Am I the only one freaked out by this lady?
The format is that she "teaches" a student how to cook.
Here's a few of the big problems I have with her.
1. She speaks to her adult students as if they were 13-year olds
2. She glosses over (or skips entirely) explaining fundamental concepts that actually would be quite important and interesting for students to know
3. She solicits constant and repeated admiration for her cooking from her students, both while they are cooking and after while they are eating.
4. Many of the "students" are quite awkward on camera.
5. She possesses little to no charm. I can't see a single endearing quality to this lady-- yet she persists, every night, on PBS' Create TV.
Who is this lady, and what exactly is her appeal? To put her on PBS with the likes of Julia and Jacques (who possess charm, accessibility and knowledge-- critical factors in a TV cooking host) is mindboggling, to say the least.
Mr Taster
http://www.joanneweir.com/index.php
her weekend cooking classes only cost $1000. 10-15 hrs with 10 students.
This certainly isn't her first stint on PBS. She was on when I lived in the Bay Area and that was over 10 years ago.
I bought the companion book to her first show and I have to say the recipes in it are actually pretty good.
Haven't seen her new show and probably won't because my local PBS station believes cartoons are more important than cooking shows so, sadly, we only get a small number of the PBS cooking shows
1. and 3. for me. I gave her another chance lately and only lasted a few episodes. She's not the only smug tv cooking host but her particular smugness is hard for me to overlook.
People keep claiming this or that TV host or contestant is 'smug'. What are the tell tale signs of that? Is that something you only see on TV, or are there smug people around all the time?
It is an interesting concept. I think it is closely related to "snootiness", both in waiters and entire (somehow) restaurants .
I wouldn't call her smug, but I would call her condescending. She really speaks "down" to the "students" as though they are a bunch of morons. I don't care for that. It is the same reason I cannot watch Diane Sawyer, she talks her newstalk in such a condescending way. Ugh. Nope. Weir is not for me.
Is she 'talking down' to the students, or to you? Maybe she's taking the pedagogical approach of 'do not assume the students know something'. The videos are aimed at a broad audience, not customized to the knowledge of the studio students, or advanced viewers.
If she's been teaching $1000 classes for years, she must be doing something right.
Nothing condescending about her, but there is about me. Many of her students managed to reach adulthood while remaining clueless about how to do basic things in the kitchen, and she's always nice about showing them how to do it the way that works. Example: she had one male student who thought a teaspoonful of ground cinnamon should be a heaping teaspoon and he had no clue about level measures and needed to be shown. Frequently her students don't know something, such as how to dice an onion and she shows them. That's what they're there for. She is always nice about it. Also, she'll have a student taste something and ask what it needs. Many times they'll come up with it, such as "More salt" but sometimes they have no idea and she'll say, "I think it needs more salt." Nothing condescending about Joanne in my book. I'd go so far as to say if you think there's something wrong with Joanne, I think there's actually something wrong with your.
I'm trying to get past the defensive snark in your comment long enough to take the question seriously, because it's a fair one on its own.
People like Weir, and Bayless, and Raichlen, and Flay, have worked and studied hard to attain a certain level of expertise that is commendable. I don't demean them for their accomplishments at all.
But when they give instructions it is with an air that the knowledge is coming -from- them, as authorities, rather than -through- them, as teachers. And it is their apparent sense of self-satisfaction in their own knowledge and accomplishments that leads me to dub them as "smug".
Anyone who is content with what they have learned is done learning, and that's not the sort of teacher I'm attracted to.
I guess I just don't see the "air" you're attributing to them, especially with Bayless, who pretty much taught me the art of cooking through his books and TV show. He took me from meticulously following his recipes to being able to whip up delicious meals out of what I have on hand out of my own knowledge and experience.
And perhaps it's because I follow what he does closely, but its pretty easy to see how he's evolved over the course of his career. I strongly disagree that he's stopped learning, or that he would claim to know everything about Mexican cooking.
Weir is pretty basic for me at this point, but there was a time when I would have found her a really good teacher. There's absolutely a place for what she does, even if it mostly isn't for me. I also really like Anne Burrell, who like Bayless and Weir not only shows you what to do, but explains why. It's not just following recipes, it's learning to cook.
I don't like the personality of every TV chef, and some are better than others, but I don't see any of them as condescending.
I've had the opportunity to take classes in Mexico with Rick Bayless and can confirm that he really hasn't stopped learning. Mexican cuisine as a whole is pretty vast, there is always something new to discover. But I can say that there is a marked different between how he was before winning Top Chef Masters and after; and I'll leave it at that.
He is a fantastic instructor. The classes I've done have been for both home cooks and chefs. He has the ability to move easily between gearing his style, approach and recipes so that they are appropriate to the skill level and interest of those widely diverse groups. No easy task. At least with the chefs groups he does share a lot of the tricks and short cuts he's learned over the years to make producing really good Mexican food in commerical kitchens really reflect the locality of the dish.
"But I can say that there is a marked different between how he was before winning Top Chef Masters and after; and I'll leave it at that."
I just took a trip to Mexico City and attended 2 cooking classes with Rick - your comment is interesting as I was a bit put off by him and his wife. It was subtle, but odd.
By way of contrast, compare Bayless and Weir's didactic methods compared with, for example, Bridget from America's Test Kitchen.
Mr Taster
I guess I don't see that much difference other than being aimed at different audiences. Bayless I probably can't judge objectively, since I see him through the prism of his cookbooks, where he goes into great detail about his methods and ingredients. I like Bridget too, and I occasionally pick up something interesting from ATK or CC, although Kimball drives me batty.
I have to admit that I've never watched Raichlen, and Flay only once in a while. Flay does ok, but his shows seem geared more toward "here's how to make this recipe" than the "here's a recipe that will teach you things that you can apply in your daily cooking" that Bayless and even Weir do. I guess I have that criticism of ATK too -- cooking the same dish 40 times to learn how to perfect it is not practical for most of us.
Here's an example. Last week I made "Leftover Enchiladas." I used frozen shredded chicken left over from a Zuni Cafe chicken I had roasted, roasted tomatillos and garlic, a container of leftover chopped cilantro and white onion, and a caramelized white onion, some toasted rehydrated chiles and some spices and herbs. I used a lot of techniques I had picked up elsewhere, including which onion to use (Bayless), roasted chicken (a Chowhound thread), roasting chiles (Bayless again), the mixed cilantro and onion (me -- I made it as a taco garnish). They were freaking delicious, and that was because I'd learned how to deal with the ingredients. I chose the herbs and spices, I chose the chiles, I decided how much of everything to use. But it was good because I'd seen most of these things done and done them myself. I didn't do pan after pan of enchiladas looking for the perfect recipe, I did the things I understood. That's the best kind of teaching. I would have no fear (well maybe some) about inviting Rick to dinner and serving him one of my recipes, but that's because I don't just know Mexican recipes, I know Mexican cooking. Maybe not at his level, but I bet he'd like it.
Bridget is part of a team, one that makes a big deal about 'trying 50 variations so you don't have to'. The role of the cook on ATK is to demonstrate the finds of that team. There isn't a big difference in the style of the various cooks (roughly 3-4 come to mind).
Even so posters complain about their (ATK) 'best ever' claims.
For what it's worth the cooking shows that I follow most (as in try to watch any new episodes) are:
ATK's
Mind of a Chef
Pati's (more for the subject than the style)
I often get more from competitions like Chopped or ICA (yea Garces!) than instructional shows.
What I can learn from the show is more important to me than the presenter's style.
ATK = LCD
That is your opinion, to which you are entitled. However, there are MANY people who hardly know how to boil water and find ATK a wonderful starting point in their effort to learn how to cook. For some people, knowing that a recipe - no matter how boring or basic it may seem to us more experienced home cooks - has been tested, tried, and found true, is comforting when they are just starting out and hoping to satisfy their families, new mates, or just themselves. Where you may see it as LCD, I see it as a show that allows total newbies a comfortable and not-scary opportunity to learn how to create a meal. Not everyone who watches cooking shows are the type to who have experienced a Bayless class in Mexico City or have reached the level of having (watched enough cooking TV and) learned enough that that they can whip something up on their own. I find the term LCD a bit derogatory. I find people interested in cooking who can and do take a lot from ATK, a really great thing. There are people in this world who were picking up Taco Bell or Burger King for dinner every other night and may not be ready for Bayless, but ARE ready to start cooking their own food at home. I have been cooking full meals since I was eleven years old, but I am not so ignorant that I don't understand that cooking is as scary and complicated to some folks, as physics is to me.
For what it's worth, I pretty much second all of this.
I agree about
'ATK's - though some of their best of, is NOT.
Mind of a Chef
Pati's (more for the subject than the style)'
When Bobby does straight ahead cooking he is great.
I think the whole competition/reality genre has ruined the respective 'food networks' for me. I have tended to dwell on the PBS offerings, and surfed back, usually in vain, to the food networks for something.
I really like watching chefs/cooks actully cook.
Kim Chi Chronicles for Jean Georges.
Hubert Kellers Secrets Of A Chef
Eric Ripert's web show...
I'd like to see more Thai, Asian in general, Indian and African. It's a big world.
I miss Paul Prudhomme.
Just watched the 'home fries' episode of ATK. The reason Julia does not talk down to the viewers is she talks up to Chris. :) Bridget too, but it's more noticeable with Julia.
Punning aside, having a studio audience that is knowledgeable, but not expert in this recipe, does set a different tone than having a 'dumb' student or child.
http://www.amazon.com/Reach-Chef-Prof...
Ruhlman's Reach of a Chef is good reading if you want some insight into celebrity chefs, both owners like Keller, and TV cooks like RR.
Can't stand the people left on America's Test Kitchen, especially when they give out misinformation and mispronounce things. What I really hate about ATK is how they can turn a relatively simple thing like pumpkin pie into an "improved" version that is so complicated I wouldn't consider cooking it. They've had at least three different complicated ways to make a pumpkin pie and the last one included pureed sweet potato in it because it made the pumpkin "taste better". No thank you.
You’ve peaked my curiosity. What are some examples of what they mispronounce?
I'm glad to know I piqued your curiosity. The first example that comes to mind was "dacquoise". They flashed the name of that dessert on the screen several times and the Chyron operator misspelled it as "Dacquiose" as though it were an adjective like grandiose or verbose. Then Julia Collin-Davidson kept pronouncing it as "dack-KWAH" without the "z" sound on the end. Chris K. pronounced it correctly as "dack-KWAHZ". An "s" on the end of a masculine adjective like dacquois, vichyssois or niçois would have a silent "s" on the end, but the moment it becomes feminine by adding a final "e", you have to pronounce the "s" as in dacquoise, vichyssoise or salade nicçoise. (I've had people throw up "vee-shee-SWAH" in my face when I've pronounced it correctly as "vee-shee-SWAHZ", feminine because it's short for "la crème vichyssoise glacée".) I do expect a chef to know how to pronounce those words correctly. A couple of nights ago I watched a recent Chrisless episode where they were making a kale Caesar salad, and the Chyron operator came up with "Kale Ceaser Salad" on the screen. Ceaser? That's two misspellings in a single word.
Why should a chef know how to pronounce French words correctly? Because they were liberal arts majors in college? apprenticed in a French kitchen?
Thanks for responding.
Guess I’m out of my league on this one; I had to google what “chyron” meant.
Todd, I think there are legions of English chefs would take umbrage with your comment about the "correct" way to pronounce French words.
There's a reason the English consistently pronounce "fillet" as "FILL-et"; it's because they're from a land of English speakers. From an English perspective, "fil-A" is incorrectly pronounced.
Mr Taster
You're way off base with "fillet". If you spell fillet with a double-L, it's English and it's pronounced "FILL-et" as you observe. But if you spell it with a single L, as in "filet", it's a French loan word pronounced "fil-LAY". You can look that up in the dictionary. Also, when it comes to "vichyssoise" and "salade nicçoise", an addition to "dacquoise", the same English-language dictionary does not permit dropping the "z" sound at the end. Any chef who says "dack-KWAH" or "vee-shee-SWAH" ought to be embarrassed and any English language dictionary shows they're incorrect. There in the business and they should know the correct way to pronounce those words.
Are you a historical linguist? Neither am I. Not surprisingly, it turns out that it's a great deal more complicated than just looking it up in the dictionary.
https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.bl...
Mr Taster
The only Flay show that I've watched much is Throwdown. Learning is built into the structure of that show.
Raichlen comes across as a learner in his interview on The Splendid Table.
Your post reminded me of a recent cooking segment with Jerry Seinfeld and his wife, for her cookbook. She made chicken cutlets as if she had invented chicken cutlets. It was rather pathetic.
I appreciate your comments of "cooking from vs cooking through them"
That is a great explanation of that particular brand of smugness!! Your examples are an interesting combination since the "work" they have done is to repackage someone else's cooking and I think that is what comes off as smugness! On the other hand real chefs like Eric Ripert and Hubert Keller actually surprised me with their PBS shows. They appear intimidating and unyielding critiquing wanna be chefs on Top Chef and yet on the PBS shows they are warm and welcoming to home cooks wanting to stretch their boundaries. Flay, Weir, et al want you to pay attention to THEM (authorities)... real chefs want you pay attention to technique in order to produce good food (teachers)!
I agree, and I have quit watching several for just those reasons. I quit watching Child drunk, Weir for demeaningness, Stillano (sp?), for his same old, same old stories, and a couple others. I do like Kevin Belton, although he's a little childish, Lidia Bastianich, I loved Justin Wilson, bless his soul, Yan Can Cook, etc. I only watch Martha Stewart when there's nothing else on.
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I liked her back in the 1990s when it was just her, the camera, and the TV audience. She cooks mostly Italian, and I got along so well with her, foodwise.
The new show doesn't bother me particularly, but I don't watch it unless I happen to be sitting in front of the TV and I click past it as she's cooking something interesting.
Unlike you, I find the awkwardness of her students rather natural, actually. I know I'd feel awkward being taped (or whatever the process is called now) in a situation like that.
All that really bothers me is that she's forced to shill for both Anolon and the wine industry, as they're footing the bill.
When something bothers me as much as this bothers you, I don't watch it. Or I admit to myself I'm "hatewatching" it.
Crikey, love the "hatewatching" term. If I could tolerate the "ranch woman cooker blogger" on FoodNetwork, that's the word I would use. Actually pretty much all shows on that network these days, sadly, now that I think about it.
Food Network actually caused me to give up all but the most basic level of cable. I just couldn't look at Guy or Chopped, or any of the idiotic FN competition shows, and they show so little besides Guy or Chopped or those idiotic competitions, so I cut the cord.
I've seen Pioneer Woman on youtube, and read about her because she uses Fiestaware. I think I would hatewatch her, too, if I watched her at all.
Food Network jumped the shark many years ago. I'm with you and similarly live in a post cable world. Just, gimme my local channels and some PBS . . . .
My question is how long 'til the cable companies figure out that a la carte service is what folks want? In the meantime, streaming works for me and most other people who think about it. HBO's the bitchy little holdout keepin' the cable monopolies from drowning.
I just discovered the MLB channel through the Roku. It's gonna be a good summer.
I watched once, most of an episode, and I don't wish her ill or anything, but that's gotta be one of the worst shows ever. So bloody boring.
Oh, the ranch woman...I just can't watch her. It's her voice that gets me, I suppose, and I avoid Giada, too. Enjoy Ina Garten, although "how easy is/was that" type comments pile up over time. As far as Create shows I do watch ATK, John Besh, Bastianich and Pepin. Weir with the students - no.
LOL "hatewatching" that is brilliant! I, too, engaged in "hatewatching" back in the late '60s when I was a kid. It involved a local cooking show. I think it was called "Cooking with Bea Beyer." This woman was so annoying! I would watch with my friends just to have a laugh!
oh, i am so glad someone else has the same opinion, I just can't watch her, and i have tried
A very good friend of mine (a trained chef with several books and a pretty good T.V. gig of her own now) worked for Weir(D) for exactly one season.
My friend had nothing really good to say about her or how she got to where she is.
Interesting...
There are times when it seems like she is perving on the male 'students'. There is an uneasy mrs. robinson vibe about her.
Another one that gives me the creeps is when rick bayless has his daughter 'help' him.
None of the charm that Jacques Pepin has with his daughter, the two of them are adorable.
Years ago I was at a culinary conference (maybe IACP, I don't remember now) and had been touring hall with all the vendor booths and needed a break. I sat down in an area where well known chefs were doing cooking demonstrations. I just happened to sit down when JW was starting her demo. She kept staring and staring at me, which I found rather creepy and unnerving. I don't know if she thought she knew me from somewhere or what, needless to say, I got up and moved on even though my feet were still sore ;-)
Yes, absolutely on both counts. The Mrs. Robinson vibe is spot
-on, and I should have included that on my initial list.
Mr Taster
There's another long running thread in which posters wrote equally nasty things about Pepin and his daughter. And Lydia and her children and grandchildren. Many were of the opinion that sidekicks/props should be professional actors, never family members or friends.
IMHO, Rick's daughter puts the 'creep' in creepy.
I feel like I need a shower after watching them together..
Good to know that I'm not the only one that feels that way.
Jacques and his daughter are natural and you can see from the way they interact that they are father and daughter. Rick and his daughter come off more like Rick and some actress playing his daughter.
what would be an example of this behaviour? i'm actually curious.
you'd know it if you saw it.
Having not watched a Bayless show recently I really cannot give you an example. Cooking shows are not like episodes of the Simpsons; I really don't retain much of what I have seen after a few hours. Plus, it's really more of a feeling that I get while watching the sum of the parts.
When I watch Rick and his daughter, I don't think of it as creepy, but I think of his daughter as being the over-acting supporting actress in a high school play -- rehearsed and trying to overplay her role to be noticed. I feel bad, because I think Rick is a wonderful man and his daughter is a bright and lovely girl, but it doesn't add to the program.
I also happen to not enjoy Jacques Pepin's shows with his daughter. She's obviously spontaneous and not especially rehearsed, but she appears to be very uncomfortable and unnatural, and his laid back personality about the cooking does not work with her buzzing around and trying to expect and do what he wants. She's awkward on camera, and not everyone can and should do it.
My favorite awkward child on PBS is Joe Bastianich. I know he knows the business and adds a lot of knowledge up there in restaurant world, but he is the most sullen and off-putting tv personalities I've ever seen. It has been a little awkward over the years when Lidia put her grandkids on when they were 4 and they didn't want to eat the peas, or whatever, but it is 1,000 times more awkward to watch her son be totally devoid of enthusiasm for being on her show. Yet, he you can tell he doesn't want to be there.
I see we are thinking along the same lines, Terrie H.
Maybe we need a new topic about why cooking show hosts need to include their family members. (Maybe there already was one.)
"When I watch Rick and his daughter, I don't think of it as creepy, but I think of his daughter as being the over-acting supporting actress in a high school play -- rehearsed and trying to overplay her role to be noticed."
I never used the word "creepy;" that was another poster. I actually said, "Rick and his daughter come off more like Rick and some actress playing his daughter." Never once used the word "creepy."
Bingo.
My SO and I have often commented that Rick's daughter seemed like she had taken a few high school drama classes and was always over acting for the camera.
Fortunately, I noticed on a recent episode, now that she is a little older, she's toned it down a bit and actually does a good job explaining what she is doing. She seems pretty competent at least with the dishes they are preparing for the show.
I also recently saw an episode of Jacques with both daughter and grand daughter, too cute.
I always got "visitation week" vibes with the Bayless pair.
I still enjoy them, because it shows that teens can cook things that don't need a microwave.
She's 23 years old.
My posts on this keep getting deleted, probably because it annoys me so much. Laynie is an adult now who obviously respects her dad and what he does. Her father has taught her a lot, and she has been the willing recipient of that teaching.
It really makes me wonder how people would feel about watching me and my adult daughter bond over the poetry of Yeats. We're both passionate about it, but that doesn't mean out relationship is creepy -- if anything it shows that she shares my ideals and values. This is a bad thing?
They're from Chicago. 'Nuf said?
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10-4 on Bayless, he's another condescending jerk, and I can't stand Lidia's grandkids on her show, either.
As much as I don't like Martha Stewart, she doesn't override her guests, she lets them run their own show. She doesn't try to "run" them.
I will have to watch show to voice an opinion
Joanne Weir's shows are unwatchable. I've tried a few times, but, I just can't figure out what she's bringin' to the table. I have a similar reaction to Creedence Clearwater Revival songs - I can handle the first minute or so, but then I havta switch the station. Bob Weir songs, on the other hand . . . .
Years ago, I watched a series of PBS shows by her, and liked her food, but not her tone. Now, that tone has become front and center and even less enjoyable. I agree with those that say it is like being talked at as a 14 year old.
I can't stand her, either. I last 5 minutes tops before I have to find something else to do. Everything on your list is dead on, except maybe 4. As someone else mentioned, I think it's normal for them to be a little awkward. But some of them are a little extreme.
This thread is so odd, because all the years she has been on, I have never, ever been able to watch more than 3-5 minutes of the show. I thought it was just me. Now I see I am not alone! Unlike Rachel Ray or Paula Deen, where there are obvious things to dislike (because they CHOOSE to exaggerate parts of their persona), JW is just off-putting for some reason. I would have to say "5. She possesses little to no charm" is the reason I mostly cannot watch the show.
Last night I watch her 'Morocan' episode. My only real complaint is that it was too slow paced. But that is more a fault of my experience level.
Why did you put 'students' in quotes? You don't think there are real students? There was a shyness and awkwardness about this student, which could easily be explained by her being a real student, as opposed to an actor playing one.
Joanne did talk to her in a different style than when speaking to the camera. She suggested trying a different knife, and then asked which she preferred and why. She asked for comments on spices like cardamon (which was novel to the student, thought not to me).
Is that talking down to the student, as though she was a 13 yr old? Maybe, if it is more acceptable to encourage a 13 yr old to think for themselves. Adult education is more to the point - 'here's the information and what to do with it'. Adults just want the recipes.
>> Is that talking down to the student, as though she was a 13 yr old? Maybe, if it is more acceptable to encourage a 13 yr old to think for themselves.
This is a gross oversimplification. These kinds of subtle body language cues are not well served by the written word.
Again, look at Weir's didactic style with her students compared to Bridget from ATK, who "teaches" Chris Kimball.
If you can't see the vast differences between these delivery styles, then I can't help you see it.
Mr Taster
Bridget's approach to Chris Kimball is pretty funny. I find Kimball to be truly condescending. Bridget seems to see through that, and will not let him talk down to her --she does it by turning the tables in a humorous way and teasing him (or rather "teaching" to him) like he's the fool.
Of course as a colleague, her relationship to Kimball is much different than Weir's relationship to the guest students, who presumably have never met Weir before except as part of the episode's production.
Yeah, Kimball acts the neophyte but he's clearly not as unskilled in real life as his TV persona would have one believe. He plays the part of the "everyman" in order to make his professional staff look more credible. But the dynamic works, even though it's insincere. It is ultimately entertainment, after all.
Mr Taster
I definitely agree that he has much more knowledge than he lets on. The problem is when he does let on he does it in a way that (to me) says "I'm Chris Kimball and you're an idiot." In fact, I almost find it more condescending that he feels he needs to play the neophyte to make his staff look credible.
But I digress --this is a trash Joanne Weir thread.
It's not just that he has more knowledge than he lets on. He often pretends to have never heard something on the TV show, and then he'll act the ignorant fool on the radio show too when he hears the same thing.
It would be pretty funny if someone would put together an Alzheimers compilation of Chris Kimball acting surprised hearing the same thing over and over.
Mr Taster
i can't think of a single example of chris kimball being condescending to his t.v. colleagues.
I haven't seen the show in quite some time so admit I'm having a hard time coming up with specific examples, though I'm sure there have been some to make me have this view. Perhaps it is the format of having Kimball standing there doing nothing except what seems like monitoring or lording over the staff.
I find that Joanne Weir is always respectful to her students, helping them when they have difficulties doing something, and letting them know what they need to know when they obviously haven't yet learned something essential to know while cooking. Why you don't like her is utterly beyond me. Showing a student her technique for dicing an onion when said student has no clue where to begin is hardly condescending. One things that Mr Taster has issues that need to be resolved. There's nothing wrong with Joanne Weir and there's nothing wrong with Rick Bayless and perhaps you'd be happier if you stuck to re-runs of Julia Child. I've been watching a lot of those lately and they're lots of fun to watch and interesting, too. They're currently re-running "Baking with Julia" where she'd attend a cooking demonstration by an expert guest in her own kitchen, and that other show where she had restaurant chefs cooking, either in the chef's kitchen or hers while she stood by as an observer. As to watching ATK in the older format where one of the chefs like Julia Collin-Davidson or Bridget Hansen "taught" Chris Kimball, yes, there was a difference in style compared to Joanne. I'll take Joanne's style -- she's very nice and helpful -- any day of the week. Any eye rolling I've done while watching Joanne with a student is on account of the student. She had one guy there who had no clue how to use a measuring spoon. When handed a set of graduated measuring spoon, asked to measure a teaspoon of some ground spice such as cinnamon, he came up with a nearly heaping teaspoon and she had to explain that, no, one teaspoon of cinnamon meant a level teaspoon and she had to show him how. It's hard to believe someone has reached adulthood and hasn't learned that already, but there are people like him who didn't learn how to cook from their mothers and didn't take home economics in school (because male students typically didn't and probably still don't). Joanne is always perfectly nice when she "intervenes" in such cases. So if she's too much for you, don't watch her. It's your loss.
"One things that Mr Taster has issues that need to be resolved. There's nothing wrong with Joanne Weir and there's nothing wrong with Rick Bayless and perhaps you'd be happier if you stuck to re-runs of Julia Child."
Mr. Taster is far from alone. The overwhelming consensus on this thread was that Weir displays all of the issues that he mentioned. The Weir fan club is a small one.
That said, I don't watch the show any more and I go for months without thinking about her until this thread gets resurrected. By all means, enjoy the show. Just don't be surprised if it's canceled because the audience is too small.
Not many other cooking shows can match ATK and Cooks Country. My only complaint about them? Too many re-runs.
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Sadly, with the departure of Chris Kimball the show has become a lot less watchable. He provided a much needed tension that was more interesting to watch. With the new show, it's all sunshine and buttercups. I'm sure the ATK staff are happier without Kimball peering down the brim of his glasses at them, but I'm not.
Then maybe the real point/problem is the TV show's format and not Weir, herself. I agree that those sorts of questions are helpful for a one-on-one class for the novice, and as I've said elsewhere in this thread, I do think she is genuinely trying to teach.
But, keep in mind, this is also being done for broadcast, mainly to an "adult education" audience I assume. Frankly, for the true novice, unless you are there getting the hands-on interaction in the kitchen, I do not see that these shows would do much to help you along. If you are not a novice, then Weir's hand-holding all the way down to how to open up a can is pretty awful to watch.
I've often watched (I don't have cable) and haven't seen a thing I didn't already know. Since I have no professional kitchen experience or training, my criterion for people who have cooking shows is that they had better know a lot more than I do. It never registered that she talks to her students as though they are children because subconsciously, that's what I expect. Why? Because while many people think she looks like Shari Lewis (I see the resemblance), to me she talks like her but LOOKS just like Lambchop!
I thought it was just me also. A rather mean topic, but I'll bite. I first became "acquainted" with her from her "From Tapas to Meze" cookbook, which I like. Then I saw her TV show --the first one without the "student" (which I have also seen).
I do not think she's smug or condescending, traits which I consider to have a deliberateness. Rather, I think she is sincere in wanting to make it a sort of teaching show --as much of her credentials are as a very experienced cooking instructor. It's just a bit unbearable to watch on TV for anyone with the slightest common sense. Too bad because I think she knows a lot more than she makes it seem.
As part of teaching she has a tendency (I find) to place emphasis on showing pretty obvious ideas in a way that she makes sound like she's full of really clever tips --like showing a kid how much better things look when you keep the crayon within the lines. For example, she explained how to get the leaves off of a stalk of fresh rosemary. Her tip? Run your finger the opposite way the leaves naturally grow. Thanks, J.W.! Cutting a bowl full of cherry tomatoes? She likes to grab just a few at a time from the bowl full rather than dumping them all onto the cutting board so they do not all roll onto the floor. Ohh, I knew I was doing something wrong when I kept slipping on all the tomatoes. Next show? She'll let you in on the secret that knives work better when you put the sharp side down.
LOL on the Mrs. Robinson riff. Couldn't agree more with MGZ.
I don't have cable, so I don't know some of the references and watch most of the cable TV cooking shows only at the gym.
Regarding her show, it's boring if you are already a fairly accomplished chef. I know most of what she's saying, and since she's not particularly funny or bawdy (Guy), or brilliant and adorable (Julia or Pepin), I'm just B.O.R.E.D.
I can't say I find Guy funny or bawdy, although the public accusations of homophobia and sexism haven't really endeared me to him. Julia and Jacques are entertaining, but they have a very rare gift.
This whole thing of projecting sexual undertones onto TV chefs is really strange, IMO. The ones I learn something from, I watch. The ones I don't, I don't. Their sexual proclivities have no bearing on the job they do, and frankly, it's none of my business.
"She's not as annoying as Katie Brown."
New thread! lol
Really, that's not fair. It's like comparing soiled diapers. How can you determine which one's worse?
You can always mute the sound while you wait for P Allen or Donna to start.
Just goes to show, people are just alike in being different. P Allen drives me batty, I don't mind Joanna at all, and since Katie Brown isn't really about cooking or gardening I pay her no mind whatsoever.
Katie Brown is about passing off the mediocre as the ne plus ultra in all aspects of home life. It's confounding how she ever came to have any sort of credibility, much less success on TV and in publishing.
At least Joanne Weir's dishes are well-made, not the Sandrafied shortcuts in which KB seems to specialize.
I don't like Sandra Lee at all. I tried watching her once, and her "cooking" (more like "assembling") was so bad I couldn't stand it. She's also nowhere near as attractive as she thinks she is -- Marcela Valladolid and Nigella put her to shame.
KB made it into the Style section of NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/sty...
http://www.people.com/people/archive/...
1998 item about her 'dimestore domesticity'
"As her friend Bobby Flay, chef at Manhattan's chic Mesa Grill, puts it, "I told Katie, 'Martha is the queen, you are the princess."
P Allen AND Donna are hard to take. Their personalites and voices are so extreme. Being on TV just exaggerates them.
Who says Katie isn't about cooking! I'd put her "Watermelon Elephant" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XP9Px... )up against Sandra's "Kwanzaa Cake" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we2iWT... ) any day.
I just thought the title of the video was priceless enough!
"Katie Brown shows us how to have fun with Watermelon "
I was just waiting for the renown kwanzaa cake to make its appearance hahaha!
Tom, you have perfected the art of praising with faint damn. Nobody in the entire universe is as annoying as Katie Brown. I cannot stand to listen to her voice for even a second.
Joanne Weir doesn't come within miles of being as annoying or as reprehensible as Katie Brown. TBH, I am really amazed at all the hatred for Joanne Weir. While her current show isn't as enjoyable as her first show, she simply does not deserve the group shit you all have taken on her.
There's no hatred. It's dislike. Please, is she your sister? Why do you care if we dump on her? She certainly doesn't.
You're not the Tom I was talking to, if it matters.
As for why I care, well, she's simply never done anything to bother me. I simply can't fathom the "dislike," if that's the word you choose to use.
As for her not caring, you don't know that. She's human, too. I wouldn't want to go to some food website and read things like you all have said about her, about me.
Katie Brown, OTOH...
Now I did it. Did you ever get a song in your head and you just can't seem to stop humming it?
Well, It's been over three weeks now since I posted and I can't seem to get the image and vocals of Katie Brown singing "The Chipmunk Song" with Alvin and the boys. "Christmas, Christmas time is here, time for joy and time for cheer..." Ole' Katie flashing those two big old incisors a hugging Alvin. I need help!
Ugh, Katie Brown!
I was so bothered by tonight's show that I found this. You are right. But I remember liking her many years ago. Tonight's show was very uncomfortable and the food looked awful.
I gotta say that while none of the things you mention are problems for me, her hairstyle drives me nuts. I wish she'd change it.
Wow. You're absolutely right. I'm officially making her hairstyle #6 on my list.
Mr Taster
Are we really criticizing a Chef's hairstyle? Unless its in the food, who cares?
While criticizing her hair may be a tad extreme, she is also a TV personality which is a visual medium. If you set out to be a TV "star" then you set yourself up to be judged on your looks. Right or wrong, that's just the way it is.
That's it exactly. I find it distracting. Other people might not, but I keep staring at it in distaste. I'd feel the same way if Rick Bayless started wearing Elton John glasses.
And again, i really don't share a lot of the criticisms of people in this thread about her. I just find her hairdo really ugly and distracting.
Elton glasses would be preferable to the soul patch, which is something that can't go out of fashion soon enough, IMO.
Who is going to break that news to Lidia, Maryanne and Julia?
By itself, it's inoffensive. As part of the whole package, it's repulsive.
Mr Taster
Today's episode
-squash soup
-semolina gnocchi (Roman)
-kale
I didn't see or hear anything wrong with this episode. I didn't pay a lot of attention to the soup segment. I have made this gnocchi, though not with the browned butter. I also like kale, though I haven't tried her seasoning. I have some cooked kale in the fridge, so maybe I'll give it a try.
Fried sage leaves will have to wait for another time.
Glad to know that I'm not alone in feeling this way about that cooking show. I watch the PBS cooking shows late at night - they're my guilty pleasure before going to bed ... unless JW's show is on. I manage to view the first few minutes but it becomes too uncomfortable to watch once they start shifting to her comments about how she thinks her "student" is doing, I find many of her approaches to food quite strange. I became especially disappointed during the episode where she was telling her student how to prepare dungeness crab. While Lydia Bastianich (one of my favorite PBS chefs) stated that she enjoys eating tomalley and Rachel Allen (another of my favorites) used the crab tomalley to flavor the rice noodle dish she prepared, Joanne rinsed the crab tomalley away under running water - she got rid of the tastiest part of the crab! And I know my nighttime cooking show viewing is totally ruined when they follow her show with Christina Pirello and her religious-fundamentalist-like condemnation of non-vegan cuisine.
Christina Pirello... She is unwatchable!
I used to find Christina seriously annoying until I learned her story. She was diagnosed with terminal leukemia as a young woman, and given less than six months to live. She switched to a vegan lifestyle, and her cancer went into remission, then disappeared.
Rightly or wrongly, she credits her lifestyle change for curing her, and honestly, if I was in her shoes, I probably would too. That accounts for her evangelical zeal in promoting a healthy lifestyle.
I don't think she has a personality made for television, and I haven't been particularly interested in her cooking the few times I've caught her show, but knowing her story at least made it so I don't find watching her like fingernails on a blackboard anymore.
I think they have taken her off CreateTV thank God!!! She was the most annoying boring cooking show host.
Here are the problems I have with her:
1. When there is a male student she acts all creepy around them.
2. You can tell she wants to rip the knife out of the students' hand when they take forever to chop an onion.
3. How she constantly has to remind the viewer she has cooked and lived in Italy! Please! My grandmother cooked and lived in Italy! Of course, she was Italian!
4. While other wine makers give their wineries interesting names, she chose a boring, ego filled one. The Joanne Weir Wines. Couldn't this Orphan Annie reject come up with a better name?
5. Was making pizza and said she came up with such a perfect pizza dough she named it. Ready? Weir-dough! Naturally she laughed at her own joke. You could just feel the crew cringing.
A friend of mine was looking at her new cookbook and said they must use a special camera filter or great makeup because she looks a lot older in the photos in her book. Glad she appears to be gone. Now they put Martha Stewart's Cooking School in her place. What next? Paula Deen?
...AND she's got a second program called "Cooking Confidence"
...AND she's won a James Beard Award(?!)
http://www.createtv.com/CreateProgram...
Mr Taster
I personally don't watch Joanne's show because I find it much too basic. At first it annoyed me, but then a friend who grew up in a home where food was an afterthought at best, and who struggles in the kitchen, told me that when she has difficulty sleeping she watches Joanne's show as well as Mary Ann Espoito's, and both shows have helped her to learn new things and given her the confidence she needs to try things she wouldn't otherwise. I'd rather have a show about the basics than another cupcake or competition show.
I guess I don't understand the criticism of her appearance and hair. She's a real person, a middle-aged woman who tries to find a style that fits her hair and age group. She seems to have a no-fuss perm that suits her thick hair type as well as the shape of her face. Some of the posts seem like piling-on and feel a bit mean-spirited to me.
You're making me feel bad about my criticism of her hair, which I'm sorry but I do find distracting. In general though, I totally agree with you -- as i've said before, while her cooking instruction is not for me, I think it's incredibly valuable for beginning cooks.
I think her show is a valuable public service, that she does it very well, and it's a great way to bring beginners into the fold. Aside from wishing she'd find a new hairdresser, I have absolutely no problem with Ms. Weir or what she does. Just because I don't need basic instruction doesn't mean no one does, and it wasn't all that long ago that I did.
I politely disagree that the show is "a great way to bring beginners into the fold" in that she talks down to her guests, as if they were children. There's just something off about her demeanor towards them. It's more of a feeling I get while watching and difficult to put into words.
I guess that's a judgement call. For instance, when she's telling her student to do a chiffonade, but not to worry about chopping speed, I think "yeah, I was once like that" and not "she's treating her like a child."
If you watch the show realizing that her students are to a greater or lesser degree remedial cooks, then her manner becomes a lot more palatable.
Sometimes we have to divorce the personality from the instruction. I've defended Rachael Ray here several times even though I find her personality unbearable -- she's really good at coming up with quick, relatively healthy dinners for working families that have probably kept people from turning to Hamburger Helper or takeout on more than one occasion.
Roger Ebert taught me this: he did not compare "Spiderman 2" to "Schindler's List" -- he compared it to both other summer blockbusters and to movies within its genre. By these standards Rachael wins, and Sandra Lee fails. And I think Joanne does pretty well.
I completely disagree.
For a show that's absolutely great for beginners, look to America's Test Kitchen. It instructs without talking down to the viewer, as Weir does.
As for personal style, KImball's bowtie and false golly-gee-whiz character is far less annoying to me than Weir's creepy Freudian condescension, but that's admittedly personal preference.
Mr Taster
And I think that's really a matter of taste. I just don't see Joanne "talking down" to viewers, I see her teaching technique to people who may not know it. If she's teaching things you already know, I can see being impatient with her, and deciding that this is not a show to spend your time watching, but calling her creepy and Freudian is way outside the box.
By my standards today, my first grade teacher was "talking down" to me in teaching me addition. At the time, it was pretty useful.
Think it was a week or so ago, JW had "student" named Juan... think he was a soccer player from somewhere? She pronounced his name with a "J" throughout the show??
maybe he was portuguese or catalan.
That's what I was thinking. I doubt a person would allow her to tape the whole show pronouncing his name wrong.
The student was Joan Boada, a principal dancer with the SF Ballet.
Cuban. But the 'Joan' spelling does suggest Catalan heritage
http://www.sfballet.org/company/dance...
I've watched the show a few times and there is definitely something not right. I envision her dressed in a catwoman suit with a policeman's hat. On the wall behind her are whips and chains. It looks to me like she wants to flog her students with a riding crop. The students do often appear uncomfortable. I would rather watch Katy Brown than Joanne Weir.
watched her several times.
kept hoping I was viewing an 'off' show. I wasn't. don't enjoy her methods or behavior but sidebar:
I could never get past her coif.
I'm relieved to see I'm not the only one who can't watch Joanne Weir's show, except for the part when Andrea Immer-Robinson comes on to talk about wine. The only Create cooking show I enjoy less is Martha Stewart's.
I'm not a fan either! She is definitely condescending to her students. I don't know why she even gives them a knife in the first place, she never lets them actually cut anything before she snatches it back and shows them how "she" does it. Another thing... if I hear her say "ball-SAM-ic" for the vinegar one more time I think I'll scream!
I'm really freaked out by the wine lady. Why does always wear the same shirt? Why does she stare into the camera as if to hypnotize us? Make her stop!!
(sigh) I feel better now. Thanks ;)
In defense of Andrea Immer (the wine lady) she is an accomplished authority on wine. Perhaps she's just not comfortable on TV. As for her wearing the same shirt, I can't recall, but perhaps it is part of a "uniform" from a restaurant she is associated with. A bit of free publicity? A lot of times guest chefs and sommeliers do this when appearing on a cooking show.
Yes, thank you! Just saw this post, and probably no one is following anymore, but I am so glad so many people agree. I saw her a few times and was like "K that's weird and lacks charisma" but then I saw one episode where J was acting like she was actually angry at the student. Except the student didn't seem to be angry at all, just confused. Can't remember the episode, but it might have been 206. The woman had long blackish-brown hair and was shorter than Joanne. I think they made a salad (which does not narrow the choices a bit). Anyway, she didn't say ONE positive thing to this student, not even "Thank you" or "Nice." And she would snatch stuff away from her, or just take over whatever she was doing. Usually I don't like her for reason #1 in the original post, but this episode suggests that her condescension comes with a dash of venom and a pinch of bile. Gross.
I cannot watch Joanne Weir at all and I LOVE cooking shows. She just seems unnatural and it sounds to me that is condescending to her students. I'm not saying she is it just sounds that way to me. Also, her voice grates on my nerves.
What does she have in common with Julia and Jacques? Her name begins with a J?
Speaking of the interaction between chef host and guest, I'm watching a Simply Ming episode in Singapore. Ming is cooking with KF Seetoh, an expert on street hawker food. While Ming is talking, KF makes a yak-yak sign for the camera. I'm not sure I'm learning much, but the interaction is entertaining.
Wow thank you! I actually typed "I hate Joanne Weir" into Google to see if anyone else had the same sentiment as I do about this woman. She couldn't be more condescending to her students. It almost seems like she has them make a mistake on purpose to show how skilled she is and how to do it right. Every one of your points are right on. She is SO into her recipes and how great she is; it is almost disgusting. I saw one episode with a guy who had a decent amount of cooking knowledge compared to most of her students and she didn't know how to handle it, like she had to find something wrong with what he was doing just to show him he was inferior to her, the teacher. I would hate/love to see her cook with someone with real culinary experience.
Also when she tries to be sweet or complimentary it is so faked! Like at the end of her episodes when she asks her students to "cook with her again! tee hee!" oh puhleeze! She really does have no charm!
One last rant, i HATE the way she looks when she takes a bite of her food, that face like she just tasted heaven. How full of yourself can you be?! Actually I really don't like the way she looks in general, kind of like a female Carrot Top :D Okay, end rant. Thank you for the outlet though, you are right on!
I saw a great description of her from another website conversation:
>> She has this frantic, "You will now love me and my cooking and we will be best friends but don't call me, I'll call you" vibe to her.
Ha!!
She seems like the type of person that would Google herself often, and I'm happy to see that this thread comes up #5 in Google search.
I get great joy knowing that a raging narcissist is being brought down a peg or two (not that it will affect her or change her behavior, as narcissists are generally incapable of change.)
Mr Taster
The thread is called "PBS Freak Out", it is what it is. I think some people genuinely don't see the Joanne Weir that the "haters" see. I do think that her recipes are mostly good, I would definitely eat her food. Maybe if she did a solo cooking show (definitely not with another chef) where she just taught her recipes to the viewer, I could find much more value in what she does. She just isn't a teacher. A good teacher, rather.
That description is perfect. I was happy as well to find your thread, we can only hope that she comes across it and picks through each reply and argues with the computer while drinking her "vino" haha. I always wondered why she had the student pour the wine, like they know anything about what selection she picked and why she so ingeniously picked this variety. I think she's waiting for someone to fill the glass way up, another "teaching" opportunity :D
Okay, this is a dated thread, I see...still! All points folks have made here are spot on. And I need to add something that creeped me out about Ms. Weir: a subliminal bad soft porn sorta thing going on with her, especially when she's tasting whatever's in front of her. I have had true concern for some of her students - that they might not get out of her clutches without a roll in the hay! Yuck!!!
I am not a big fan of Joanne Weir. It seems like every time I see her show she is making pasta and salad, not that interesting. I make that all the time myself.
In a recent interview I have read with Sara Moulton, Sara has stated that she has had to come up with a million dollars in corporate sponsorships to produce a series for PBS. So I would guess that the same applies to Joanne. Someone must support her.
She has a long resume in the SF Bay Area food scene having once worked with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse. So she will probably be around as long as she can continue to get the sponsorships.
I'm glad I'm not the only one. Yes, you have covered the basic annoyances succinctly. Her patronizing, superior attitude toward her guests is a real turn off.
I see that Joanne Weir has an ad on CH to the right for First Republic Bank..
https://firstrepublic.com/engage/joan...
Ginger with tight short curly hair. .not a good look for her, imo.
Pretty sure, he's 60 years old and the hair on his head is all one color, like it's dyed, rather than lots of different colors like natural hair has. Maybe he should get a profesiional colorist.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/art...
Sorry, don't have my mug to that set of men with gray whiskers.
I'm in the semi-rural Midwest (Kansas City), and public TV here is overloaded with these schlock merchants .... Martha Stewart, of course. That Weir woman. Somebody called Christina Cooks, and now I see another, called Katie Brown. Jesus, are people out here really bored enough to like this stuff? Last night, the Christina Cooks lady made guacamole. First she put all kind of extras, including kernels of corn, into a bowl. Then she ran her avocados through a food processor .... for a couple of minutes! She also poured in glugs of olive oil and advised using lots of lemon juice to cover up that "fatty" avocado flavor. Dude: avocado toothpaste with crunchy bits!
Watching her made me want to run out and buy some Hostess Twinkies and Jell-O.
I'm baffled as to how anyone could *hate* Joanne Weir when target-rich programs like Christina Cooks are on the air. I know she's got a sad back-story but her scientific illiteracy + truly terrible flavor combinations just send me over the edge. She's an insult to decent food everywhere. (Paraphrase: "You want to use asparagus in your fat-free blueberry muffins because muffins are short and round and asparagus is a SLIM, vertical food that goes up OUT of the ground. It draws the toxins UP and OUT of your body -- and you don't want to end up round and fat like a muffin. Fats tend to congregate around your third chakra, or solar plexus, and rob you of your power.")
I mean, really. The worst I can come up with about JW is that she has a quiet personality and has some awkwardness with one-off guests on her show. (Unlike people who partner on camera over time.) Yeah, she's not exciting but she's qualified and competent as a cook. Her food looks and sounds good. As a fellow Bay Area resident, it's mostly familiar but it's not to my East Coast relatives.
Just my 2 cents. she seems like she wants to messed with the young men on the show. i feel bad for her husband, because if i ever met her i think if i would ask her for number, she will say yes lol
Oh gosh I totally agree she has a nasty under current. Very condescending, elitist and downright curt at times. I'm willing to bet a spinster too. Joanne Weird is more like it. Class a Wack-a-doo. Really cooks some nice recpies but OMG you have to suffer through that attitude of hers. I don't watch too often. I usually just stumble upon it from time to time cuz she's a bit much.
You will loose that bet
http://joanneweir.blogspot.com/2009/0...
Posts like this tell me more about the poster's hangups than anything about the celebrity.
The range of these comments show that Joanne Weir really is the white-and-gold dress of public television cooking shows. Or she's MAGIC! Because she somehow manages to be both 1) a leering temptress, embarrassing herself with a Blanche-DuBois-like approach with men AND 2) an awkward spinster, condescending and elitist with her (cook)book learnin'.
Whereas all I see is a not-that-exciting cooking instruction show hosted by a middle-aged culinary professional. If I want to see versions of 1), I'll catch an old FN episode of Tyler Florence going into a woman's home to feed her off a wooden spoon or anything w/ Wolfgang Puck. For 2), I'll stick with Rick Bayless, who I actually love watching.
She called a very typical New England dish a southern dish. The dish was first prepared by the Naragansett tribe of Rhode Island! First and last time I will watch her show. Comes across as bland, like milquetoast.
""Hate watching"...my new favorite word! I have learned a great deal reading through all the wonderful observations and opinions. I am a retired chef (a word too loosely used these days) and have some observations to put forth. Knowledge is valuable, no matter where it comes from, even the omniscient Ms Weir. Hate watching her helps me to divest myself of much frustration and annoyance. I'vebeen around in the Bay Area food scene for quite a while and was one of the early patrons of Chez Panise when greats like Jeremiah Tower and Alice Waters and several others operated the co-op that it was. Ms Weir's tenuos claims to a connection with that venerable establishment need to be clarified. There's nothing wrong with being a prep cook, we all started there...I did at Masa's and Domaine Chandon. I, however never represented my connection as anything more. Joanne needs to clarify her connection a little more honestly. Ms Ree is nothing more than a media creation. Her recipes are as interesting as the Oklahoma Dust Bowl from whence they were spawned. I look for knowledge where ever it takes me...even if it is mixed with a little "Hate watching"
JDAYTON
Mr Taster,
Don't watch, I THINK Jonne Weir, is great, love her and her show.
Rasheeda
When you Google "Joanne Weir", this thread shows up amidst the joanneweir.com and pbs links. I have to assume she's seen this thread by now.
Mr Taster
She's just fabulously ghetto fabulous.
Why does it seem all her so called students are afraid to do anything? There's this feeling (in every episode) like everyone in front and back of the camera are walking on eggshells around this woman and are afraid to bruise her overflated ego. Say one wrong thing or do one wrong thing and you'll shelved in the fridge on the bottom behind the moldy salad fixings and half eaten pizza and several cans of Budweisser to be forgotten about forever like the rotten little egg you are. Never seen so many students be afraid to take up a wooden spoon and beat the whip cream outta miss wonderful. Guess they are afraid they wouldn't be able to cut the mustard with a ginsu if they tried. Oh well.
Now she's a got a new show - JW Gets Fresh. I guess that means getting randy with the radishes, naughty with the nachos, sexxxy with the spaghetti, playing footsey with the fruit, making fantasy time with the fish, adventurous with the avocados, getting sensuous with the squid, mystified by the meatballs and getting zany with the zucchini.
Her students are still the same - squeamish like the squid.
Lol! I feel the same about her ... Weirrrrd
I totally agree with u. No way does she have a charming appeal. And her guess looking akward.But she is nothing compaired to no talent boring embarrassing Katie brown. I cannot get to the TV fast enough to switch the channel..
Well, for one thing, I can understand her. Jacques, not so much. And golly gee whiz, he's been in this country for decades! I have to don my beret to understand half of what he says.
I find her w/ a condescending attitude.
Cant put my other thoughts into words...she is just not likable = My opinion
altho I learn lots from her I agree w/ original post and find Joanne very condescending
to her students
I'd rather learn from a NICER person,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, w/out THE ATTITUDE!
Mr. Taster forgot to mention the camera's constant soft focus that (allegedly) helps keep the turkey neck and crow's feet barely perceptible... until she appears in a location shot in full sunlight or they dolly in for a close-up of her hands (which look like a pair of geriatric cheetahs for all the spots) to highlight her at best marginal knife skills.
But as bad as JW is, she takes silver to the Queen of Lousy Cooking Shows: Laura Theodore, the Jazzy Vegetarian. You have to watch Jazzy thru the lens of "train wreck television" because if you try to take it seriously you'll suffer a bleeding migraine.
Wow, that was pretty harsh and borders on misogyny. I actually liked that show because of the students and the basic things.
I guess you have to appreciate that modesty is not common in the food competition circles and I can say this same issue seems pervasive in the industry.
I will tell you that it is very competitive in and among the TV hosts and they are generally not overwhelmingly supportive of each other.
I will also tell you that I have done one of Joanne's cooking trips and it was memorable and the experience of a life time. I'm going to book again. There were a few bumps along the way (as all cooks have) and she was adaptive and creative and the trip was about half repeat or multiple repeat students. It was really a blast and a wonderful vacation in Seville Spain.
I also prefer her type of cooking because she focuses on Mediterranean and healthy foods.
In person she is very interactive and a great teacher, having taught for Sure La Table for years, not to mention being a James Beard awarded chef.
Not sure any of the bloggers (myself included) can compare to that, so who's to judge? Switch channels if you aren't thrilled.
Yes, it sure is seductive to pile onto the vicious frenzy of online humiliation of another person.
Oh bullshit.
She sucks. She's condescending and rarely misses a chance to belittle her students. It's obvious to most people and that's why this thread is so long.
And the misogyny / sexism charge is also bullshit. Check out the Vic Rallo thread which is, if anything, more critical than this one. Just because someone is a woman doesn't buy them a lifetime Get Out Of Jail Free card. She gets judged by the same standards Rallo does.
You want to watch her show? Be my guest. You want to post about how much you like her? That's fine too.
But don't come around throwing around false charges of misogyny. It's not like we're all going to have a Moment of Clarity where we collectively slap our foreheads and cry out "How could we have been so mean to poor Joanne?"
We have eyes and brains. We get to make up our own minds.
ETA - About that misogyny charge. Scroll down this thread and could the number of critical comments from women. Misogyny has nothing to do with people disliking her.
I concur, thoroughly.
For my personal amusement, I imagine that she has lured each of these students back to "her place", has had S & M sex with them (Joanne as the dominatrix, suitably garbed), and forces each to appear with her on this show as a condition of her releasing them back to the world. Yes, I know my scenario is thoroughly inappropriate; however, it's no more so than the utterly contrived scenario of this show.
The only worse cooking show is the idiot from North Carolina whose mommy and daddy gave her the money for a restaurant, conditioned upon her moving back to hog jowl & chitterling country from New York City. That show simply sucks.
She worked for Alice Waters at Chez Pannise, but, I dont watch her fpr the same reasons yoir] cited, nor Trisha Yearwood as she is snotty to,her guests and helpers
Eh, she has her cringe worthy moments, but overall she comes across as someone who is genuinely interested in teaching and helping others succeed in the kitchen. She's okay in my book.
I totally agree. I do not enjoy her show. Her interaction with the students is uncomfortable. Especially when there is a male student. Just an opinion, I'm sure not everyone sees it this way.
I love to watch Joanne Weir and find her to be
very positive and user friendly.
always enjoy the show and would
love to cook and enjoy meal with her!
Thank you Joanne Weir
from, joanne / in the Willamette Valley
I agree 100% and wondered if anyone else noticed this.
She makes me uncomfortable and seems like she is on the edge.
Her students act very on guard.
I completely agree with you. In fact, I only found your post because I am sitting here watching this woman on PBS as I type these comments, and was so repulsed by her arrogant "air" that I wanted to see if anyone else felt the same.
Maybe her classes are worthwhile, but her "teaching" on the TV show is non-existant. In this episode, it consists of her handing salt to a guy, then handing him the half-teaspoon measuring spoon, and then telling him to put half a teaspoon of salt in a bowl. (Really?!) And doing it in a rather dismissive, condescending manner. And, as the episode comes to an end, she is now "strongly suggesting" that he tell her how wonderful she and her cooking are.
I have been told by numerous people that I am an empathic person, meaning I sense and feel things from other people and animals that are not necessarily obvious to non-empathic people. Whether that's true or not, I definitely sense a strong negativity surrounding this woman. Maybe that's why some of us "get a bad vibe" from her, while others only see the smile on her face... that to me, feels fake and contrived.
"I have been told by numerous people that I am an empathic person, meaning I sense and feel things from other people and animals that are not necessarily obvious to non-empathic people."
I have pretty much been that way all my life. In fact, a grammar school teacher of mine noted it on my second grade report card. She did not use that exact wording but she definitely noticed this trait in me. And now that you have said that it;s exactly what I am sensing when I watch this show! It's not Joanne Weir as much as the "vibe" i get from the students. Thanks for putting this in perspective for me.
Dude! These are people who have already taken the basic class! JoAnne Weir seems to really LOVE her cooking & brings an international flair into the ingredients dominant on the west coast. What a ridiculous review. Thinking that you must be from the east coast since you don’t seem to appreciate the west coast cooking influence. Her ideas inspire me to recreate her recipe or apply to something of my own. I applaude Create TV for hosting her show & many others. Cable TV is too expensive and public TV is a blessing.
I find her inappropriate on so many levels. Her student is most often a younger man, to whom she stands to close and makes, in her creepy way, sexual overtures. It’s disgusting.
I have a somewhat perverted, but nevertheless plausible theory of the latest Joanne Weir "Stand and Stir" Show:
Ready?
The auditioning process is: She attempts to have sex with the prospective "student". If she succeeds, they're on the show.
The accounts both for the unconscious "ick" factor, and the awkwardness of each of these unfortunates.
I, too, find Weir condescending, repetitive, and uninformative. I've never learned a thing on her show, which I never bother with anymore. Other than the occasional fireman, or other cooking-challenged person, her students seem to be upper middle class women who want something to do with their time.I prefer real cooks...Jacques, Julia, Lidia, Mary Ann Esposito, and the recent shows with Alamelu (Indian) and Julie Tabouli. I even like Martha S, because she really teaches basics and shows where you can go with them.
I couldn't agree with you more, Mr Taster, I watch a lot of cooking shows, and she is the worst. Today she made spit chicken with fried potatoes/jalapeño and avacado creme fresh for dipping. While making the avacado creme fresh the student was to pour in a cup of sour cream, when he asked what if someone is lactose intolerant? Joanna answer to this was EAT KETCHUP!!! she acted flip, and gave face motions acting like the student had asked a stupid question. How ignorant!!!! With all the different types of people, with different diets as a chef she should know these things, at least give a thoughtful answer like, you could use a substitute......easy answer, even if you don't know, don't act like an ass to someone trying to learn from you, as we'll as your audience. She also acts creepy to the male students and has no personality ( except weird, Joann weir! )
I find her show as dreadful as everyone else. However, she is a real cook, with a real restaurant, Copita, in a real restaurant town, San Francisco. She's an awarded cook book author. She trained with Waters and Kamman.
https://www.joanneweir.com/about/
She just comes across very strangely on TV.
So to be clear, I don't like her any more than anyone else, and find just as creepy and inappropriate as everyone else does.
But "freaked out?" To freak out means to "lose your shit" as my kids say, to become totally irrational, to go "non-linear" in the words of my Silicon Valley buddy. To hear that someone freaked out over something makes me visualize them whimpering in a corner, unable to move.
So no, while i don't care for her, she doesn't come close to making me freak out. I just flip the channel.
I too am freaked out by this lady...I wish they would mute her when she eats,you can hear her smacking and chewing...it is just gross. Some of her choice menus are expensive to create. She also comes off self centered and arrogant. She has absolutely no likeable qualities.
K Graham
I signed up an account just so I can say that I hate this show it took me 25 minutes in a 3-g area that's hate....
"I signed up an account just so I can say that I hate this show it took me 25 minutes in a 3-g area that's hate...."
Excellent ... excellent.
Let me make it worth your while. Here's the Vic Rallo thread -
https://www.chowhound.com/post/eat-dr...
If that whets your appetite there's one on Rachel Ray.
I can only agree, but ask, Why do you even watch? I have better things to do than watch her just so I can hare her more.
The current series on Create, Places and Plates, does not involve a one on one with a student. Mostly it is travel, with some in kitchen demos (no prop people). And I saw a group instructional session, followed by a group meal. I suspect that the group session is typical of her cooking school, not the one on one you all hate so much.
I watched one episode of this current series. It was on the Veneto region of Italy which I love. To me personally, she’s still annoying and comes off as the first person to discover the foods of the region, but it wasn’t as bad as her one on one instructional series. I still feel she is not a good fit for TV.
I agree with Mr. Taster's original post. I was watching PBS Create TV today and when Joanne Weir's show came on, I turned the channel as I always do because of the very reasons Mr. Taster stated, especially #1, 3, and 5. I decided to google her to see if anyone else felt the same way and came across this thread. I find it interesting that this thread is still going strong after five years.
Sorry but she is atrocious, and it is not a personal attack on her in any way. Regarding the show however, she does not connect to the food, the audience and is brutal to her guests. It's painful to watch..so I don't.
While I am not a fan of hers, stating the words “she is atrocious” is indeed a personal attack.
"While I am not a fan of hers, stating the words “she is atrocious” is indeed a personal attack."
How about "the show is atrocious"?
A personal attack, that's cute. Let's see... a definition being "of a very poor quality; extremely bad or unpleasant." and that is exactly how I can see someone summarizing her as the host. The show would probably be great without her condescending, rude, abrupt, tactless, curt, and snotty personality on-air. It's an opinion, if she butters your bread watch away fellas.
The show is/was actually pretty well-produced. All the horrible-ness of it comes directly from her on-screen persona. So I think it's less of a personal attack and more just a critical perspective.
You're not by yourself. IMNSHO, she's an egotistical narcissist and I can't stand her... AND SHE KNOWS NOT HOW TO FIX DUNGENESS CRAB, or any seafood, properly. She's mouthy and arrogant and looks down her nose at her "students".. You can be damned sure she'd never get me on the show, under her snide nasty, ego. I'd rather watch Kevin, Lidia, and even Jacque. I definitely won't watch the old drunk, Julia, either.
Rant over. LOL :-)
I agree, and I also thought “Am I the only one who sees this?”
I have also noticed that like you said, her “students” seem to appear awkward.
I think I might feel awkward if I were treated the same way she treats those brave enough to appear on her show.
Has she ever invited culinary greats shine on her show, such as Ming Tsai, Martha Stewart, Alan Geaam?
I'm with you, and Mr. T, Susie. I/we watch Test Kitchen, Kevin Belton, Ming, etc., I can even stand Pati and Rick Bayless, but can't stand that red-haired fraud, Weir. If you look her up, she doesn't do ANYTHING for nothing. She charges each "student" $500.00 per "lesson". She's a narcissistic "know-it-all", know-nothing, as far as I'm concerned. Some of the stuff she churns out makes me/us ill. I've been cooking for over 40 years and she is a novice, IMNSHO. If they took her and Yan off the air, I'd appreciate that. Yan USED to be good to watch, but since he moved back to china, he stinks. Another egoist. I used to like Julia, too, until she started showing up on air drunk. Then we turned her off. Can't stand Stellino, either.
(Rant over... LOL)
Bob
I was so happy to come across your post because I agree! Spot on with your points. Thanks for reaffirming what I felt about her-something makes me feel very uneasy with her for all of those reasons plus I can’t see her appeal. Her comments on childhood food memories are freaky too. Like she’s a 7 year old.
Lol this is so hilarious. I just googled “Joanne Weir is not a good tv host” and this came up. She is terrible. When she has a student she seems uninterested and kind of irritated. In all fairness, the food that is featured and the recipes used on her show are very interesting. But if her demeanor is anything like that in real life, why would you want to learn from that. Although getting paid thousands of dollars an hour can really brighten up anyones attitude
Out of curiosity I just watched her for the first time -- Plates and Places, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Sadly, she didn't try to seduce the tomato farmer, on camera at least, and I apparently missed the rest of the really repellent stuff. Guessing she's probably something of a snoot, but perhaps she benefited from years of hearing her style was like aversion therapy? I won't be tuning in in general, but then I don't watch any of them more than inoccasionally when the mood strikes.
Occurs to me that some people MUST have found Julia Child's very strong personal style nauseatingly intolerable and vented every week when reruns of The Dinah Shore Show and Father Knows Best were the only alternatives. Couldn't be otherwise. :)
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