In Defense of Paula Deen

COMMENTARY | I have to admit that Paula Deen is one of my favorites on the Food Network, along with (and for different reasons) Gaida de Laurentis, Bobby Flay, and the incomparable Guy Fieri. So when I heard she had type 2 diabetes, I was all sympathy.

But as James Richardson reports on the Fox News site, some people have had a different reaction. Some of the northeastern champions of haute cuisine, which we in Texas call "elf food," are sneering that it serves her right for cooking all that deep fried stuff with butter and sugar. If she had stuck to two ounce medallions of grilled salmon topped with a sprig of rosemary and a little olive oil, she would not be in the fix she is in now.

On the other hand, life without barbeque, fried chicken, and TexMex is really not a life at all. Indeed, I would counter that risk is inherent in living and that eating things that are bad for you but taste so good is part of that risk. Mind, as with every pleasure, eating should be done with due moderation and a certain amount of balance. And exercise, of course.

Fine dining is all right for special occasions, though it seems like a lot of fuss for performing the function of putting the fuel that sustains life into one's body. Dressing up all stiff with fine china and white table cloth, shaking with fear that one will commit a social faux pas by choosing the wrong fork, is not something that should be done with regularity, unless one wants to impress one's spouse, significant other, or casual date.

By the way, Valentine's Day is coming up.

For me, fine dining is visiting some place that Guy Fieri had stopped by on his show "Diners, Driveins, and Dives" and eating a plate of spicy links at Gatlins, a hamburger at Tookies, a bowl of designer mac and cheese at Jus' Mac, a pizza at Napolis or the Bombay Pizza Kitchen or a steaming plate of fajitas at Ninfas. If adventurous, you'll see me having tandori at the Khyber Grill or the Indian Sizzler or something indescribably yummy and Bosnian at Café Pita.

So I have nothing but respect for Paula Deen, who cooks food that real people like to eat, and nothing but foul scorn for those Yankees who are suffering from the delusion that eating and food should be a painful ritual to be endured and not a pleasure to be savored.

Source: God, guns and grease! Northern snobbery fuels the Paula Deen fingerpointing, James Richardson, Fox News, Jan 21, 2012