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The F-Word is on Hulu. Everything is beautiful and nothing hurts.
The F-Word is the best fucking food show ever. Period, end of story. And those of us over here in North America are finally getting the entire first season streaming on Hulu. I literally screamed a little bit when I saw it show up on my Hulu queue today. (And then immediately regretted screaming a little bit because OW HORRIBLE INJURY ARRRRGH.)
But seriously this is the best fucking food show in the world because it has EVERYTHING. Including:
1. Gordon Ramsay.
2. Gordon Ramsay being Gordon Ramsay instead of being his ridiculous Hell's Kitchen persona. Gordon Ramsay is an amazing and wonderful human being when he's not pretending to be a schoolyard bully for the sake of TV ratings, and this show is full of Gordon Ramsay at his most amazing and wonderful best.
3. The competition element: Every episode has three young chefs competing for a chance to train under Ramsay, so there's that element of drama and heartbreak, but there's also a lot of Ramsay being an encouraging coach to the competitors (rather than screaming at them) and teaching them (and the viewers) all sorts of great cooking techniques.
4. The "cooking for dummies" element: There's a segment where Ramsay teaches a clueless but sporting-a-good-attitude celebrity how to cook a fabulous meal, and again, these segments are great not only for edumacational purposes but also because they're full of fabulous people obviously having a great time on camera and willing to risk looking adorably stupid as they do so.
5. The Iron Chef element: In every episode, Ramsay goes head-to-head against some famous chef in a dessert cook-off. He loses as often as he wins, but again, it's just so much fun to watch the two chefs bantering together on camera as they cook (and as they describe their cooking techniques for the benefit of us viewers). This isn't like the usual food-reality-show cooking where the chefs are super-serious and super-focused; rather, it's just two chefs hamming it up and obviously having a helluva good time cooking together. Ramsay is always ridiculously photogenic whenever he's in front of a camera, and these dessert segments show off exactly why it's so freakin' entertaining just to watch him cook and to hear him talk about his cooking.
6. The humane food element: A theme that's consistent throughout all of Ramsay's shows (and definitely highlighted at least once per season in Masterchef) is his advocacy for humane farming practices and humane slaughter. In the first season of The F-Word Ramsay actually has his own children raise the turkeys that the family intends to eat for Christmas lunch, in order to teach them about the importance of respecting food, to teach them about respecting farm animals, to help them understand the relationship between farm and table, and to teach them gratitude and humility when eating meat. The segments with Ramsay's kids and the turkeys are absolutely my favorite part of the first season.
7. The consumer information element: There's a bit of actual journalism in every episode in which food writers and reporters do fascinating segments covering topics like deceptive food labeling practices, urban legends about whether certain foods can affect male fertility, etc.
The first episode of The F-Word that I watched was episode 8, the controversial "turkey-slaughter" episode that I'd heard so much about but had yet to see with my own eyes until today. Yes, this is the episode in which Ramsay kills the turkeys on camera. Yes, apparently when this episode was first broadcast in the UK it was preceded by twenty-seven different content warnings, yet people still watched and complained. Watching an animal die is disturbing, no matter how fast, bloodless, and humane the method of killing may be. But that's the entire point: You're SUPPOSED to feel disturbed, at least if you're among those of us who have never looked an animal in the eye as it dies before and yet continue to regularly consume meat anyway. The segment is disturbing, yes, but also enormously educational. To whit: Ramsay explains that he is going to bring a licensed slaughterer to his home in order to dispatch the turkeys on-site, so that the turkeys won't have to experience the fear and stress of being transported somewhere else before they die. The show emphasizes throughout that it's important to hire a licensed slaughterer if you have your own garden-raised animals that you intend to eat; only a licensed slaughterer has the equipment and the expertise to make sure that the animals feel no pain during slaughter. Ramsay brings his kids to say goodbye to the turkeys the day before the slaughter, but is adamant that they not be present for the actual killing; this is more for safety reasons than anything else. The slaughterer explains how he will kill the turkeys by jolting them through the mouth with 600 volts of electricity. This means that the turkeys die instantly - you see them die instantly, it happens right on camera - and that their brains are basically gone before they even feel pain. The slaughterer explains why this is more humane than breaking the turkeys' necks or beheading them. Throughout the slaughter Ramsay continuously explains to the viewing audience every step of the process, with an emphasis on doing everything that he can do to keep the turkeys comfortable and calm right up until their final moments.
Like I said, I found the entire segment absolutely fascinating, highly educational, and above all, incredibly respectful of the animals themselves, which is really saying something because turkeys are some of the dumbest flippin' creatures in the entire animal kingdom. But again, there's no denying that it can be disturbing to see an animal electrocuted right before your eyes, even if you know that the animal can't feel any pain. And yes, for the final turkey, the camera DOES zoom right in on the turkey's face so that the viewer is literally looking the turkey right in the eye during the very moment that it dies. Again, I believe that this is largely the entire point of the segment: If you can't look an animal in the eye as it dies, then maybe you should think twice about whether you have the right to consume its flesh. These are living creatures who died for your consumption, and it's important to understand and respect that on a visceral level. In any other reality show I think that the camera zooming in on the final turkey's face would have come off as a purely sensationalistic moment; but in this segment, it is a moment that feels like it's making a profound point.
I haven't seen the final episode of Season 1 yet, because it won't be on Hulu until next week, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how Ramsay turns those turkeys into a delicious meal. And I hear that in Season 2 the family raises pigs instead of turkeys?
Anywhoo, this show is just so perfect in every way. Love it love it love it. It's a conscientious cooking show that addresses a lot of serious business issues, ranging from sexism in the culinary profession to how class privilege affects food access, while at the same time being full of fun and fabulous cooking segments, truly useful tips and techniques for home cooks, and Gordon Ramsay being Gordon Ramsay. It's the perfect cooking show. I can't wait to watch the rest of it as soon as it's available to me.
But seriously this is the best fucking food show in the world because it has EVERYTHING. Including:
1. Gordon Ramsay.
2. Gordon Ramsay being Gordon Ramsay instead of being his ridiculous Hell's Kitchen persona. Gordon Ramsay is an amazing and wonderful human being when he's not pretending to be a schoolyard bully for the sake of TV ratings, and this show is full of Gordon Ramsay at his most amazing and wonderful best.
3. The competition element: Every episode has three young chefs competing for a chance to train under Ramsay, so there's that element of drama and heartbreak, but there's also a lot of Ramsay being an encouraging coach to the competitors (rather than screaming at them) and teaching them (and the viewers) all sorts of great cooking techniques.
4. The "cooking for dummies" element: There's a segment where Ramsay teaches a clueless but sporting-a-good-attitude celebrity how to cook a fabulous meal, and again, these segments are great not only for edumacational purposes but also because they're full of fabulous people obviously having a great time on camera and willing to risk looking adorably stupid as they do so.
5. The Iron Chef element: In every episode, Ramsay goes head-to-head against some famous chef in a dessert cook-off. He loses as often as he wins, but again, it's just so much fun to watch the two chefs bantering together on camera as they cook (and as they describe their cooking techniques for the benefit of us viewers). This isn't like the usual food-reality-show cooking where the chefs are super-serious and super-focused; rather, it's just two chefs hamming it up and obviously having a helluva good time cooking together. Ramsay is always ridiculously photogenic whenever he's in front of a camera, and these dessert segments show off exactly why it's so freakin' entertaining just to watch him cook and to hear him talk about his cooking.
6. The humane food element: A theme that's consistent throughout all of Ramsay's shows (and definitely highlighted at least once per season in Masterchef) is his advocacy for humane farming practices and humane slaughter. In the first season of The F-Word Ramsay actually has his own children raise the turkeys that the family intends to eat for Christmas lunch, in order to teach them about the importance of respecting food, to teach them about respecting farm animals, to help them understand the relationship between farm and table, and to teach them gratitude and humility when eating meat. The segments with Ramsay's kids and the turkeys are absolutely my favorite part of the first season.
7. The consumer information element: There's a bit of actual journalism in every episode in which food writers and reporters do fascinating segments covering topics like deceptive food labeling practices, urban legends about whether certain foods can affect male fertility, etc.
The first episode of The F-Word that I watched was episode 8, the controversial "turkey-slaughter" episode that I'd heard so much about but had yet to see with my own eyes until today. Yes, this is the episode in which Ramsay kills the turkeys on camera. Yes, apparently when this episode was first broadcast in the UK it was preceded by twenty-seven different content warnings, yet people still watched and complained. Watching an animal die is disturbing, no matter how fast, bloodless, and humane the method of killing may be. But that's the entire point: You're SUPPOSED to feel disturbed, at least if you're among those of us who have never looked an animal in the eye as it dies before and yet continue to regularly consume meat anyway. The segment is disturbing, yes, but also enormously educational. To whit: Ramsay explains that he is going to bring a licensed slaughterer to his home in order to dispatch the turkeys on-site, so that the turkeys won't have to experience the fear and stress of being transported somewhere else before they die. The show emphasizes throughout that it's important to hire a licensed slaughterer if you have your own garden-raised animals that you intend to eat; only a licensed slaughterer has the equipment and the expertise to make sure that the animals feel no pain during slaughter. Ramsay brings his kids to say goodbye to the turkeys the day before the slaughter, but is adamant that they not be present for the actual killing; this is more for safety reasons than anything else. The slaughterer explains how he will kill the turkeys by jolting them through the mouth with 600 volts of electricity. This means that the turkeys die instantly - you see them die instantly, it happens right on camera - and that their brains are basically gone before they even feel pain. The slaughterer explains why this is more humane than breaking the turkeys' necks or beheading them. Throughout the slaughter Ramsay continuously explains to the viewing audience every step of the process, with an emphasis on doing everything that he can do to keep the turkeys comfortable and calm right up until their final moments.
Like I said, I found the entire segment absolutely fascinating, highly educational, and above all, incredibly respectful of the animals themselves, which is really saying something because turkeys are some of the dumbest flippin' creatures in the entire animal kingdom. But again, there's no denying that it can be disturbing to see an animal electrocuted right before your eyes, even if you know that the animal can't feel any pain. And yes, for the final turkey, the camera DOES zoom right in on the turkey's face so that the viewer is literally looking the turkey right in the eye during the very moment that it dies. Again, I believe that this is largely the entire point of the segment: If you can't look an animal in the eye as it dies, then maybe you should think twice about whether you have the right to consume its flesh. These are living creatures who died for your consumption, and it's important to understand and respect that on a visceral level. In any other reality show I think that the camera zooming in on the final turkey's face would have come off as a purely sensationalistic moment; but in this segment, it is a moment that feels like it's making a profound point.
I haven't seen the final episode of Season 1 yet, because it won't be on Hulu until next week, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how Ramsay turns those turkeys into a delicious meal. And I hear that in Season 2 the family raises pigs instead of turkeys?
Anywhoo, this show is just so perfect in every way. Love it love it love it. It's a conscientious cooking show that addresses a lot of serious business issues, ranging from sexism in the culinary profession to how class privilege affects food access, while at the same time being full of fun and fabulous cooking segments, truly useful tips and techniques for home cooks, and Gordon Ramsay being Gordon Ramsay. It's the perfect cooking show. I can't wait to watch the rest of it as soon as it's available to me.