Really, I think your characterization is a little harsh, KSO. It’s the show’s fault. People want these neat little, prepackaged, processed, and edited, one dimensional characters in the reality TV format to either villify or adore (and I use the term “reality”, loosely.).
She’s being villiainized for being different and not fitting into a neat little American classification. This is just another example of the cultural wars, provencialism, and missive “patriotism” that the Bush era has foisted on us with a declarative “with us or against us” attitude.
I believe she has a genuine accent, probably hasn’t eaten fried chicken, meatloaf, or Ketchup in many years, and probably infrequently, and maybe never, when she did live here. Even Hung poo pooed all of the classic dishes and boasted that his family’s fare was steamed fish, vegetables, and rice. Why not come down on that pretention, as well?
She has lived her entire adult life abroad, I can certainly see how she might not consider herself an American, outside of citizenship, from her relative Point of View.
The whole concept of low fat, low chloesterol comfort food is an oxymoron. I am surprised any of the food was edible. Low fat meatloaf? Come on, it is going to taste like crap, I don’t care if Wolfgang Puck made it.
I’m criticizing her for her own comments, not how she’s been portrayed on the show. Unless you’re suggesting the producers were holding a gun to her head and telling her to talk nonsense to the camera?
Yeah, when she said that she had used 95% lean in her meatloaf, i was thinking “Well, unless you’re a miracle worker, that’s going to be about the driest, nastiest meatloaf in history.”
Also, maybe someone with more meat knowledge can help me out here. As a vegetarian, i never concern myself with things like the cholesterol content of meats, because i don’t eat any meats. But i was a bit confused about all the criticism that Brian was getting for using lobster in what was supposed to be a low cholesterol challenge.
I’ve done some looking around at various websites, and it seems that 3oz of lobster contains about 61mg of cholesterol. That compares pretty well with things like chicken and beef, as far as i can tell.
For example, according to this page, 3oz of 85% lean broiled beef patty has 77mg, and 3oz of lean-only roast beef rib has 68mg.
And this page says that a half chicken breast, meat only (no skin) roasted has 73mg.
I’n not arguing that lobster is low in cholesterol, only that it doesn’t seem to be so much worse than what some of the other contestants were using, and in some cases might even have been better. Yet Brian was the only one criticized for messing up the low-cholesterol part of the challenge.
Yes, it seems all of the judges were mistaken about coming down on Lobster as high in cholesterol and a lot of fans are letting them know about their ignorance at the Top Chef website. Carlos Fernandez, a contestant from season 2 and a contributing chef and blogger at the top chef site, also called them on it in his latest blog.
I personally thought all seafood was low in cholesterol, but I was mistaken, and learned from the fans at the site that shrimp is actually a big cholesterol offender in the seafood world, at 194 mg in 3 1/2 ozs. (Apparently squid has 231 mg per 3 1/2 ozs!).
The kind that reality shows love to cast. Seriously, as a producer of one of these shows, wouldn’t you rather have some pretentious idiot who has no idea what they are in for and will say anything that pops into their head, rather than a big fan who is aware of how they might come across on tv?
I should note that the cholesterol from seafood is the “Good Cholesterol” (HDL), and is relatively healthier than “turf” meats high in LDL cholesterol, and possibly even beneficial.