Say it Ain’t So, Paula: Although I follow a plant-based diet, I admit to enjoying a full range of omnivore cooking shows on the Food Network, from Giada and Bobby Flay to Cupcake Wars and Iron Chef. While I admire Paula Deen’s unapologetic Southern sass, I could never really get into her programs. To me, watching an obese woman toss two sticks of butter, along with a cup of heavy cream, white flour and sugar, into every other recipe was the equivalent of watching a strung-out junkie shoot up heroin.
But just like when you’re driving by a car crash or a fire, sometimes you can’t just look away. Deen’s extreme penchant for frying the unfryable – Deep-Fried Cheesecake, Fried Butter Balls, Fried Macaroni and Cheese – both fascinated and terrified me.
Chacun à son gout. If Deen wanted to feast on lard and simple carbs, it was certainly her business and her prerogative. After all, I’m in control of my remote and my kitchen. And let’s be real: being vegan is no guarantee of health. Like our omnivorous counterparts, herbivores can also pig out on decadent cakes, cookies, pizza, potato chips –and deep-fried Newman-Os – with similarly disastrous, albeit cholesterol-free, health results.
My issue is with Deen is not her culinary point of view, but rather her contrary point of view. Although she was diagnosed with 2 diabetes 3 years ago and has been treating it with both medication and lifestyle changes all this time, she strategically chose to make her condition public just last week– which interestingly coincided with the launch of her sons’ new “healthier” cooking show, “Not My Mama’s Meals.” We also learned last week that Deen and her boys signed a promotional deal with the pharmaceutical company that makes the diabetes medication that Deen takes.
I find it laughable that Deen pledged on the Today Show last week, 3 years post- diagnosis, “I’m going to be there for you and help you manage every day of your life with this, because it can be done.” After promoting and profiting from the very types of foods proven to contribute to her condition for three years, she does not exactly strike me as a credible advocate. I get the feeling that Deen grossly underestimates her audience’s intelligence.
Deen has taken deep-frying to a new level. I think she has finally managed to fry herself.
Dynise Balcavage is the author of Celebrate Vegan! Life-affirming Recipes for Occasions Big and Small and Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine . She blogs at urbanvegan.net and tweets @theurbanvegan