Food porn, anyone?

[wildeyed]

Listened to this hilarious analysis of the Food Network on "On the Media" today (the episode was actually from 8/4. I am a bit behind, and listen via podcast).

http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/transcripts_080406_c.html

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Now, for your Harper's piece you met with a woman named Barbara Nitke, who is a photographer who worked for many years in the porn industry. In fact, you went to her home one afternoon, ordered in some Mexican food and watched The Food Network for six hours. So what did you learn about camera angles and lighting and the nuts and bolts of gastro porn?

FREDERICK KAUFMAN: Well, Barbara has been a professional in the porn industry, taking still photographs, for many years, worked on over 300 porn films. And she really gave me an education in terms, not only of the shots, but in terms of the wacky, strange soundtracks – - this kind of caressing camera going over the food, back and forth and up and down. One of the things that makes it extremely porny is the repetition. You'll see the peach, and the camera going over those peaches again, then Giada, then the peach, then Giada, then the peach. And so this is very similar to how porn works.

snip...

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Let's talk about Iron Chef. Iron Chef, you suggest, is the kind of S&M of The Food Channel.

FREDERICK KAUFMAN: Iron Chef is the classic fetish porn film -- Welcome to the Dungeon, with this billowing smoke.

SHOW HOST KAGA TAKESHI: Iron Chef!

ANNOUNCER: Making their ascent in the kitchen stadium and beginning a new chapter in the Gourmet Academy's history, the invincible men of culinary skills.

FREDERICK KAUFMAN: And then you have this great dominator character who's in this kind of wild brocaded outfit with a black leather glove. And then comes the strange ingredient from the ceiling. It's squid. It's living squid. And you have the dominators taking this submissive food and transforming it into something beautiful. In other words, the classic plot in a dom-sub fetish porn film is you have a transformation of a character from a meek little thing or an ugly little thing into a gorgeous, beautiful, wrapped-up, zipped-up thing. And here what you have in food is you have this disgusting thing, like living, writhing squid, that's turned into this highly refined and highly mediated squid risotto.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Okay. So where does Giada De Laurentis and, say, Rachael Ray, fit into this constellation of culinary stars?

FREDERICK KAUFMAN: Well, Rachael Ray, you know, everybody says is "the girl next door." Rachael Ray is perky, smiley, next-door-neighbor sex.

RACHAEL RAY: Lentils poof up big when you cook 'em. They just suck up all the liquid as they get nice and tender. I gotta take a quick break. I'm just gonna keep cookin' up something super good for dinner, and I'll meet you right back here.

FREDERICK KAUFMAN: She's the girl who won't say no. Giada De Laurentis is more of the exotic Glamazon, the Ginger to Rachael Ray's Mary Ann, so to speak.

:rofl:

I don't know how true this is, I don't watch much Food Network or porn, but it was amusing listening.

[mtnester]

1. For a minute I hought maybe you were going to talk about 9 1/2 Weeks

Now THAT was food porn!

[NMDemDist2]

2. OMG!

:rofl:

that's quite the take on food porn for sure


PS ready for your big bash?? or is that why the DH and kids are gone? so you can get your prep done?

[wildeyed]

3. Nah, just sick of 'em.

But I will finish the ice cream today, and maybe marinate the meat and put the tabbouleh, minus the veggies, together either tonight or tomorrow AM.