But for real, Tucci is a gently raised, well bred, well educated Italian American in the same vein as de Blasio and de Niro (seriously), in which indulging in voluptuary delights comes with a elegant veneer of well born European panache. Part of his success with this show is this sense that the mostly White, mostly female American target audience gets to have an imaginary Italian American boyfriend, elegantly dressed, to show them around an ancient land.
Tucci is being sexualized, Italy is being sexualized. CNN couldn't do that with Bourdain, who was a 'bad boy' and did have the looks or mien to be sexualized and objectified. But they can with Tucci.
There was this show with Bobby Flay and Giada de Laurentiis (it's on the Food Network) in which they act as queen and king of Rome, and everywhere there are LOADS of screaming (white) American women. They are eating, laughing, talking, drinking- and while we do get a minute with some of the hardworking people in these cafes and restaurants- it is all glossed over.
And you see this with many British company produced shows- a British host, elegantly tanned, touring some part of Tuscany or Umbria or Sicily, eating a lot, making some dishes and VOILA! they are now a 'expert' on regional Italian cooking.
(Weirdly, it's never Eastern Italy, which borders Adriatic Sea and has a lot of ethnic diversity, or deep in the boot, which has both the Mafia and deep, ancient, pre Christianity roots and thus food and scenery to match. It's rarely African American/Black hosts, even though African Americans go to Italy all the time as students of art and music, and Italy has always had an African presence since, I dunno, FOREVER. And it's never an East Asian host, even though there are now tiny but significant communities of Chinese and Japanese people who live in Italy, usually as workers in the luxury houses)
So (takes breath) part of the purpose of the Anglophone food travel show is to literally consume other countries. Yes, there is a an education component, and it there is a fun component as well. But shows like Shaking with Tucci renders a country 'safe' for acceptable means of consumption.
Alicia, I was the woman riding in the g-d wienermobile with Padma Lakshmi for the "German" episode of Taste the Nation. I read today's post then clicked back to your piece on Taste the Nation. If you're interested in learning more, I'm happy to share. Suffice to say, I talked for FOUR HOURS about immigrant foodways, white supremacy, colonialism, notions of whiteness, the effing Bund being headquartered in MKE, and kept circling back to the inherent class issues in trying to define "American" food. The episode's total running time is 22 minutes. Your critique of the series is fair based on what was projected. But I do want you and your readers to know that I was there, fighting a more correct narrative. In the end, its commercial television produced by a wealthy company to generate more wealth while entertaining a status quo viewer. And maybe a few of those folks whose generalized interest in eating were pushed to think just a tad more about how what food ends up on their plates. Happy Monday. Christina Ward
Yes to everything here!!! I also happily absorbed the Tucci show (pausing to roll my eyes at the mandatory Massimo flattery portion) but always thinking about this sort of TV fantasy of the travel experience. I used to work in the travel industry and people would invoke Bourdain’s name all the time to signal their desire for “authenticity” (whatever that meant to them) and their curiosity — but what they actually wanted was the the Tucci experience. Frictionless, a little bit sexy, all about fulfilling yr desires, and positioning you as the sophisticate — like you too could be knowledgeable enough to find these experiences, which are somehow indicative of the culture and, despite your presence, for “locals” and not tourists, though they somehow fit exactly the thing in yr mind that screams “Italy!!!!”(spritz, pizza, big wheel of cheese). To me, Bourdain’s vision of travel was that it could and should be uncomfortable at times, bewildering, maybe even disappointing — but people mostly didn’t want to hear about that for their Italy vacay haha. The fantasy of being the Tucci type with a spritz always won out.
I haven't watched the entire series yet, but the first episode talked about how San Marzano tomatoes can only grow in a particular (lava soil) region, and apart from the takeaways mentioned in all the comments, it forced me to think if people would be okay not buying san Marzano anywhere but Italy. The whole idea of globalisation was to bring different cultures/produce together but the cost of damage is huge. Would love to know what you all think.
I screamed with 'Negroni Shaker!' God!
But for real, Tucci is a gently raised, well bred, well educated Italian American in the same vein as de Blasio and de Niro (seriously), in which indulging in voluptuary delights comes with a elegant veneer of well born European panache. Part of his success with this show is this sense that the mostly White, mostly female American target audience gets to have an imaginary Italian American boyfriend, elegantly dressed, to show them around an ancient land.
Tucci is being sexualized, Italy is being sexualized. CNN couldn't do that with Bourdain, who was a 'bad boy' and did have the looks or mien to be sexualized and objectified. But they can with Tucci.
There was this show with Bobby Flay and Giada de Laurentiis (it's on the Food Network) in which they act as queen and king of Rome, and everywhere there are LOADS of screaming (white) American women. They are eating, laughing, talking, drinking- and while we do get a minute with some of the hardworking people in these cafes and restaurants- it is all glossed over.
And you see this with many British company produced shows- a British host, elegantly tanned, touring some part of Tuscany or Umbria or Sicily, eating a lot, making some dishes and VOILA! they are now a 'expert' on regional Italian cooking.
(Weirdly, it's never Eastern Italy, which borders Adriatic Sea and has a lot of ethnic diversity, or deep in the boot, which has both the Mafia and deep, ancient, pre Christianity roots and thus food and scenery to match. It's rarely African American/Black hosts, even though African Americans go to Italy all the time as students of art and music, and Italy has always had an African presence since, I dunno, FOREVER. And it's never an East Asian host, even though there are now tiny but significant communities of Chinese and Japanese people who live in Italy, usually as workers in the luxury houses)
So (takes breath) part of the purpose of the Anglophone food travel show is to literally consume other countries. Yes, there is a an education component, and it there is a fun component as well. But shows like Shaking with Tucci renders a country 'safe' for acceptable means of consumption.
In my opinion.
Alicia, I was the woman riding in the g-d wienermobile with Padma Lakshmi for the "German" episode of Taste the Nation. I read today's post then clicked back to your piece on Taste the Nation. If you're interested in learning more, I'm happy to share. Suffice to say, I talked for FOUR HOURS about immigrant foodways, white supremacy, colonialism, notions of whiteness, the effing Bund being headquartered in MKE, and kept circling back to the inherent class issues in trying to define "American" food. The episode's total running time is 22 minutes. Your critique of the series is fair based on what was projected. But I do want you and your readers to know that I was there, fighting a more correct narrative. In the end, its commercial television produced by a wealthy company to generate more wealth while entertaining a status quo viewer. And maybe a few of those folks whose generalized interest in eating were pushed to think just a tad more about how what food ends up on their plates. Happy Monday. Christina Ward
Yes to everything here!!! I also happily absorbed the Tucci show (pausing to roll my eyes at the mandatory Massimo flattery portion) but always thinking about this sort of TV fantasy of the travel experience. I used to work in the travel industry and people would invoke Bourdain’s name all the time to signal their desire for “authenticity” (whatever that meant to them) and their curiosity — but what they actually wanted was the the Tucci experience. Frictionless, a little bit sexy, all about fulfilling yr desires, and positioning you as the sophisticate — like you too could be knowledgeable enough to find these experiences, which are somehow indicative of the culture and, despite your presence, for “locals” and not tourists, though they somehow fit exactly the thing in yr mind that screams “Italy!!!!”(spritz, pizza, big wheel of cheese). To me, Bourdain’s vision of travel was that it could and should be uncomfortable at times, bewildering, maybe even disappointing — but people mostly didn’t want to hear about that for their Italy vacay haha. The fantasy of being the Tucci type with a spritz always won out.
I haven't watched the entire series yet, but the first episode talked about how San Marzano tomatoes can only grow in a particular (lava soil) region, and apart from the takeaways mentioned in all the comments, it forced me to think if people would be okay not buying san Marzano anywhere but Italy. The whole idea of globalisation was to bring different cultures/produce together but the cost of damage is huge. Would love to know what you all think.