{"id":125,"date":"2008-01-03T22:31:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-04T06:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/waffledaily.wordpress.com\/2008\/01\/03\/from-food-network-to-freezer"},"modified":"2011-05-29T09:46:02","modified_gmt":"2011-05-29T16:46:02","slug":"from-food-network-to-freezer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/from-food-network-to-freezer\/","title":{"rendered":"From Food Network to Freezer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
\nMario Batali<\/span> Regional Recipes at Grocery Outlet<\/div>\n

Put it however you like, but the Food Network essentially put Mario Batali<\/span> on ice last year. Molto<\/span> 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<\/span>.<\/p>\n

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<\/span> got a line of spices (and had a short-lived sitcom); Ming Tsai<\/span> has Asian specialities in the freezer aisle at Target; Tyler Florence is stumping for Applebee’s<\/span>; Ina Garten<\/span> has a Barefoot Contessa<\/span> line — the list goes on and on.<\/p>\n

No matter how good the gemelli<\/span> with meatballs is (and Ed Levine says it’s not half bad<\/a>), 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<\/span> 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<\/span> nais<\/span> sais<\/span> quoi<\/span> that makes it Mario (or Emeril<\/span> or Tyler or whoever) quality? How can Progresso<\/span> possibly ensure this product reflects the philosophy on his website <\/a>— “Perfectly pristine ingredients, combined sensibly and cooked properly, are the hallmarks of the best Italian food.”<\/em>
\nYes, 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<\/a> 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).<\/p>\n

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<\/span> to open Mozza<\/span> 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<\/span> article from December, he’s quoted as saying, “They [Food Network] don\u2019t need me. They have decided they are mass market and they are going after the Wal<\/span>-Mart<\/a> crowd,\u201d which he said was \u201ca smart business decision. So they don\u2019t need someone who uses polysyllabic words from other languages.\u201d<\/p>

<\/div>
\r\n \"logo\"\r\n
\r\n Food Advertisements<\/a> by\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/center>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[111,112,110],"class_list":["post-125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-op-ed","tag-celebrity-chefs","tag-food-network","tag-mario-batali"],"yoast_head":"\nFrom Food Network to Freezer - DailyWaffle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michelle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/from-food-network-to-freezer\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/from-food-network-to-freezer\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michelle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/#\/schema\/person\/699f5bbc3243018b1b4177972fd4c932\"},\"headline\":\"From Food Network to Freezer\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-01-04T06:31:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-29T16:46:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/from-food-network-to-freezer\/\"},\"wordCount\":456,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/from-food-network-to-freezer\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/bp1.blogger.com\/_3TVFvkP_-dM\/R31jUoxMizI\/AAAAAAAAATU\/WXbeg2hbJmA\/s400\/IMG00045.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"celebrity chefs\",\"Food Network\",\"Mario Batali\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Op-Ed\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/from-food-network-to-freezer\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/from-food-network-to-freezer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/from-food-network-to-freezer\/\",\"name\":\"From Food Network to Freezer - 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