Balance of Food

Treat yourself to better quality food on your cheat day

"Could you be 'good' for 3 days, for a whole week so you could chow down on this colossal insane burger?"

The phrases "cheat day" and "sinful" have been cropping up on Food Network and Cooking Channel lately.

Robert Irvine has a whole show devoted to the concept: Cheat Day USA. The opening episode makes several stops where in Denver "a barbecue sandwich is taken to new heights with hickory-smoked beef, pork and sausage, slathered with homemade creamy cheese sauce and topped with beer-battered onion rings."

Yum and Yummer, Food Paradise, and a Food Network special also had episodes devoted to a cheat day.

• Yum and Yummer
• Food Paradise
• Food Network special

Of course, Guy Fieri had a Cheat Day episode on one of his many reality shows.

How to succeed on the Food Network and Cooking Channel: Love every single food

Podcast: Guy Fieri and his new $80 million Food Network deal

The concept of a cheat day isn't new. The Catholics do this during Lent where Sundays become cheat days in that you can indulge in whatever you gave up — for 24 hours.

We're not even upset over the idea of a cheat day. Your humble narrator used Saturday nights to make a special dinner during the height of the pandemic and looked forward to that during the week.

If you truly have been good on those other days, really good, that should be part of your reward. Splitting your French fries with a friend. Adding extra vegetables to your salad. Cutting bacon in half so you feel like you ate 2 slices when there was one slice cut in 2. Building in consistency on good days can make that a pattern instead of viewing it through the lens of 3-6 "good days."

Okay, so you aren't that good on your "good days." You still want the reward. You are human after all.

The problem isn't where you set your standard on those "good days"; the issue is your standard on the cheat days.

I've seen most of these segments. They remind us of most of what is on Food Paradise. I want to host a show where we point out 1-2 (sometimes 5) items that shouldn't be on said food item.

If you have too many things on your burger, you might as well have a portobello mushroom or veggie burger instead of a burger. Yes, food on TV needs to be ridiculous.

A burger should have 2, maybe 3 items at the most. Smaller, more subtle flavors in the mix. A slow onion jam on a burger is wonderful though maybe not indulgent. Blue cheese contributes more flavor than a more flavorless cheese. Crumbled bacon instead of 3 barely cooked strips. Still indulgent but a nice treat.

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"Damnit. I've been good all week. I should be able to celebrate the way I want." Yes, you should. You don't want to measure out celebration or happiness.

The barbecue sandwich from Denver has 3 different kinds of meat. Will you appreciate all the different types of meat on your sandwich? The "homemade creamy cheese sauce" sounds like calories without much flavor. That can be indulgent but not useful to truly be indulgent.

As someone who has ordered French fries and onion rings at the same time, I get the temptation of fried foods. The beer-battered onion rings might be helpful if a substitute for French fries.

If your celebration food has better quality and flavor without tons of layers, you can really appreciate the taste that goes into a cheat day item. Use those calories for maximum flavor. You deserve the best for a cheat day.

Bone marrow done at home: a most unusual breakfast

This doesn't look as glamorous as the picture at the top of the column. I took this picture but that isn't the reason. This is bone marrow on sourdough toast from my latest birthday. 2 ingredients: bone marrow and toasted sourdough bread.

Plenty of flavor and fat. Great mouth feel. Calories? Have no clue what I ate in that meal. This was indulgence. I had to do a bit of work but not that much work.

This might be the best meal I have this year. Should finish in the top 5 or 10. This wouldn't make the cut on those food television shows because the dish isn't "outrageous" and doesn't photograph well. There is certainly no third or fourth rate cheese in the dish.

You can reduce food costs despite inflation

This grilled mac and cheese sandwich from Panera is described as OTT (over the top). We would agree. Maybe you will beg for this sandwich.

If the whole good day/cheat day yo-yo isn't working for you, ask yourself if you can do better on your good days. Add some lower-calorie flavor to your good days. Add some higher quality food to your cheat day.

Perhaps you will respond better to a more even wavelength than the ones you get now where your highs are too high and lows are too low.

BalanceofFood.com television coverage

"We eat with our eyes," television says to us. We don't. "Television wouldn't lie to us." It does. All the time.

Bigger isn't better. More ingredients piled on top are not better. Think of food more like a charcuterie board than a Dagwood type sandwich.

photo credits: Cheat Day USA/Cooking Channel; me

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee makes the case for universal free lunch

The USDA waived any requirements during the pandemic, allowing all school children to get a free school lunch. As Full Frontal with Samantha Bee points out, that policy expires at the end of this school year.

We found during the height of the pandemic that many children rely on their schools to give them food and nutrition they weren't necessarily getting at home.

Lunch debt has been a real thing. The program explains nuances such as subsidies not reflecting the cost of food and financially strapped school districts really need the money.

We see samples of children raising money to help their fellow kids get out of "lunch debt." While those stories are heartwarming, their efforts should be unnecessary.

One way for schools to reduce the money to spend on school lunches is scratch cooking. Unfortunately, a lot of schools can't make that happen due to a lack of facilities.

California and Maine have passed universal free lunch on a state level. The federal waiver expires June 30. Bee makes a strong case for universal free lunch.

How school lunch can teach children about vegetarian options

Vote for a better food policy on Election Day

Daily Show addresses increased junk food in school lunches

BalanceofFood.com school lunch coverage

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One more school lunch related note mentioned in the segment: give these kids a proper amount of time to eat lunch. The segment mention that some school lunches are served at 9 am.

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee airs on TBS on Thursdays at 10 pm Eastern.

photo and video credit: Full Frontal with Samantha Bee/TBS

Film review: Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

They say you should never meet your heroes, how you will be disappointed in who they are as opposed to who we imagine them to be.

Roadrunner starts out as a film chronicling how Anthony Bourdain became famous. Even if Bourdain were still alive, this would be a great documentary subject. Bourdain, up until his 40s, led an interesting life that virtually no one knew about.

Kitchen Confidential. Then the videos started: A Cook's Tour. No Reservations (with The Layover). Parts Unknown. Each of those shows under different umbrellas and approaches, showing a more maturing Bourdain along the way. Given that this part of his life started when he was in his 40s, his work got more mature as the shows changed. You could argue they were all food and travel shows. He didn't eat that much in the first and third shows. Parts Unknown was about, as David Chang put it, Bourdain trying to be a better person.

Morgan Neville then steers the documentary boat into the curious yet futile question: "Why did Anthony Bourdain kill himself?" Neville asks the people around Bourdain and they gave their take. Ottavia, his second wife, gives her perspective. People talk about how devoted Bourdain was to his daughter, Ariane Busia-Bourdain.

There are the theories. Bourdain wanted to slow down but didn't know how to make that move. Bourdain's second marriage crumbled. Actor/director Asia Argento stepped in. Was she the reason?

A documentary should be judged on who doesn't get interviewed. Neville made a case for not interviewing Argento. We hear about the Hong Kong episode story. The looks on people's faces change when they talk about that episode. The one person who had an intriguing story about that episode was longtime cinematographer Zach Zamboni. Zamboni was fired during the shoot over a dispute between Zamboni and Argento, who ended up directing the episode.

Neville takes us down this path knowing there won't be a nice neat bow to the story of Bourdain. His addictive personality is on display. Artist David Choe says Bourdain is the only person who gave up heroin without treatment. What made Bourdain great on TV in his food travels was the addiction for something more. Most people making TV aren't getting better. The adaptation to different levels of Bourdain were part of that addiction. Bourdain got involved with jiujitsu in part because his wife competed in the sport.

Roadrunner won't be the solution Anthony Bourdain fans want

Bourdain Day 3: How Anthony Bourdain helped me get through a pandemic

On the second Bourdain Day, how Anthony Bourdain would handle a worldwide pandemic

Bourdain Day is a way to celebrate the love of food and food cultures

Neville has a good reputation as a documentary filmmaker. See the Academy Award winning 20 Feet from Stardom or Best of Enemies on Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley or Won't You Be My Neighbor? about Fred Rogers.

Being curious about why someone killed themselves is worthy of a documentary. Cutting corners to get to that point is a bad sign. The use of Bourdain's voice in an e-mail through AI is a terrible move for a documentary. You don't gain anything from the shortcut. Many other things that Bourdain did say are portrayed in a manipulative fashion.

If you are a fan of Anthony Bourdain and his shows, you know Bourdain has countless mentions of death, especially his own death, on the shows. This doesn't always mean suicide will happen but this is a clue to consider.

We don't learn a lot about Bourdain in the second half of the film, except that he had flaws.

"You don't want his legacy to come off as like somebody who succumbed to this darkness. That wasn't him. Like he created something that was so important — and I want — that really needs to be like — that is the legacy of his life. Not this stupid bullshit that he did at the end." — Lydia Tenaglia, co executive producer of Zero Point Zero Production.

The flaw in Roadrunner is that the film is much more about that "stupid bullshit."

Laurie Woolever interview on Q with Tom Power (CBC Radio One)

Anthony Bourdain legacy: Find your own food adventure

Anthony Bourdain takes CNN's Parts Unknown to the mysterious land of Newfoundland

If you want to learn something about Anthony Bourdain, watch this film until it turns dark. Otherwise, watch No Reservations (we are partial to that version) or Parts Unknown.

BalanceofFood.com travel coverage

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Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain is available for rent. The film is scheduled to air again on CNN on Saturday at 10 pm Eastern.

video credit: YouTube/Focus Features
photo credit: Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

Ranking food Super Bowl LVI ads

Avocados from Mexico is on a better track compared to recent Super Bowl ads. The ancient tailgating scene was a highlight from Super Bowl LVI ads.

While the ads overall were lackluster, there were some decent food-related Super Bowl ads in 2022.

Super Bowl LVI finally gave Andy Richter a chance to be in an Avocados from Mexico Super Bowl ad. Richter, as Julius Caesar, is the only recognizable personality in this truly old-school tailgating scene.

Richter had a fake rant on Conan in 2018 about how avocados didn't need to advertise in the Super Bowl, how they didn't have any competition.

The Andy Richter of 2018 is more correct than the Richter of 2022. The end of the ad with Richter as Julius Caesar was really odd. Avocados in salads is a nice idea, though not in a Caesar salad. 

Avocados can sell themselves but the company has struggled to do that lately.  

Shoppers in some parts of the United States are not finding the avocados (from anywhere) to be as good lately. Avocados from a couple of years would be a welcome sight.

Seth Rogen teamed up with Paul Rudd for the Lay's Golden Memories ad. The chips ended up in past memories the two friends had before the wedding for Rogen's character.

The characterization made Lay's chips seem cooler than the brand's usual image. Basic chips are now not so basic.

We also covered this ad for our Canadian sibling blog, CanadianCrossing.com.

Ranking food and drink Super Bowl LV ads

Super Bowl ad analysis in recent years

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Hellman's had a really nice message about reducing food waste and how the actual product can help this growing problem. Jerod Mayo tackled his way into "explaining" why food waste is a problem. Pete Davidson is the opposite of mayonnaise, which might help and hurt the image of mayonnaise.

Hellmann's and Best Foods are the same product with Best Foods being the name west of the Rocky Mountains. You run into the same issue with Carl's Jr. and Hardee's where the ads run under the Carl's Jr. name.

Flamin' Hot snacks have been popular in certain markets so seeing the genre advertised on a larger scale is a bit surprising. The Doritos product, which somehow combines flamin' hot and cool ranch, is rather confusing.

We often point out where the product can't live up to the advertising. This might be an ad that brings down the product. The animals are so excited to eat junk food that they incorporate the old school song Push It from Salt-N-Pepa.

This is the worst food ad for Super Bowl LVI: sad more than anything else. People in the board room must have been afraid to criticize the ad. Not the worst ad on the night but the money could have been better spent.

The Taco Bell ad involves clowns who lose their makeup and outfits to have late night fun. This is the opposite issue from the Doritos ad. Great ad because they didn't show off the lousy product.

This was a vibrant, colorful ad that looked like people were having fun. This was creative, thoughtful, interesting. If you watch fast food ads from ancient times (40-45 years ago), they talk about how great the food is. Taco Bell knows if you are in Taco Bell, you have low standards, especially if you are sober.

Pringle's had its best ad in ages, which is a very low bar. The obsession with buying several flavors and building stacks is hopefully out of their system. The ad has fun with the canister design, which is a playful way of saying, "we are different from the competition." A Super Bowl ad should make that distinction.

They are technically potato crisps instead of potato chips, but they fall into the snack category.

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Honorable mention goes to a promo during the game for NFL.com/Play60 to get digital resources to get kids eating healthy and moving.

The healthy eating part appears to be an effort with America's Dairy Farmers to get kids to eat cheese sticks and drink milk. Yes, kids need protein for growing bodies. They could eat real cheese, yogurt, and whole milk without added high-fructose corn syrup.

photo credit: Avocados from Mexico
video credits: the companies themselves; Conan/TBS

Bone marrow done at home: a most unusual breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day but most days is entirely forgettable. When planning an extraordinary menu of food for my latest birthday, I struggled to find something different and tasty for breakfast.

I had the Good Eats episode Marrow Minded in my head for a different reason. Cutting expenses is crucial these days. The idea of eating bone marrow in a restaurant was very tempting yet expensive. Could I actually follow what the episode said to prepare bone marrow at home.

I was considering a snack of bone marrow for the birthday in case going out would be a struggle (the curse of a winter birthday). After all, the first pandemic birthday of 2021 was a nightmare for different reasons.

The bone marrow for breakfast idea came out of using a spreadsheet for the eating possibilities. I put bone marrow in the breakfast slot and never changed it out.

Alton Brown's idea for cooking the pipes was terribly impractical. Not having an outdoor grill, much less access to one, much less access in the middle of winter: that wasn't going to work.

Alton Brown's idea for cooking the canoes was clever and practical. Using aluminum foil to balance out the bones was helpful.

Pipes run vertical and require a marrow spoon or even a letter opener (talk about multitaskers) to get out the marrow. Canoes run horizontal and access to the fat is really easy.

I have an excellent meat market so getting the bones was the easy part of the exercise. I also had access to day-old local bread that toasts up really well.

Here is what I did not do:

• Alton Brown suggests brining the bones. My bones were too long for a container. Maybe that would have made a huge difference in taste.
• Brown made a combination of the 2 suggested salads to go with the dish. Looked good but this was too much work for my birthday, especially when I was the chef. The idea was to cut the richness of the fat yet I wanted that richness to stand out.

These were marvelous ideas if you have the time/need/space to do this.

My aluminum foil attempt still produced some leakage of fat from the bones. I did create a 2-layer system of foil so it kept the fallen fat safe.

The marrow can be in large chunks when removing the fat from the marrow. Give yourself time to spread this thinner on the bread. Your patience will be rewarded: an Alton Brown common phrase.

Do not think you are cooking too much toast. I wondered if I was cooking too much toast and it was not. Marrow can go a long way on toast.

Your house will smell wonderful for some time after you cook. That was the best my kitchen had smelled in a very long time.

A simple breakfast of bone marrow and sourdough toast might seem too simple. I thought of adding bacon, since everything goes with bacon. I was glad I did not add bacon. The prize was the marrow and toast. I should have added a finishing salt but forgot.

The only accompaniment was a glass bottle of Mexican Coca-Cola with cane sugar. Not normally a breakfast item but this was not a typical breakfast.

You deserve better than 'birthday cake' flavored anything

BalanceofFood.com holidays coverage

Cost: Was surprised that a nice amount of bone marrow cost $8.40, tax included. Figure $1.50 for the bread and $1.25 for the soft drink. You could get a fancier meal having brunch in a restaurant but not one as satisfying as what I made at home.

I hadn't considered the idea of bone marrow at home until Alton Brown mentioned this in his show. That sounds pathetic to me but factor in a lot of cooking that seems unsure and life can be "safer" to not try.

Bone marrow is getting popular but has been around for a long time. If we want nose to tail, bone marrow is a tasty way to live out that philosophy.

That breakfast was one to remember. These food memories are some of the best-treasured moments from my life. Creating one without having to travel beyond a few miles is important when traveling is difficult.

photos credit: me

Back in Time for Dinner is a great way to learn about food history

The Back in Time for Dinner phenomenon started in the United Kingdom. The CBC ran its own version in Canada in 2018. The Canadian version featured a Canadian family with how Canadians ate in each decade from the 1940s through the 1990s.

Host Carlo Rota guided the Campus family: mother Tristan, a registered nurse, father Aaron, a multimedia designer, 18-year-old daughter Valerie, 17-year-old daughter Jessica, and 15-year-old son Robert.

The Canadian version seemed an obvious choice to work its way to the United States, even if that took until late 2021 and early 2022 to arrive on the Cooking Channel.

There are some nuanced differences in Canadian food history versus U.S. food history. Canada has to deal with more significant war rations and for a longer period of time. Canada entered World War II in 1939 while the United States got into the war very late in 1941.

Later in the 1970s, Tristan and Val make yogurt and have to deal with the imperial system (U.S.) and metric since that was the decade Canada switched to metric.

Cooking with kidneys (1940s), salad in a Jell-o mold (1950s), and a cheese ball (1970s) is fun to watch from the standpoint of a modern family temporarily going back in time.

Cooking Channel picks up Back in Time for Dinner

We wrote about the show in great detail for our sibling blog, CanadianCrossing.com.

The food innovations had purpose behind them in terms of politics, the economy, and social trends. You might be surprised to learn about these trends whether you lived them or your parents and grandparents went through these decades.

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You can catch up on previous episodes from the Cooking Channel. The 1990s episode airs on Thursday at 10 pm Eastern on the Cooking Channel. Our Canadian friends can watch the episodes via CBC Gem.

photos credit: Back in Time for Dinner/CBC

The Caesar: a drink that is more like a meal

We don't usually mention alcoholic drinks in this blog because they generally aren't food, which is our primary focus. The Caesar from Canada can definitely be a grand exception.

Americans have a similar drink called a Bloody Mary, mostly tomato juice with spices and maybe a stalk of celery. The Caesar has a lot more flavor (flavour?) and more garnishes. Between the tomato juice, clam juice, and garnishes, you have a decent appetizer.

Baroness von Sketch Show (from Canada) had a sketch about living it up at the cottage with Caesars. IFC, which carried the show in the United States, freaked out the idea of a Caesar and made them change the drink from Caesar to a Bloody Mary.

Letterkenny decided to do an episode of the brilliance of the Caesar, offering multiple options for the base, booze, rimmers, boosters, and garnishes. CanadianCrossing.com, our sibling blog, devoted its space today to the Caesar. 

Letterkenny shows the U.S. audience the different ways to make a Caesar

We have written about the Caesar a few times. We acknowledge though that the Letterkenny episode Season 10, Episode 2 Dealership does a better job of explaining the Caesar by going through the multiple categories in different variations.

In our version, we used clam juice with tomato juice instead of Clamato juice to avoid high-fructose corn syrup. 

Knowing the basics of a Caesar makes experimenting more fun since you know the starting point.

What's Tempting: Distinctively Canadian foods

Searching for Canadian food in the U.S.

Temptation of the Week: Homemade Clamato in your Caesar

Balanceoffood.com Canada food policy coverage

Hard to see a Caesar and not want a Caesar.

— Letterkenny Problems (@LetterkennyProb) May 18, 2019

This is Dry January for some people: Nothing wrong with doing a virgin Caesar if alcohol does not fit into your life. The non-alcoholic version tastes really good, unlike some mocktails.

If you aren't in Canada, getting there is more difficult. Making a homemade Caesar can make you feel a bit like you are in Canada.

Letterkenny is available on Crave in Canada and Hulu in the United States.

Twitter captures: @LetterkennyProb
photo credit: Letterkenny/Bell Media

Full fat products in moderation is a smarter way to go

Mexican grilled corn aka elote is a fun snack with a lot of nutrition, mostly from the corn. This health organization decided to modify the typical recipe for elote to be "healthier."

This reminds me sadly of Junk Food Flip, the Food Network show where Bobby Deen and Nikki Dinki try to match recipes of successful fast food dishes. They basically look for ways to cut fat and somehow compete with those dishes.

The original dishes were too much everything; the modified dishes removed a lot of flavor (fat). Some of the moves were clever but most were lame.

This "healthier" recipe doesn't try to replace the flavor lost in the low-fat mayonnaise and the no-fat yogurt. The 4 tablespoons of those products are matched up with 4 tablespoons of (presumably) full-fat cheese. Parmesan cheese is naturally lower in fat but doesn't have the flavor profile the dish actually needs.

You could lose the cheese and use some of that fat and flavor to use real mayonnaise and full-fat yogurt. You could keep the cheese, the real mayonnaise, the full-fat yogurt and only eat the elote every so often.

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People ate elote with real mayonnaise and full-fat yogurt until the anti-fat craze kicked into focus. Then we were supposed to cut fat because that made us fat. How well did that work out? Exactly.

You could reduce some fat naturally: in this recipe, you could reduce the total of mayo/yogurt from 12 teaspoons (4 tablespoons) to 10-11 teaspoons with a bit of water in the mixture. That would be sad, very sad. At least you wouldn't have to buy a separate mayonnaise and separate yogurt in your refrigerator.

Quality, full-fat products keep you satiated, fuller longer. Fat means flavor. We need fat to live.

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There are ways to reduce fat and be smarter about fat, like in those extreme fast food dishes. Adding spices is a way to add flavor without adding fat. Adding roasted red pepper to full-fat mayo gives a flavor boost so you don't need to add beyond what is called for in a recipe. Sandwiches with a thin layer of mayo: make sure that layer is truly thin.

Using low-fat or no-fat products is the lazy way, the "safe" way to be "healthier," whether that be a health organization or the adult son of a woman who specialized in obnoxiously high-fat dishes.

The better way is to teach people about the use of fat, the difference between olive oil and butter, why lard has advantages over shortening. Alton Brown does a better job of explaining that than the health "experts."

A health organization offering classes on how to treat fats is harder to do than to mention low-fat mayonnaise in a recipe. The classes would make more of an impact.

photo credits: Advocate Aurora Health; Good Eats/Food Network

How to succeed on the Food Network and Cooking Channel: Love every single food

As someone who communicates about food, people ask me about food television. "You would be great on those shows." They are kind people. I could be good on The Best Thing I Ever Ate since I can be passionate about the best thing I did eat. My "best thing" would actually be good.

Hosting Chopped or some other competition show would require some sincerity, but being aggressive in yelling out "2 minutes. You have 2 minutes left, chefs" would make me numb quickly. Doing the actual fake tension countdown would make me very sad.

The primary reason why these food shows and your humble narrator wouldn't be a good fit is what makes people on the Food Network and Cooking Channel so effective for television: I love food yet they love everything.

I acted in high school plays. I could be a good voiceover artist. Acting on television? Not likely.

When they try a food, the response is positive followed by a recitation, a backsell of the ingredients, and how they come together in what they are eating. The responses almost feel like completing a MadLibs page.

Food on television is loving food and acting the part.

Cooking Channel needs to bring back Laura Calder, focus less on celebrities

Rachael Ray and Katie Lee both received sexist coverage IMHO over their "mmmmmmm" response to eating foods.

Maybe these TV personalities really love everything they eat on camera. This is where I can't compete with them. Eating a hamburger with 10 other ingredients and being able to spot the nuance of the burger taste is pretty disingenuous. They could have superhuman skills where they can taste 12 things in just a single bite.

Objective vs. subjective: watching them say a burger is juicy when the burger looks overcooked. I couldn't pull off that lie even if they would cancel out my considerable credit card debt.

If you love everything, how can you tell when something is good. Yes, this is food television where they have picked the "best" so everything is good.

Some food TV shows have actual actors, such as Tiffani Amber Thiessen, Tia Mowry, and Haylie Duff. Michael Symon isn't a better actor than they are but Symon is better in the food TV world.

Bourdain Day 3: How Anthony Bourdain helped me get through a pandemic

Podcast: Guy Fieri and his new $80 million Food Network deal

This brings us to Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain did a different level of food television. Sometimes, he would later say in an interview about how something he ate wasn't that great. He had subtle levels of difference. A soup made with a goat's head wouldn't be the "best thing" but Bourdain was more about the idea that a soup made from a goat's head could be good.

Bourdain loved sea urchin and anything made from pork. His inflection would change when those ingredients would come up. Bourdain may be more polite when eating on television but you know he really loves sea urchin.

Michael Symon shows that when you love everything, you love nothing. Bourdain would tell you what he liked better than other things. There is a difference.

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No one, not even me wants to see someone on TV say "that is awful" or quote such lovely child-like words as "yucky." We want to believe that what we see on food television is not "yucky." A happy medium is a good step. Taste usually refers to how a food comes across to us; taste also means having good taste in what is out there.

My palette is selective and I tend to be honest: primary reasons I would be a failure on food television.

photo credit: Cooking Channel

Stanley Tucci shows the diversity of Italy and the common theme of cucina povera

In Rome, pasta is like a way of life. You eat it every day. Enjoy the iconic dishes on the new @CNN Original Series, Stanley Tucci #SearchingforItaly. Sunday at 9p ET/PT pic.twitter.com/3Aw4hfjf9x

— CNN Original Series (@CNNOriginals) February 20, 2021

Italian cuisine is very different depending on where you are in the country. The distance between Rome and Florence is about 174 miles or 280 kilometres; that distance is not as long as the difference between salted bread and unsalted bread.

Stanley Tucci's recent CNN series Searching for Italy strove to illustrate the food contrasts between regions. The show covered Naples and the Amalfi Coast, Rome, Bologna, Milan, Tuscany, and Sicily.

Milan stood out as northern Italian cuisine (think polenta instead of pasta). The difference in southern Italy exists but is a bit more subtle. Bologna (Emilia-Romagna) was more about ingredients than dishes. The Tuscany episode was filled with his personal experiences about living there for a year as a child.

Italian cuisine is so different because of the history of Italy, the relatively brief time brought together as a country and the centuries that preceded that time. Regional cuisine existed getting to another part of Italy was a lot more difficult back in the time.

Even in the different parts of Italy, the common theme is cucina povera aka poor kitchen. They didn't always get the best of the animals to use. Tripe is a sandwich filling in Tuscany. The guanciale craved in Rome for amatriciana sauce is bacon made from the pig jowl. The cappelletti pasta in Emilia-Romagna made from flour and water since the priests often kept the eggs for themselves. The saga of unsalted bread in Florence has many paths; salt was rather valuable in long ago times.

Ethnic food aisles should be seen as an opportunity without stigma

What's Tempting: Making Italian pasta your own

Celebrating Amatrice through bucatini all' Amatriciana

Italy has very high standards for food labels. The common practice is to list the foods from highest to lowest content. Italy goes a step further to give percentages for how much of something is in a can or a jar.

Italians have learned to do a lot with a little. Tucci visited SantoPalato in Rome. The offal restaurant from chef Sarah Cicolini featured "a frittata with mashed chicken offal; Roman tripe cooked in tomatoes; wagyu heart tartare; and oxtail meatball with peanut, wild celery and cocoa powder sauce." Mmmmm?

Restaurants featured on the show (CNN)

Classic Italian dishes (CNN)

The mercatos (markets) are crucial for the Italian home cook to put together the simple ingredients into fabulous dishes. Tucci visited Mercato di Sant'Ambrogio and Mercato Centrale in Florence.

Emilia-Romagna does have balsamic vinegar, prosciutto di Parma, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, so not all of the food is cucina povera. Tucci did a segment on a scandal of fake proscuitto and talked about the "fake cans" of San Marzano tomatoes. Italy cares about authenticity because there are so many people wanting to do shortcuts. Tucci didn't mention the issue with some "olive oils" not being as authentic.

What's Tempting: Eating real cheese

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If you haven't thought about the difference between northern and southern Italian cuisine, watching the veal cutlets in Milan might have made you think about Austria or Bavaria in southern Germany more than Italy. You should not be shocked to find out that your humble narrator found the Milan episode to be the least likely to stir an appetite.

Italian food, food in Italy is simple ingredients, a strive for quality, and care in putting them all together. Maybe you will go to see for yourself when the pandemic subsides.

The Stanley Tucci series ran earlier this year on CNN. You can access episodes on demand through CNN. There will be a Season 2 in 2022.

Twitter capture: @CNNOriginals
photos credit: Searching for Italy/CNN