Have you watched any episodes from this series? I was quite looking forward to it, not only because I love Indian food, but also because, up until now, I have found Rhodes's TV persona very likeable. In particular, I've always appreciated his light touch on camera: he's not a basher or masher or a cruncher, like Jamie Oliver, but handles ingredients with lightness and sensitivity, with those long delicate fingers of his.Rhodes lined up a whole lot of brilliant Indian chefs and cooks and foodies for his series, but I don't know why he bothered. In all three episodes I've seen, Gary casually insults his guests by means of subtle winces, shrugs and rolls of the eyes. And he's not always subtle: in some bits, he actually argues with his invited guests about the quantities they've specified for their recipes.
No, that's too much chilli. Are you kidding? I'm not going to put that much ghee in the pot. No, I'm not going to do it your way, I'm going to do it the Gary Rhodes ™ ⓒ ® way. And so on.Never mind the fact that India has an ancient culinary history: Rhodes thinks he can do it better. And, By Gad Cecil, he will show those Indian sammys how to cook a damn good curry!
He makes it clear, in the first few episodes, that he can't stand too much heat on his palate. Why, then, for crying out loud, did the producers of this programme commission him to host a programme about Indian food? What did he expect? Milk-poached turbot poached with mashed potatoes? Spotted Dick? Lemon flummery?
Perhaps Rhodes didn't intend to come across as a smart-arse know-it-all Westerner. Perhaps he was trying to demonstrate just how refined and experienced his palate is, and how deft he is when it comes to handling food. Or perhaps the heat was too much for him and he got tetchy with his guests because they were hogging the limelight.
Whatever the case: when I watch a programme about Indian cookery, I expect to see authentic, unadulterated, passed-down-through generations recipes, not the watered-down 'interpretations' of a British celebrity chef.
Recipes from the series can be found here. I can't vouch for them.
POSTSCRIPT: Bloody hell, the man is unstoppable. In the episode screened yesterday, he asked a cook why she added such a large quantity of pistachio nuts to her korma. 'For colour,' she said merrily.
'I only ever add things for flavour,' was Rhodes's severe reprimand to this upstart in a sari.
I really, really, am not going to watch this again.
3 comments:
I found this blog amusing. Gary Rhodes has always been my pet hate! I first started thinking he was a twat when he took to wearing checkerboard trousers (black and white) and along with a new spikey hairdo looked like he was feeling groovy. I havn't watched his India series - for me, when Gary Rhodes starts going to India you better believe that the subcontinent has become mainstream.
Thanks for the comment Alexis. Considering how you feel about Rhodes, I advise you not to watch this programme under any circumstances: it will madden you too!
Juno
I stumbled on this blog while searching for a recipe, and noticed this post. My husband couldn't stand the guy, and I couldn't understand why.
Then I caught some episodes of his China series. And it was the same thing as the India series. He was basically saying that his way of making things were better. At one stage he asked a guy why they were making things so unhealthily, was it because of America's influence, and this guy had to explain to him of how they've been making things like that for hundreds of years. I stopped watching after that.
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