| There is absolutely no question but that we are all | | | | short-lived. How many shows can you do about |
| getting heavier as each year passes. The statistics on | | | | food, anyway? |
| overweight and obesity are truly staggering but | | | | Stumbling slightly as it came out the gate, the new |
| already so well publicized I won't repeat them here. | | | | channel rapidly developed its own stars: Emeril, and |
| In the good old American way, we look for a | | | | Bobby, and Mario, and Racheal. Cooking became a |
| scapegoat. Somebody must be at fault for our | | | | national obsession fueled by 24 hours of shows a |
| predicament and somebody must be made to pay. | | | | day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. There was |
| For this fight, we don't have an wall of black-hatted | | | | everything: holiday specialties, gourmet, barbecue, |
| executives as confronted us in the tobacco wars. | | | | southern foods, asian dishes, home cooking, fast |
| This time we have a vast array of food producers | | | | meal preparation, spicy food, and head to head |
| who wear gray hats: they may proffer junk that | | | | contests to see who could produce the tastiest |
| clogs our arteries and overwhelms our insulin stores, | | | | creation within a limit of time and ingredients. |
| but they also bring us what we need to sustain life. | | | | It is paradise for the food-frenzied among us. Judging |
| Cold turkey withdrawal or an industry boycott is | | | | by the ratings of many of the shows, that's a whole |
| obviously impractical. | | | | lot of us! We become mesmerized by the patter of |
| So instead of scattering shot all over the food | | | | countless chefs who whip up outrageously gorgeous |
| industry, we pick our targets carefully. There are | | | | concoctions without breaking a sweat or cutting a |
| several niches vulnerable to attack. Fast food is the | | | | finger. When we aren't being entranced by the antics |
| most obvious choice as our waistlines have expanded | | | | and creations of our favorite personalities, we are |
| in unison with the explosion of drive-thru outlets | | | | being seduced by endless commercials that also |
| along our streets and highways. The consumption of | | | | revolve around food. |
| colas and similar sweetened beverages has quite | | | | Our weight, as a national statistic, stayed relatively |
| accurately been charged with hastening our flight into | | | | stable for two decades after World War II. The |
| fat. Additives, preservatives, hidden sodium, and the | | | | revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s were about |
| widespread use of corn syrup in everything have also | | | | politics, and drugs, and music and food played a |
| doubtlessly played their part in our odyssey into | | | | minor, almost unnoticed role. |
| obesity. | | | | It was in the late 1980s and 1990s that we started |
| One potential culprit has, so far, dodged the arrows | | | | to balloon to what is now epic proportions. Yes, that |
| of consumer outrage: the television chefs. | | | | correlates with the growth spurt of the fast food |
| For years, there was limited series such as the | | | | outlets and the soft drink industry. It also quietly |
| wonderful Julia Child and the hilarious Galloping | | | | parallels 85 million of us falling in love with the |
| Gourmet. There were occasional stars such as | | | | television chefs and the appetite for culinary |
| Wolfgang Puck and Alice Waters??? But that | | | | masterpieces they triggered. |
| changed in 1993 with the advent of a channel | | | | Perhaps instead of bending our elbow to put |
| devoted entirely to food. I remember discussing it | | | | something in our mouth, we should reach for the |
| with friends who all thought that it would be | | | | remote and stop the chefs in their tracks. |