into custody.

Can the Cooking Channel revamp food TV?

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:01:00 +0000

It's been just over a month since Scripps Networks Interactive, the company that owns the Food Network, announced that it was launching another channel of food programming called the Cooking Channel. The network, which will launch on May 31 and which the New York Times described as "The Food Network, the sequel," unveiled its lineup for advertisers yesterday morning in New York. The verdict: a somewhat smarter, somewhat hipper, and less polished version of its predecessor, but nothing that's going to make you sneeze in your soufflé -- call it the Food Network's edgier younger sister.

When Scripps first announced its new endeavor, I spoke to NYU nutrition and food studies assistant professor Krishnendu Ray, who was surprised by the news, in part because " nothing particularly interesting has happened to food television since the Japanese version of 'Iron Chef.'" The format of most Food Network cooking shows, he explained, has long since hardened into three genres: daytime domestic cooking shows, travel shows like "Cook's Tour," and competition programs that turn cookery into a kind of sports competition. The latter feature professionals using skills that few home chefs actually have -- a fact that, Ray argues, makes "cooking more watchable … but also less and less doable."

Ladies, back away from the BBQ

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:21:00 +0000

Usually, I'm a fan of chef Anthony Bourdain and his TV show "No Reservations." He's dashing, he's adventurous, he traipses across the world gorging on drink and the kinds of street food that makes vegetarians -- and health-code enforcers -- shudder. And, in between bites of pickled goats brains and octopus entrails, he serves up a quip or four. Last night's episode, glibly dubbed "Food Porn 2" (with king of sleaze Ron Jeremy introducing each segment), yielded a couple such nuggets as Bourdain palled around with chefs and sampled some of the fattiest, richest, most insanely indulgent concoctions known to man. On a strip of aged prime beef at Porter House he cracked, "I think I saw this on a website -- www.holyfuck.com."

But then Bourdain dropped a wisecrack that irked more than amused. "Barbecue: It's like chocolate for men," he quipped, introducing a segment about some succulent, slow-roasted meats.

Jamie Oliver: Taking the revolution to president

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:24:00 +0000

If Jamie Oliver can't persuade the school lunch ladies of Huntington, West Virginia, that fresh food is better than processed, maybe he'll have better luck with President Barack Obama.

While Oliver's effort to overhaul the diet of one West Virginia community unfolds on network television, the British celebrity chef also will be stumping for national reform with an online petition calling for better food in the country's schools.

Watching "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" should make people angry about the state of the American food system, Oliver said in an interview Thursday. And he hopes the ABC reality series moves people to channel that anger for change.

"If you can create an environment in which the public expects more, all the cogs in life as we know it fall into place," he said.

Once the series (which premiers with a 2-hour episode Friday) ends its run on April 23, Oliver plans to take the petition to the White House, where first lady Michelle Obama has made reducing childhood obesity a priority.

Despite the sometimes chilly reception he got from Huntington locals in early episodes of the series, Oliver said he is convinced this is the right time for a food revolution in the United States.

How food television is changing America

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:40:00 +0000

Watching cooking on TV doesn't seem to make much sense -- what, after all, is the point of seeing somebody fry vegetables if you don't even get to fill your belly? And yet, since Julia Childs' "The French Chef" premiered in 1963, the cooking show has moved from a niche educational program into mainstream American entertainment. In 1993, the highly successful TV Food Network, now just the Food Network, launched, giving Americans access to round-the-clock food-themed television. And in recent years, programs like "Top Chef" and "Hell's Kitchen" have not only been ratings hits for mainstream channels, they've managed to turn high-end chefs Tom Colicchio and Gordon Ramsay into full-fledged celebrities.

Americans' cable options are about to get a lot foodier. Last week, Scripps Networks, owners of the Food Network, announced that they'll be launching a second channel for food lovers called the Cooking Channel, on Memorial Day of this year. It will feature similar content to that of the Food Network, including shows by Rachael Ray and Bobby Flay.

I Like to Watch

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 13:15:00 +0000

As long as President Obama aims to reimagineer this country from top to bottom, rebuilding our infrastructure, reinventing our healthcare system and refocusing us on renewable energy sources, maybe he can give Americans an extreme makeover while he's at it.

Because, let's face it, we're not nearly as cool as we were 40 years ago. Our hairstyles are ugly, our taste in food and music sucks, we don't read, we take ourselves way too seriously but have nothing original to say, we drive like assholes and these pants make our ass look fat.

Wouldn't we all have better taste if there were less crappy products around for us to choose from? Of course we should stimulate the economy and bail out companies teetering on the brink of collapse, but let's make sure we prop up the right companies while letting the lame ones die quickly. Do we really need to offer assistance to Applebee's or TGIFriday's, ensuring the survival of BBQ Pork Ravioli Bites and Fried Mac and Cheese indefinitely? Let's find a way to bring on the demise of an always-thriving Wal-Mart, while pumping tax dollars into great indie record companies, independent booksellers, excellent mom and pop delis, and, of course, Dunkin' Donuts, home of the widely celebrated Bavarian Kreme Doughnut!

A perfect three-minute egg

Tue, 07 Mar 2000 17:00:00 +0000

I pulled out my favorite skillet immediately after coming home from the hospital.

For one long month, I'd eaten adequate but uninspired meals as I lay in my hospital bed, trying to keep my unripe baby inside. I had gradually gotten over the insult of having my dinner served at 5 p.m., as if I were a child or nursing-home resident. I even found comfort in warm oatmeal and in safely unseasoned egg-salad sandwiches dipped into tomato soup.

Choosing my meals from the menu distracted me from the monotony of each hospital day. Anti-contraction drugs had reduced my limbs to the consistency of overcooked spaghetti and made my brain too foggy for challenges greater than People magazine. Juicy profiles of the stars and wide-eyed portraits of everyday heroes briefly diverted me, but I always ended up wondering how Madonna, who was also pregnant at the time, would have handled pre-term labor. I jealously imagined her lying between 400-thread-count pima cotton sheets with a personal chef and masseuse catering to her every need. To escape the magazines, I switched to TV.

Media Circus: Full Metal Skillet

Wed, 03 Sep 1997 19:00:00 +0000

Having written music criticism in the 1980s, I fully recognize that, if God remains the master prose stylist of Old Testament fame, not a few writers who spent that decade plugging zydeco bands that "dish up a zesty gumbo of Cajun sound" will be having their asses skillet-blackened in hell for eternity. But allow me one last food-and-music metaphor to set the record straight. The tables are turned: If anything, food today is rock 'n' roll -- specifically, rock 'n' roll circa 1982.

Food has its own flashy arena shows. It has its own authenticity-and-equipment-obsessed amateur fantasists (replace "Fender Stratocaster," "Peavey amp" and "the tablature for 'Black Dog'" with "All-Clad sauti pan," "Viking spider-jet range" and "the recipe for paneed Mississippi quail" and you have distilled the soul of the average Molly O'Neill reader). Food even has its own fledgling MTV in cable's TV Food Network. And though it may never have a Michael Jackson, it may at least have found its Ozzy Osbourne -- Emeril Lagasse, aka Emeril, aka "the Bam-Bam Man," TVFN's first celebrity, who is biting the head off the food-entertainment genre and serving it in a roasted-poblano coulis on not one but two ear-splitting daily cooking shows.