I recently discovered a show on the Travel Channel called “The Layover”, with host Anthony Bourdain. I caught an episode that featured Hong Kong and I found the concept of the show interesting, so I started watching more episodes. Then I started watching his other show, “No Reservations”, which I have to admit I do not enjoy as much as I do “The Layover”, but it’s still good. This is the kind of stuff that I watch while riding the trainer, because it doesn’t require the focus and attention span that anything with a plot or character development has, and I can be entertained while grinding my way through what potentially is the most boring hour of my day.
Truth be told, I had no clue who Anthony Bourdain was when I first saw his show. I have only been watching his shows for the last 3 weeks and after several episodes I wondered what his deal was, because he certainly demonstrated a flair for acerbic social commentary, not to mention a rather intimate knowledge of some pretty diverse restaurants all over the world. But I was completely in the dark about him, so I had to look him up on the Google in order to learn more. I like Bourdain because he has that sort of condescending wit that reminds me of Jeremy Clarkson. If you’re a fan of Clarkson*, you’ll love Bourdain.
So I guess it is rather fortuitous that I only recently discovered Bourdain, as I can better enjoy the current media frenzy surrounding his comments about another TV personality chef, Paula Deen, and her announcement yesterday that she has Type II diabetes and is now a spokesperson for a pharmaceutical company. Now, to be clear, I had never heard of Paula Deen, since I don’t watch the Food Network and I am not really a big fan of cooking shows. The only reason I even paid any attention to this is because of Bourdain’s involvement – I keep seeing Bourdain’s name coming up on daily news sites, and it piqued my interest. I won’t rehash the details – you can read the history between Deen and Bourdain here, and read about her big sponsorship deal endorsement of a prescription drug that will enable her to manage her diabetes and still eat things like donut hamburger sandwiches.
One of my favorite blogs addressed this yesterday, and I was originally just going to post my comment over there, but I realized I had not updated my own blog in a while, and rather than hijack someone else’s comment thread, I might as well just start my own over here.
Some people feel that Bourdain’s criticism of Deen is elitist, that he is slamming her because she is overweight, she’s a southern woman, and not a classically trained chef, and for no other reason. I feel that Bourdain’s commentary is spot on, and it is particularly telling that he called her out on her potential for diabetes months before she revealed her diagnosis.
As someone who has worked in the exercise physiology field, I get really pissed off about the prevalence of Type II diabetes, which is easily preventable for most people simply by eating less and moving more. It’s a lifestyle disease, and the fact that the pharmaceutical industry influences our treatment methods over the far less expensive and healthier lifestyle modifications bothers me quite a bit. She is profiting from her partnership with a drug company, and on top of that telling people that her method of using a drug means she does not have to alter her lifestyle. She went on TV saying the diagnosis does not mean that “you have to give up all the foods you want”…and that is exactly what the diagnosis DOES mean. Yeah, the drug helps the insulin uptake and gets the body functioning, but if a person changed her diet and lost weight, the results would be far better, not to mention it would significantly lower healthcare costs. The drug is a very expensive bandaid for a far larger, more expensive problem, and her advocacy for the drug and insistence that dietary modifications and exercise are not necessary is not doing anyone any favors. To put it another way, some celebrities have a drug or alcohol problem, and they go through rehab, get clean and then become an advocate for fighting addiction.
Then there’s Lindsay Lohan.
* Jeremy Clarkson is one of the hosts of Top Gear, the original BBC version and not that complete and total crap that is the American Top Gear, which appears to have the production value of a youtube video some 5th grader shot with his iPhone and some matchbox cars.