Amanda M. Serfozo
Media, Culture, and Society
Dr. Shrikhande, MW
April 16, 2010
A Palate for Popularity: Distinctions of Gender,
Branding, and Culture in a Food Society
I pledge that I have neither given, nor received, any unauthorized aid on this assignment
I. Introduction
Before the days of Emeril Lagasse’s infectious enthusiasm, or Mario Batali’s
kitchen clogs, before “thirty minute meals” and “food blogs”, before the age of
cookbook tours or celebchefs, there was food. Food, in its simple, natural, fresh-offthe-vine state once existed for casual preparation, generation-tested recipes, and
beloved maternal comfort. It was unprocessed and unanalyzed, perhaps celebrated but
never obsessed over.
Then there was a tipping point, presumably taking place somewhere between
the sparkle of 1950’s nouveau riche novelty and 1980’s corporate convenience, that
food became more than just having to do with eating to survive – it was a lifestyle
choice, a podium for personalities, and a lucrative business, at once captivating
America’s hunger as media consumers, part time cooks, and meddling hobbyists.
The rise of the celebrity chef, for example, begs us to set aside our passivity for
a moment to consider the roles of pop culture, and vertical integration through
multifaceted advertising in books, magazines, lifestyle products, kitchen gadgets, and
homeware collections. But above this – above all this noisy kitchen chatter – we should
take a more introspective look at the people behind the popularity, and the models of
fame. The genderized state of our cooking culture, for instance, is one such jumping
point. How are images of ‘men’ and ‘women’ propagated and promoted by our media
outlets? What attitudes toward and about food are cultivated via kitchen broadcast?
How do different ‘celebchef’ personalities influence our relationship with food, not
just as a hobby, but as men and women, college students and retired persons? What
does food-fame mean in the 21st century, and how does network saturation change the
way corporations buy, produce, and sell food?
Before we analyze America’s food culture and the critical syntheses that relate
to it as a whole, it is imperative to study the approaches to cooking. Note that the
majority of the texts involved come from the Food Network, the central source to this
research paper, and trailblazer for the culinary society we know today.
II. Personas
No matter if you’re an insomniac or an early-bird, there’s a cooking show
designed for you on the Food Network. In fact, the television network itself once
reached a meager 6.5 million viewers in its first year of broadcast during 1993. But
today, that number is holding steady at nearly 100 million, with projected and steep
curves by Nielson ratings. The allure is partially based off of four distinct personality
types that draw viewers in, perhaps by shared ‘fooditudes’ – attraction, or intellectual
curiosity toward a culinary approach.
First, there is a warm, maternal element in the Comfort Persona – this may be
found most popularly in Food Network hosts-turned-personalities such as Paula Deen,
Ina Garten, and Martha Stewart. These women are viewed as grandmotherly,
somewhat matronly women in their 50’s or later. Their relaxed approach – seen in
Paula’s Home Cooking, Barefoot Contessa, and From Martha’s Kitchen – treat food as an
indulgent, albeit necessary creation that is equal parts convenience, whimsy, and
decadence. The core component to the Comfort Persona is a sense of heartwarming
love through food. Cooking, to the women mentioned, is not merely a haphazard act,
nor is it a competitive or flimsy process. The recipes often featured are of the longform variety, such as slow cooked barbeque, lavish pies, and gooey candies that require
time and patience. Even Paula Deen’s Southern Savannah drawl evokes a sense of
hospitality, rest and relaxation, as well as slow paced enjoyment in the art of cooking.
In the more allegorical analysis, we are left to wonder whether these women are
the byproducts of the 1950’s happy-homemaker mantra, or if they are merely food
enthusiasts that continued to cook throughout the feminist movement, that gave
women the option - not mandate - of kitchen requirements for their family. It appears
that Paula Deen, Ina Garten, and Martha Stewart come from a bygone, romanticized
generation that hearkens back to images of reserved Southern beautifies, bedecked in
aprons and sipping sweet tea while daintily placing a rhubarb pie in the oven. While
the tone of Paula’s Home Cooking, Barefoot Contessa, and From Martha’s Kitchen follow a
more hearty, maternal approach (Deen often cooks with her sons, Garten simmers with
her husband, and Stewart typically invites her daughters and granddaughters onto the
set kitchen), it is apparent that cooking is a feminine expression of gratitude and love,
rather than necessary fulfillment or on-the-go convenience. This Comfort Persona
deals more with cooking as a mediator between life’s hardships and one’s soul – to
cook is to heal, albeit subtly. Ironically enough, each of these women – Deen, Garten,
and Stewart – have endured personal trials and tribulations that leave the viewer
wondering if cooking is not only a profitable network machination, but rather a
relaxation technique or coping mechanism from divorces, childrearing, or fraudulent
media spectacle. Either way, the food – as a focal point – remains of the indulgent
variety, designed to coddle away the rough outer edges of life, all in exchange for a
perfectly velvety chocolate cake.
Another, seemingly opposite, attitude to food comes through the Authoritarian
Persona. This fooditude is mostly upheld by the men of Food Network, particularly
Bobby Flay, Anthony Bourdain, and Guy Fieri, and shows such as Iron Chef, and Boy
Meets Grill. Food Network competitors have bought into this particular chef
personality, through similar shows like Top Chef on Bravo, and Hell’s Kitchen on FOX,
and icons such as Gordon Ramsay. The common denominator that strings between
these men and their shows is the notion of food and cooking as a competitive sport of
sorts. Food is not merely to be eaten, but ravaged, assaulted, and dominated over. The
aggression seen throughout these shows – particularly Iron Chef, Top Chef, and Hell’s
Kitchen – comes from a sense of craftsmanship and ownership by one’s creation. To be
a real man, it is important to take care of business in the kitchen, to shuck oysters,
crack lobster shells, and grill steaks. There is a certain primal, caveman-like technique
to Ramsay, Flay, Fieri, and Bourdain – they are indeed proving their masculinity in the
food they create, partially as a way to impress women who have a much softer, gentler,
intimate approach with food, but also as a method of self-gratification by perfecting a
recipe from beginning to end, that appeals to the man’s stomach. The incessant
demands (“Yes chef!”), cursing, time-limits, judgment, and fierce competition between
culinary rivals has made these shows ever popular worldwide. Iron Chef, which
debuted on Food Network, has made such chefs as Morimoto reach the country on a
first name basis, and has contributed to the wild success of his New York City
restaurant, Momofuku, where it is nearly impossible to garner a reservation. Morimoto
notoriously proclaimed Momofuku the best noodle bar in town. The restaurant, which
is often the subject of many New York Magazine food reviews, has less than 15 seats and
no phone number to be found, thereby proving the theorem that Iron Chef established
Morimoto as a competent, celebrity chef that has elite ranking in the culinary industry,
and the ability to be selective over who is worthy to taste his approved selections. On
the other hand, men like Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri carry themselves in the manner of
the high school jock – athletic and sturdy when it comes to braising pork or marinating
beef flanks. Their success, much like Morimoto’s has allowed not only the Food
Network to continue their avid sponsorship, but also the monetary personal means to
open up their own restaurants in hotspots like Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Las
Vegas, and New York.
The next, somewhat similar genre of fooditude, comes from the Sexual
Persona. These types evoke names such as Nigella Lawson, Padma Lakshmi, and
Rachael Ray, hosts of Nigella Bites, Top Chef, and 30 Minute Meals, respectively. To these
women – and yes, this genre is entirely dominated by women, as the counterpersona to
the Authoritarian Persona – food is a sexual experience, where it exists as an
expression of one’s sensuality, womanhood, and affection. This is not to say that these
personalities are maternal in any sense – they are not – but they are somewhat sexually
deviant in that they are the sex kittens of the kitchen, creating recipes often involving
chocolate, aphrodesiacs such as strawberries, and evocative regional traditions from
Italy, France, and the Mediterranean, where sex and food are intimately tied. The style
of cooking here is very much primal, much like the Authoritarian Persona, but in a
suggestive, subtle, finger-licking-good approach. There is nothing about these women
that is plain, matronly, or neutral in the least: they are full-on sirens, curvaceous of the
hips, exotic, and doe-eyed. The media often places much of its attention on Nigella
Lawson’s breasts, as well as her sexy British accent. She is dominant in her method of
cooking, often tasting, biting, and licking in the midst of preparing an otherwise
conservative dish. Her counterpart, Padma Lakshmi receives similar treatment by the
media, where she is the focal point of sexy photo shoots and suggestive poses in the
kitchen. Rachael Ray follows suit, and although she might not be typically thought of
as the household sex object, she is a member of the Sexual Persona because of her
recent and much talked about photos where she borders on the pornographic, while
lingeried and baking. All of this will be discussed in detail in the following passages.
The Sexual Persona, then, confirms the fact that food is a sexual expression of
eroticism, self-love, and curve appeal.
Another approach to the modern food culture comes in the form of the
Instructional Persona. Personalities that immediately come to mind are Alton Brown,
Sandra Lee, and Marc Summers, all of whom are devoted to food as an educational
experience rather than a sensual, evocative one. These Food Network stars come from
shows called Good Eats, Semi Homemade, and Unwrapped. The dominant, central theme
found throughout this method is the notion that food is a science to be unlocked, and
understood as a form of intellectual curiosity. Alton Brown, a celebrity chef that has
reached wild fame in the mainstream, is a cookbook author, but is mostly known for
his mad scientist-like attitude toward food. He is often dissecting the chemical
compounds of milk, taking a trip to the grocery store to compare the shelf life of ice
cream, and whipping up oatmeal to show how it should be in its natural state, rather
than storebought variety. Similarly, Sandra Lee provides a more instructional manual
to the kitchen – she is often very utilitarian in her approach, executing a meal from
beginning to end by outlining the appetizer, entrée, dessert, and drink menu at the
start of Semi Homemade, without improvising, deviating, or spontaneously cooking off
the hip. She is a cook that follows recipes to the tee, measuring to the teaspoon, and
instructing viewers on how to maximize benefits, cost analysis, and environment
through her famed terminology of a “tablescape”. Lee is frugal, domestic, and
unwavering in her approach. Additionally, Unwrapped has reached mega success on
the Food Network, taking audiences “behind the scenes” of their favorite snacks and
corporations to see the process that goes into the creation of foodstuffs. In this sense,
eating is a secondary act behind the more important one of understanding where, how,
and why food is produced the way it is. Instruction trumps flavor, and science counters
style to a more empirical approach to eating.
Finally, we see food in one last category – the Cultural Persona. This can be
found in the regional, traditional, and generational attitude toward cooking as seen by
Giada DiLaurentis, the Neely Family, and Marcella Valladolid, hosts of Everyday
Italian, Down Home with the Neelys, and Mexican Made Easy. Each of these personalities
is intimately connected to a region; for DiLaurentis it is her native Italy, for the Neely
family it is their Tennessee roots, and for Valladolid, it is her Mexican-Aztec heritage.
The recipes featured on the show are very much rooted in the native flair of these
respective international quirks: DiLaurentis, is natural, brisk, and heavyhanded in her
use of traditional Italian ingredients like olive oil and garlic. With the Neely’s, an
untrained husband-wife duo, they are prone to slathering copious amounts of
barbeque sauce and mayonnaise on unsuspecting foods, and for Valladolid, the use of
jalepeno peppers, tequila, and cheese is popular throughout most episodes. The
unique denominator for the Cultural Persona is the – either consciously or
subconsciously – cultural referencing. Each host is careful to pronounce the dish with
an added regional dialect; “el pollo and guacamole” for Valladoid is especially
emboldened with her punchy Mexican accent, “bruschetta” and “prosciutto” are words
carefully emphasized by DiLaurentis, and “cole slaw” and “corn on the cob” are met
with Southern drawls by the Neely family. Whether regional dialect, appearance, and
clothing styles are selectively ‘ethnicized’ for maximum regional and culinary vibe is
unknown, yet it is ironic that each of these Food Network hosts have gone on to craft
cookbooks specifically categorized in their specialized international area of expertise –
perhaps they design an image in order to appeal to a targeted audience hungry for that
category.
Now that we have garnered an understanding of the core, essential personalities
that comprise the Food Network in its entirety, we can begin to dissect the critical
analysis of each category – Comfort Persona, Authoritarian Persona, Sexual Persona,
Instructional Persona, and Cultural Persona – and how each ebb and flow within and
among each other to form themes surrounding gender roles and kitchen “counter”
stereotypes, if you will.
III. Food and Gender – Does Kitchen Tradition Trump All?
One of the most prominent themes evident on the Food Network and similar
broadcasters is the intra and inter-competition between the celeb chef Alpha Males
and Food Goddesses. When we consider both in context, there are very few exceptions
to gender-bending when it comes to cooking – the only contemporary example might
be Tim Allen, formerly of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy on Bravo, but also host of Food
Network’s Chopped and Food Detectives. While his sexuality – Allen is a gay man – was
once the spotlight of his mediacentric career, it is now a subtle stitch in his current
network presence. To media critics like Helene Shugart, Allen would fall into the
category of mere “otherness”, as his standing between the nexus of homosexuality,
cooking, style, and masculinity is constantly challenged, therefore leaving him squarely
in the host position without any true explosive, identifiable personality trait. It is
interesting to consider his position should Allen be more sexually flamboyant on the
Food Network – his reception might be ill-considered by the popular American
audiences of the heartland, thereby losing favorable Nielsen ratings for the channel.
However, Allen is the only “other” present on the Food Network – surely there are
various portrayals of race distinctions, and cultural codes, but there is not one openly
gay host that immediately comes to mind in order to challenge this more. Likewise,
there are no class differentials on the network, as many, if not most, of the hosts are
portrayed in middle-upper income homes, surrounded by fine dining sets, immaculate
furnishings, and occasions fit for home entertaining.
All of these situations lead us to our central claim that the Food Network
facilitates the promulgation of traditional gender and class-related roles when it comes
to cooking shows that appeal to mass audiences, as well as the positive portrayal of
such agenda-setting platforms in secondary products and vertical integration via
cookbooks, magazines, and houseware collections.
Our assertion that the network aids in the traditional male-female roles lies in
the blatant fact that, on television, men should be men and women should be women.
The creation, grooming, and upkeep of the Alpha Male, as well as the Food Goddess
have yet to be challenged with anyone less than pristine. The Alpha Male is the
umbrella term for the subcategories listed above – most notably, the Authoritarian
Persona and Instructional Persona. Culinary talents such as Bobby Flay, Anthony
Bourdain, and Gordan Ramsay easily give footing to this notion. While they are clearly
engaging in what was once clearly a very feminized, “housewife” duty in whitebread
50’s America, these men are now aggressively, assertively, and dominantly in control of
their kitchen. Their masculinity, that is, their pure and unadulterated physique,
testosterone, and flirtation come from cuisine as their craft – just as carpenters,
construction workers, and electricians work with their hands to create and fix, so do
male Food Network celebchefs. The resulting dominance that occurs as a byproduct of
male-creation in the kitchen comes from a deep, working knowledge of the tools
involved: in Boy Meets Grill for instance, Bobby Flay is nearly in a relationship with his
grill (as the title even suggests), working large hunks of meat into charred perfection.
Similarly, on Hell’s Kitchen we see Alpha Male dominance asserted through the
presence of the public, not private kitchen. In the feminine world as we will discuss
later, the kitchen is a comfort zone used to create dainty foods, memories, and
snapshots of familial life. However, in the Alpha Male society, the kitchen is a public
foray into the art of cuisine, a place to impress, show-off, and even harass other male
chefs, as Gordon Ramsay often does through the use of curse words, extreme
punishments, and degrading commands that require the use of a popular phrase “yes,
chef!”, as if he were an army drill sergeant. Ramsay’s entire personality as a chef is
similar to that of Simon Cowell on American Idol – he is the no-nonsense, intimidating,
albeit hilarious comedic hot plate for the entire show, leaving audiences gaping at the
insanity taking place in a kitchen that should otherwise be soothing. Anthony
Bourdain, another chef that reached saturation-point status in the culinary industry
several years ago with his show No Reservations on the Travel Channel, is known for his
smart-ass quips which leave viewers shocked (and women attracted), thereby asserting
his dominance through not only the swift handling of food and offhand knowledge of
cultural peculiarities gathered through his exotic travels, but also through his
intelligent, quick wit in addition to his masculine, musky physical force.
One other subcategory relating to masculinity, other than physical assertions of
identity, rely on more intellect rather than hubris. This type of Alpha Male is king of
the kitchen when it comes to encyclopedic interest in the offhand, obscure, and unruly
in the cooking arena, whether it be ingredients, gadgetry, or impressive popularity.
Alton Brown is far and away the leader here, with the nerdy fan-group approval of his
show, Good Eats. Here, Brown is certainly not pumping iron, flanking steaks, or
sharpening knives, but his empirical, scientific approach is masculine in the fact that
he knows how to handle food, even down to the molecular components involved. And
– although he does not come off as an intimidating individual – if he were placed in an
Alpha Male bar situation, he would come off as aloof, or even pretentious. Similarly,
Marc Summers, host of Unwrapped features the same kind of boyish curiosity about
the nature of food, rather than the use of food as an elixir or testosterone fueled,
manly-muscled aphrodesiac. His offhand, random knowledge of facts regarding “sweet
treats”, or “drive-in history” is not masculine in the least, but both he and Brown share
a certain Beta Male characteristic that puts them squarely into the mold of masculinity
sans the aggression of Flay, Ramsay, or Bourdine.
(INSERT MORE HERE ABOUT ALPHA MALE/CRITIC WORK)
The gendered opposite of the Alpha Male is the Food Goddess – a network
creation that is the icon of sexual objectivity, cooking as assertive sensuality, eating as
technique, and culinary glamour as a method seduction. To these women, cooking is
not about maternal instinct, although one could argue the Electra Complex of
caretaking as a form of fetishized sexual deviancy. For Nigella Lawson in particular,
food is equivalent to sex – in many interviews with the BBC, she has stated that those
who don’t know how to cook are likely atrocious in the bedroom, thereby maintaining
that sexual technique and culinary technique, as well as the animalism and primal
instinct that are similarly coded, are rife throughout. Lawson has skyrocketed to
international sex symbolism, with Google searches with regard to her shapely bosom
ranked in top popularity. Although she could be plastered as the victim of male
misinterpretation and perversion, Lawson actually revels in her Food Goddess
imagery, going off-script to say things in naughty, minxy British accents, and
frequently and innocently using sexy double entendres to describe her foodmaking.
One of the other most prominent Food Goddesses is Rachael Ray – although at first
glance she is not particularly a kitchen tease, she has been the star of recent magazine
spreads for FHM in October 2003 – images that feature her bent over an oven with
kitchen mits and a turkey in hand, her breasts neatly exposed. In another photo, she is
suggestively sucking a lollipop, and in yet another she is standing lingeried in the
kitchen door, holding a piping hot pie. Ray verges on girly mannerisms and womanly
desires here, making it absolutely certain that she too considers food to be a sexual
platform and the kitchen a place for that expression. One last Food Goddess, Padma
Lakshmi, has never quite considered herself anything less than food model to the
masses – she is often featured in magazines fully made up, but suggestively licking her
lips after eating chicken wings, or reaching for a spot of chocolate systematically placed
on her forearm. Her exotic, Amazonian look at first secured her place in the
international scene as a model, but her love of food and recent domestic pursuits have
become a suitable foray into Top Chef success, and aftermarket sales via cookbooks and
public appearances.
(INSERT MORE ABOUT FOOD GODDESS CRITICISM)
We can see that the very clear-cut, oil-and-water type distinctions between
Alpha Males and Food Goddesses on the Food Network are evident, and neverending.
The image of masculinity has largely been unchallenged, and as stated earlier, the
presence of homosexual “others” in the culinary spotlight is minimal, save for one
fading, mainstream example. In the cooking world, males are males, and females are
females with little room for an in-between. It will remain to be seen whether or not a
more forthright, flamboyant, and risqué personality will emerge, or whether the Food
Network will feed what its target audience wants – masculine and feminine identities
left unchallenged. It will also be interesting to see if there is any sort of rebellion
arising from the lack of sexual minorities in the food culture media, and if there will be
any popular support behind it.
But how did all of these personalities skyrocket to their celebrity status? Before
their name was scrawled in cookbooks, before they were imprinted on DVD sleeves or
on a washing instruction tag in a towel set, these people were ordinary, undiscovered
cooks in kitchens. The names listed are not limited – Jamie Oliver, Curtis Stone, Cat
Cora, Guy Fieri, and Tyler Florence – but there are certainly names that have risen to
the upper echelons of fame over their colleagues. And, before all of this even
happened, Food Network had to be born. The first network of its kind to debut in
1993, it is held primarily responsible for the business-ization and corporatization
around the food industry, catapulting eating and fine dining as not merely a passive
form of entertainment, but rather a bombastic, neon, outrageous spectacle for all to be
involved in. How exactly is the network building, maintaining and targeting an
audience?
The first and most prominent method is through vertical integration – the mass
production of cookbooks, magazines, podcasts, DVD’s, framed art, home collections,
dinnerware, clothing, and décor has generated a multimillion dollar aftermarket for
the network, keeping the majority of its consumer driven profit in-house. The
participation of publishing houses, fabric companies, technology industries, and
designer factories has lead to a booming industry where people are first introduced to
the personalities, then the products. Martha Stewart’s Omnimedia venture is an explicit
example of such diversified success. Her home collection at both budget superchain KMart and more midlevel elite Macy’s have opened the doors to not only the sales of
towels and bedding, but the appreciation and subscription of her magazine, and the
continued success of her noonday television show aptly titled ‘Martha’. All of these
compartments are owned by her exclusively, and although the editors and designers
imatimately involved on her taskforce receive attractive compensation, she is at the
helm of the Martha Stewart ship.
Whether it means providing content in short bursts (i.e. thirty minute shows) or
long strides (i.e. hourlong spotlights on feasts), the leader in television food culture,
the Food Network, exists to captivate audiences through the television set by luring
them via commercial or subtle product placement in the program, and eventually
providing them with the opportunity to replicate glossy, Hollywood perfection. The
use of Cuisinart mixers, easily identifiable and used in many baking sequences, has led
to steady sales and product glorification. Rachael Ray’s term “EVOO” was not only
added to the Oxford Dictionary in 2006, but she is now the literal face of her own extra
virgin olive oil brand. This notion of self branding under the umbrella network,
corporation, or enterprise is important when we consider the monetary effects the
food culture has on our gender, race, and culture perceptions, as well as purchases.
The recent popularity of the movie Julie and Julia, a screenplay adapted by Nora
Ephron off of Julie Powell’s bestseller, is one such example of branding that has
catapulted the cooking industry into doubled success. The movie follows the personal
and parallel narratives of Julia Child, arguably the original and most famed celebrity
chef of our time, and Julie Powell, a homely New York hobbyist meddling in the craft
of cooking. When Julie decides to blog (a relatively new concept in the early 2001 time
period) about her daily, ritualistic kitchen practices with Julia’s The Art of French
Cooking, she experiences fame and fortune. The story, heartwarming and blissful,
reached box-office (GET CITATION) power over the Thanksgiving months in 2009,
ironically the most food-centric holiday on the American calendar. This was no
innocent move – the movie led to the aftershock popularity of Julia Child’s original
cookbook, Julie Powell’s original bestseller, and the Food Network’s television and
web-based success. All of this proves that cooking has reached a paramount position in
the American narrative, where the exposure to one medium (i.e. a food film, for
instance) leads to the aftermarket availability and everyday vertical integration of
another product (i.e. a magazine subscription). Thus, the personalities behind the
Food Network in particular, are absolutely vital to capturing audience attention,
whether it be on newsstands, movie trailers, or WalMart aisles.
COOKING CHANNEL DEBUTING MAY?
CONTINUE HERE –
Discuss what “food fame” is – what does it mean to become a FN chef? Who was
the impetus for celebchef status (i.e. Emeril), and what is the competition to becoming
involved.
- Talk about food subcultures, the rise of food blogs and food documentaries
- Go back and read all of your texts to tie in criticism to the main arguments!!!!!