Power to the people – and the princess
The words typed about cooking shows never cease. In this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, former restaurant critic Frank Bruni offers us a six-page-click story about Katie Lee Joel, self-proclaimed “hillbilly princess” and ex-wife of piano man Billy Joel (why he keeps marrying women who’ve never heard his music is a perennial mystery). Bruni presents her as an emblem of today’s food celebrity – one often unencumbered by professional credentials but who genuinely loves food and cooking and is blessed with good looks and charm. Having a famous ex-husband doesn’t hurt a bit. Bruni’s sass is as fun to watch as the melting American cheese in the video below where Joel makes her famous West Virginia patty melts.
In the other corner, we continue to see and hear regular, non-princes and princesses pop up on these very cyberwaves, showing their cooking stuff. Those who are not waiting to be invited by the Food Network to host a show are taking the reins and doing it themselves. We keep saying this is the future of cooking instruction, this Internet. But are you really able to turn your head from a pretty someone cooking something perfect in a dream kitchen? I dare you. I think you and me, we want both – the messy + real as well as the pretty + perfect. There’s no shame in admitting it, but you don’t even have to admit it at all. Just enjoy it. And don’t assume that Katie Lee Joel can’t show you a thing or two.
