Monday, May 2, 2011

An Open Letter to Paula Deen

Dear Paula,

You seem like a nice enough lady. You kind of have that wacky aunt thing going, the loud and boisterous relative that you don’t mind spending a little time with at a family reunion.

And I hate to jump on you when you’re down. I recently read where you've been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, but continue to promote the kind of diet that… well… leads people down the path to type 2 diabetes.

I don’t normally watch your cooking show(s), Paula. However, I was flipping the channel while I was ellipticalizing at the gym one day and came across your smiling mug.

You were making some kind of crazy ham-and-cheese sammich. I was shaking my head because you loaded that puppy up with gobs of cheese and homemade mayonnaise and then started frying that bitch up with a stick of butter. A stick of butter!

I remember thinking, “Wow, how unhealthy is that?” but you, my dear, were just getting started. You broiled some more cheese on top of that rascal, and then plopped a big greasy fried egg smack on top.

And then… OMFG… you slathered creamy hollandaise sauce all over the top of it. Satan wouldn’t even serve that sandwich in Hell’s cafeteria, Paula. I’m serious. I had bad dreams for a week.

And what about your Donut Bread Pudding? Two cans of sugary fruit cocktail, a can of sweetened condensed milk, an entire stick of butter, a pound of powdered sugar and – are you sh*ttin’ me? – two dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. My cholesterol went up 20 notches just reading about it.


When I first heard this report about your health, I felt sorry for you, Paula. But it turns out you’ve known about your condition for quite some time and still promote and peddle your heart-attack-ready recipes. 

I dunno, Paula. That’s kind of like turning on the TV and seeing Mister Rogers teaching kids to roll their own cigarettes (actually, that would have been a better analogy if Mister Rogers had contracted lung cancer; let's just pretend, for the sake of my argument, that he did).

I sincerely hope you can get a handle on your diabetes, Paula. But just as important, I hope you come to grips with the fact that with great flavor comes great responsibility.

You could be an agent for positive change in this uninformed and unhealthy world, Paula, but the first ingredient on this quest has to be knowledge… not a stick of butter.

Take care,

Jack

36 comments:

  1. Ive seen her in person a few times (the first I had no idea who she was...I think it was at Blogher?) and people ADORE her BUTTER LOVIN' SELF.

    she's funny and has a magnetic personality---just the right person to be an agent for change.

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  2. I agree with you and Miz...she could lead thousands down the path to healthy eating and be a great spokesperson for managing diabetes given her following...if she only would. I hope your open letter gets around to her and she takes it to heart...for the sake of her heart. :)

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  3. granted I just got through doing 60 hard fought crunches right before reading this, but my stomach turned a little while reading the description of that sammich. for realz? why would anyone do that? I can't imagine that even tasting good to be honest.

    I wish Paula would use her super powers for good too Jack. Let's go do an intervention on her ass!

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  4. In the world of Food Porn, Paula Deen is hard-core obscenity in her butter/fat fetish promotion. She is not going to become the voice for better health and habits because sales of current cookbooks and future cookbooks would go away.

    At least we do not have to watch, purchase, eat or in any way support what she touts today.

    Thank you Jack for a great letter!

    Jane
    Keepingthepoundsoff.com

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  5. Maybe she's afraid she'd lose viewers if she "went healthy." But people love her and would watch whatever she makes. I wish she knew.

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  6. Hi! New to your blog, but love it and will definitely keep reading!

    Anyway, Paula Deen is a mess. I hadn't heard that she was recently diagnosed with diabetes, but is it really surprising? Being a Southern girl, I love me some butter, cheese, and fried anything...especially when found in combination. But I KNOW I just CAN'T eat this way. While I enjoy those foods, I enjoy my healthy heart and small(er) waistline even more. I think it is a shame she's still continuing promoting recipes like that, considering her health problems.

    Maybe Jamie Oliver should revolutionize the Paula Deen kitchen?? :)

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  7. I must admit that I enjoy foods that are bad for me. Chocolate, cheese, sugar, whatever. But as much as I find Paula Deen fun to watch, I don't think I'd ever eat her food. It's even too much for ME, and that's saying a lot!

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  8. Unfortunately more and more cooking and food shows tend towards the outrageous. Look at shows that thrive on gluttony like Man Vs Food to pick one of many out. Even as America is drowning in an obesity epidemic we continue to air, and watch, shows promoting everything that is leading the population to ruin.

    Good for you, Jack, calling them up on it.

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  9. I saw her at the South Beach food and wine festival and she had a bust of herself made out of butter. I don't see how using gobs of fat and other nutritional monstrosities is something to be proud of.

    I'm probably just bitter because I didn't know you had to make a reservation to wait in line to eat at her stupid restaurant in Savannah. It's probably better we ate pizza instead. It was more nutritious.

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  10. She also said in a recent interview that the one ingredient she couldn't live without was BUTTER and the one kitchen gadget she couldn't live without was a commercial DEEP FRYER.

    She's a sweet lady from outer space! Nobody should be eating, much less promoting, that kind of cooking.

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  11. roflmfao!
    i love paula dean,i really do! i also love her show and i actually make healthier versions of her heart attack on a plate specials....
    lol!
    anyways,always love stopping by here to see what you have to say,you crack me up!

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  12. I just read an article that her sons are taking her cooking, and lightening it up... Interesting!

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  13. Lurker here: my family is from southern Italy, which means fried nothing unless it's in a thimbleful of olive oil, no butter, very little dairy, and mostly fish. That sandwich you described sounded like something the CIA would force-feed a terrorist to get him to tell them where the bomb was hidden.

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  14. I guess that shouldn't come as much of a surprise. I love her- but I guess that goes to show you can't eat her meals everyday!

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  15. Great letter! SEND IT!! haa haa haa

    Some cooks (in my estimation not the good ones) feel like they need the butter/fat to make things taste good. Isn't it more of a challenge to not use the easy route to flavor!

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  16. I love the way she talk and have some private thoughts about her and sometimes Martha Stewart when I am lonely. Let me just leave it at that.
    LMFAO

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  17. There's such a thing as cooking something yummy, and then there's taking it too far by drenching it in butter and cheese. I'm always looking for a way to make other people's yummy recipes more healthy.

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  18. She's actually started cooking healthier items with her sons on the show. If you watch the newer episodes, they're not nearly as "butter heavy" as the older ones...

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  19. I guess the might dollar is still whispering in her ear. Dammit, Paula!

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  20. I cannot watch her shows - I love a good treat, but her food is past a treat and into insanity!

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  21. It would always kill me at my old gym in alabama when people would be watching her dump butter on everything while they ran on the treadmill.

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  22. Great post. Just great. All things I've thought many times. I was recently given one of her cookbooks and as I looked through it I realized there is very little I'll ever cook from it. Even the veggies are unhealthy. Sad really.

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  23. Wow. She really made that ham & cheese sandwich? Why not just sit down with a can of lard and sprinkle salt on it for seasoning? OMG.

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  24. A co-worker offered to loan me her Paula Dean cookbook & I replied that to read that would cause my thighs to gain 10 pounds each. Another co-worker came in 5 minutes later, saw the book & informed us she had ALL of Paula's cookbooks & loved her recipes. It was painful to hold my tongue and not point out that was probably why she weighed well over 250 pounds.
    Thanks for the great post.

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  25. I just read this on my husband's facebook page...:-) How cool would it be for Paula to be an agent of change and a role model for living a healthy life with type 2 diabetes...

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  26. I love the letter and wish she would read it and take it to heart. I don't think that will happen. I saw one show quite a long time ago where she did a "healthy" cooking day with her boys. At the end of the show, she looked at all the food she had prepared and said something like "Let's go get some fried chicken." :(

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  27. "with great flavor comes great responsibility."

    I love that :)

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  28. I LOVE Paula...seriously hope she can change her ways.

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  29. I've had the krispy kreme bread pudding (just recently on easter, in fact) and it's mother effin amazing. That is all.

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  30. Ok. IMHO, I feel that nobody puts a gun to our heads and makes us watch these so called "promotional shows". If you eat healthy and don't partake in making unhealthy recipes then don't watch her show.

    You can't blame TV shows for everyone's issues. It's not like Paula can come through the TV screen and force you to make her recipe and then procede to shovel it down your throat. She didn't make anyone fat. People make themselves fat by eating like shit. Take some responsibility.

    It's no different than any other issue. Just like people blaming their sex issues on porn and how porn degrades women, etc. How in the hell does what a handful of some people are doing make the world go bad? Own up to your own crap. If you don't like porn, change the channel. If you don't like fattening food, change the channel.

    Everyone has a choice. Make your own choice and quit trying to take away everyone elses by bashing things you don't approve of or agree with. The world is a weird place on its own. That's life. It's not like people are so naive to believe that these recipes are remotely healthy but they still make the shit because they CHOOSE to. Not having shows like that isn't going to prevent anyone from eating their asses off. How do you think this crappy food started to begin with? It was all thought up by someone cooking in their kitchen.

    Ok I am done rambling now.

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  31. I have to agree with @Jess. My philosophy is simple...Just because I choose to eat healthy doesn't mean I need to go around and force my habits on everyone else, just like I wouldn't like others forcing their "unhealthy" habits on me. If everyone else wants to eat fried chicken every night with a stick of butter for dessert than by all means knock yourself out. That is your business and none of mine:)

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  32. Too true! I'm surprised the woman isn't 500 lbs and/or dead from a heart attack yet. It's amazing. I really hope she takes this illness seriously and starts some changes a'rollin'.

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