After seeing Food Network’s Chefography on Sandra Lee, I feel like she’s been placed squarely off limits for ridicule or criticism. As Thelma Ritter’s Birdie said in All About Eve, “What a story! Everything but the bloodhounds snappin’ at her rear end.” (Great. Now I’m hearing Bette Davis’s Margo issuing her rejoinder about third-rate vaudevillians.)
Last night’s look at Nigella Lawson only confirmed my opinion that she’s an international treasure. I’m a little puzzled about the vintage of episodes of her show that airs on Sundays. The bio seemed to indicate that she was producing new episodes for Food Network, but I’d be willing to swear that they’d aired previously on a different network. Maybe she’s repurposed some recipes and menus from old shows and used measurements familiar to U.S. audiences (cups instead of grams and the like) instead of starting from… well… scratch. I don’t really care, because I love her and would happily watch her make instant oatmeal in the microwave.
I’d love to see a Chefography on Alton Brown, who is probably the only Food Network male I want to know more about. (I already feel like I know too much about Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batali, and the less I know about Bobby Flay, the better.)
Anyway, there’s a Chefography marathon on Sunday, though Food Network’s web site is so difficult to navigate and slow to load that I can’t be bothered to find out who’s on the schedule.