So, what’s new MOB?
I’ve seen tons of chatter in on Twitter and Facebook about the new ABC show, “The Chew.” The show follows the talk show format but centers around food, cooking and getting families back around the dinner table. I fully support those goals, so I’ve been paying attention. The hosting lineup is (mostly) solid with Mario Batali, Clinton Kelly, Michael Symon, Carla Hall and Daphne Oz.
We’re only 11 episodes in, but most of what I’ve read online about the show has not been positive. I don’t often comment on TV because I don’t often watch TV, but I see in this show the opportunity to really raise the bar on the public food conversation. With a cast like this, there’s no reason why we can’t create a central home on TV for talking about food issues in an intelligent but entertaining way without creating “just another cooking show” with good-looking or accomplished food personalities.
I’d love to chat with the producers and programming team, if they happen to read this. Email me: Emily {at} MouthOfTheBorder.com or see my contact info for other ways to connect.
I invited my friend Clay to guest post about his visit to the set of The Chew two weeks ago when the cast taped its third episode. All thoughts and photos below are his. I’d love to hear what YOU think of the show (and food TV in general) in the comments.
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Two weeks ago, ABC launched it’s new daytime cooking and talk show, The Chew, which caught the attention of plenty of food fans. Taking the formula of The View with five hosts, each taking a different perspective on food, it’s doing something that hasn’t been done before in food television. I was certainly curious.
So, when Nichelle of Cupcakes Take The Cake tweeted that she had a few extra tickets to the taping of the third episode, I jumped on the opportunity to see what it was all about.
The audience at The Chew
The episode started with Carla Hall cooking a smothered lemon chicken based on a recipe adapted from her grandmother’s which used bone-in chicken thighs. As good as it all looked, I couldn’t help but think of how much better it would have been with some long-braised dark meat instead.
As part of the recipe, she made a white gravy, something a yankee like me wouldn’t mind knowing more about. Unfortunately, the on-screen banter distracted from the actual cooking and very little was said about it. [MOTB Note: Clay, check out Homesick Texan's recipe for cream gravy!]
I’ve never watched an episode of Top Chef, so this was my first time seeing Carla Hall in action. I have to say, I don’t get it. At best, Carla’s goofy gyrations around the set isn’t her playing the role of sassy black girl and instead is just a way not to blend into the background like Daphne Oz.
Playing the role of sassy gay guy is Clinton Kelly, who also managed to be more prominent than Oz.
The next food segment had guest Joy Behar sharing the lasagna recipe that she’d previously cooked on The View. I’m not really sure why running repeat recipes of a simple dish like lasagna seemed like a good idea, but it certainly didn’t do anything for me.
By this point in the show, I was holding out hope that Batali would offer something for the more advanced home cook. Instead, he did a short bit about the difference between virgin and extra virgin olive oil and later offered a set of simple kitchen ‘commandments.’
Michael Symon’s Pantry Raid dish, which involved more or less dumping a half dozen items in a bowl and mixing it up was the most interesting. He brought together acids and sweets and savories with tuna, pickled veggies, a few fresh ingredients and couscous for an improved tuna salad.
Having seen one episode of The Chew, there’s not a lot that would draw me back. Honestly, if you’re targeting basic home cooks, having three accomplished chefs at the center seems like a real waste. Very little of their expertise is useful if all you’re going to be doing is explaining olive oils and cooking chicken breasts.
Thinking more about it, a vastly better conversation could be had by pairing one or two professional chefs with some avowed home cooks allowing them to present food at different levels and to discuss practical and fun cooking at home. Putting Batali and someone like Nigella Lawson in the kitchen together would be so much more interesting than watching chefs cooking dumbed down recipes and offering elementary cooking tips.
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