# What happened to the Fruggin' Gourmet?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-fruggin-gourmet/29806>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 18, 2000, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-fruggin-gourmet/29806 "2000-08-18T00:29:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2000, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-fruggin-gourmet/29806/1 "2000-08-18T00:29:03Z")

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I know he got involved in a sex scandal, but what are the sordid details? Things must have been pretty steamy for him to drop so completely out of sight. I still have some of the old reprobate’s cookbooks.

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**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2000, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-fruggin-gourmet/29806/2 "2000-08-18T00:52:08Z")

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I believe that he settled out of court. As to the details, all I know is that he was being accused by a person who was an underaged male at the time of the alleged offense. I haven’t seen any new TV episdoes (or reruns for that matter) or books since it was reported in the news.

And the Urban Peasant vanished around the same time…

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**Author:** ![Oblio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c4cdca/32.png) [@Oblio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblio)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2000, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-fruggin-gourmet/29806/3 "2000-08-18T01:05:10Z")

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For years I’ve been trying to remember the name of that other eclectic TV cook. What happened to TUP ??

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2000, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-fruggin-gourmet/29806/4 "2000-08-18T01:10:29Z")

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At least 7 men have accused Jeff Smith of sexual impropriety. See [this site](http://www.witchhunt.org/archives/1999/witchhuntlog9901.txt) which explains that Smith settled out of court for $4.75 million. Smith has not admitted any wrongdoing. He could not be prosecuted in criminal court, since the statue of limitations has expired.

Related thread [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=15816)

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**Author:** ![CandyMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@CandyMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandyMan)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2000, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-fruggin-gourmet/29806/5 "2000-08-18T12:28:11Z")

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TUP??? The other one I got a kick out of was the Galloping Gormet. You can still see him on FoodTV

CandyMan

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**Author:** ![Lord\_Derfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@Lord\_Derfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Derfel)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2000, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-fruggin-gourmet/29806/6 "2000-08-18T15:51:05Z")

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The Urban Peasant is still around: [Here’s his web site](http://www.james-barber.com/). He also writes a weekly restaurant review column in the Vancouver Sun. He’s the reason I learned to cook in university. I own a couple of his books.