From Food Network to Freezer

Mario Batali Regional Recipes at Grocery Outlet

Put it however you like, but the Food Network essentially put Mario Batali on ice last year. Molto Mario, when it is on, is on early in the morning. He may still be an Iron Chef, but he’s now working on a show (which will air on PBS) traveling in Spain with Gwyneth Paltrow.

He isn’t the first chef to team up with a food industry giant (in this case General Mills) to put his image on packaged food products. Emeril’s got a line of spices (and had a short-lived sitcom); Ming Tsai has Asian specialities in the freezer aisle at Target; Tyler Florence is stumping for Applebee’s; Ina Garten has a Barefoot Contessa line — the list goes on and on.

No matter how good the gemelli with meatballs is (and Ed Levine says it’s not half bad), there’s something sad and little disheartening (call me naive) about a chef of Mario’s caliber, whose restaurants are renowned for their food, being in cahoots with General Mills/Progresso Foods. It’s more than just an endorsement of a product — no one holds Tiger Woods responsible if something happens to their Buick, but what if the food doesn’t have that je nais sais quoi that makes it Mario (or Emeril or Tyler or whoever) quality? How can Progresso possibly ensure this product reflects the philosophy on his website — “Perfectly pristine ingredients, combined sensibly and cooked properly, are the hallmarks of the best Italian food.”
Yes, yes, it’s capitalism and shouldn’t celeb chefs capitalize on their exposure so they can build their own empires? Sure. Sell as many things as you can before Food Network tosses you aside. Food Network is even trying to get a piece of the action now, “insisting on a stake in book deals and licensing ventures, and control over outside activities” according to the New York Times (12/17/07).

What I respect about Mario is that he is building his empire and from what an outsider can see, keeping his self-respect. He partnered with Nancy Silverton to open Mozza in LA and he’s got his PBS show — a network that respects what it is to be a chef — not a TV personality who cooks. And he calls it like he sees it — in that same NYT article from December, he’s quoted as saying, “They [Food Network] don’t need me. They have decided they are mass market and they are going after the Wal-Mart crowd,” which he said was “a smart business decision. So they don’t need someone who uses polysyllabic words from other languages.”

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