Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Guy Fieri: the Glenn Beck of Food?

New York's The Daily Beast wrote what may be one of the most talked-about and balanced interview / articles about Guy Fieri I have read. (And yes, I have a brief mention.) Read the full article here.

The topic: Fieri fans v. culinarians. (Is that a word? Well if it wasn't before, it is now. ~D)

Author Rachel Syme writes, "Fieri's meteoric ascent is impressive, but it also makes him one of the culinary world's most polarizing figures. For as many fans as Fieri earns ... he draws equal detractors." Of this, we are all well aware.

The article quotes detractors: Jillian Madison of FoodNetworkHumor.com and David Chang's and Anthony Bourdain's comments from a talk at this year's New York Food & Wine Festival. It also quotes supporters Susie Fogulson from the Food Network, agent Jason Hodes, and perhaps surprisingly (?) comedian Bobby Moynihan from Saturday Night Live.

And of course, Guy Fieri speaks of those who, shall we say, don't appreciate his style. "If someone doesn't like that I wear a wristband or thinks my hair is stupid, I don't care.” He continues, “I think as soon as we start creating sides, we start to develop us and them, ... I have buddies that are Michelin chefs; I know all those guys. I'm not concerned about alienating the white-starched coats. It's like music. Do classical musicians say that rock is wrong?"

There was one interesting tidbit of information in this article, of interest to fans of Guy Fieri. "'His real name is Ferry,' says Madison, referring to Fieri's changing of his last name when he was married. Fieri says he wanted to honor his immigrant grandfather...." And that seems to answer the why did he change his last name question. Thank you Ms. Syme.

Related Posts:
Guy Fieri in Philadelphia today
SNL Weekend Update parody - cable stars interview Obama
Guy Fieri's big heart

4 comments:

Lisa said...

Alrighty, I must be brain dead... I read that article 3 times and didn't see you mentioned :(

Dora said...

Haha. Told you it was brief. "For as many fans as Fieri earns—Dora Long, the creator of Fieri's biggest fan site, says she gets “hundreds of emails a week”—he draws equal detractors."

Lisa said...

The fact that I was reading without my glasses may have contributed to the problem as well ;)

Cool you got press!

Dora said...

MEP, haha. My glasses never leave my face.

And yeah! Got press. Not like the New York Times or anything, right?
;)

Still, I thought it was a good head-on discussion on what controversy surrounds Guy Fieri. There is controversy, so might as well talk about it. I liked the article.