# TV changing what we eat **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2016, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-changing-what-we-eat/760539 "2016-07-21T23:00:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-changing-what-we-eat/760539/21 "2016-07-29T00:16:03Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > Dude, greens have been food since before recorded history. Yes, _as greens._ I grew up on collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, etc. But the current crop of hipster poseurs are taking kale and making it the new bacon. Just stop it! Boil up those greens with fatback or a smoked turkey neck, hit them with pepper vinegar and serve them up as a side. The next “Wonderfood” they ain’t. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-changing-what-we-eat/760539/22 "2016-07-29T10:53:42Z")
We both love kale, so I plant a garden of it. It’s great in salads, beans&greens, in lasagna, etc. I’m eating an omelette right now stuffed with sautéed kale and Swiss cheese. The harvest begins mid-spring and continues through summer, fall, and into winter. Our last kale harvest involves brushing away snow cover. ---
**Author:** ![HeXen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2016, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-changing-what-we-eat/760539/23 "2016-07-30T00:56:36Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Why would you think you must watch it for it to have an effect on you? Why wouldn’t I think that? Ads cannot effect you if you never see them. Do you think people in 3rd world countries crave Red Lobster because it’s on TV? ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-changing-what-we-eat/760539/24 "2016-07-30T19:53:24Z")
Not TV and not food but Sideways noticeably impacted the sales of Pinot Noir and Merlot in the US after it came out. > [@bordelond](#): > > Kale’s been around (barely) … Before 2012, the largest purchaser of Kale in the US was… Pizza Hut, where it was used as the salad bar garnish. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-changing-what-we-eat/760539/25 "2016-07-30T21:52:52Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > You eat people?:eek: > > (Just kidding. I love Ethiopian food too, and put teff into a lot of my baked goods.) Unless you think Ethiopians are cannibals, this joke doesn’t work. Anyway, food goes in fads. For a long time, classy cuisine meant French cuisine, and French cuisine meant extremely fussy dishes with sauces and enough place-settings to thoroughly flummox a car salesman from Lincoln. _Haute cuisine_, in other words, Escoffier, battalions, and all. You can still see this, preserved in amber, in old dramas and new comedies. Julia Child brought a simplified version of this to American homes, but she was clearly reacting to a longstanding tradition, not breaking new ground; she was, after all, cooking professional French food, not the commoner’s food, albeit in a form accessible to housewives without a kitchen staff. [“The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America” claims the turning point for Italian food in this country was the 1980s](https://books.google.com/books?id=DOJMAgAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA353&lpg=RA1-PA353&dq=american+food+french+italian+history&source=bl&ots=eIusQor9RS&sig=FUd8xL1yTKRQ8dndZWp46-e5ke0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjOkovRk5zOAhVL62MKHR3cCCg4ChDoAQgmMAI#v=onepage&q=american%20food%20french%20italian%20history&f=false); that’s when they say it hit the _good_ restaurants in a big way and got some critical notice. You could blame that on television but it’s also true that Italian cuisine is simpler than the kind of French cuisine which had previously defined the refined palate in this country. Notice that these days, the most popular kind of French cuisine is the less-fussy Provençal variety. We’re just in a more laid-back era of fine dining right now. Television is probably more of a reflector than a driver. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-changing-what-we-eat/760539/26 "2016-07-30T22:29:27Z")
_Hell’s Kitchen_, the cooking competition show hosted by Gordon Ramsay, frequently seems to feature risotto, beef Wellington and scallops. I wonder if those dishes are ordered more frequently as a result of the show. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2016, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-changing-what-we-eat/760539/27 "2016-07-30T22:38:59Z")
> [@HeXen](#): > > Why wouldn’t I think that? Ads cannot effect you if you never see them. Of course they can. They can change the people and world around you. ---
**Author:** ![tenacious\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tenacious\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenacious_j)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-changing-what-we-eat/760539/28 "2016-07-31T01:06:58Z")
> [@HeXen](#): > > Why wouldn’t I think that? Ads cannot effect you if you never see them. Do you think people in 3rd world countries crave Red Lobster because it’s on TV? > [@Acsenray](#): > > Of course they can. They can change the people and world around you. Acsenray is right. Again. It’s not a great analogy. Ads can affect people that never see them, in the markets in which they air (read: not third world countries). On top of that, it’s not just ads but TV shows like Deadliest Catch, Rachael Ray, and Emeril, or whatever’s on the food channel now. Directly or indirectly, they change what’s in your stores, your restaurants, and your friend’s table. Have you seen Ace of Cakes or Cake Boss? maybe not. But you’ve probably been to a wedding or party where you’ve seen fancy fondant-covered cakes, or cakes modeled after something that doesn’t look like a cake. Those 2 shows really helped up the standard for occasion cakes. Do you have olive oil in your house, or just good old Wesson oil and Crisco? Thank the Food Network, not a commercial, for that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-changing-what-we-eat/760539.md?page=1)