Top Chef Ageism

Robin Leventhal of Top Chef, photo by Michael Nank, from the Queen Anne Farmers Market. If this woman can be derisively called "grandma" by her fellow contestants, there is truly no hope for the rest of us.





After all the online gnashing of teeth, gah! I don't wanna think about ageism ANY MORE. I AM THROUGH.

So, time to watch our favorite food-porn. I turned on the TV last night for some simple, feel-good escapism. Yes, I wanted lingering, yummy pan-shots of attractive plates of foods I've never heard of, with sprigs of fennel festooned every which-way. NO RACHEL MADDOW! NO POLITICS! NO AFGHANISTAN AND NO MARK SANFORD!

Ha!

Dream on, grandma. Dream on.

My beloved Top Chef, which I have been bloody loyal to for 6 seasons, is now engaging in some blatant, nasty, ageist fun and games against contestant Robin Leventhal, whom the other contestants call "grandma" and like to trash-talk about being too old and not fitting in. In one scene I saw last night, several piggy-male contestants argued over who had been meaner to Robin. "Grandma needs to leave!" they all agreed.

By the way, did I tell you? Robin Leventhal is 42 years old. Forty-Two. 42.

Do you believe this?

Under the circumstances, all I could think is: Oh man, not here too. (((cries)))

When did cooking get to be the kids' territory? I mean, I do understand why fashion is; there is a constant search for the new, the upcoming, the next big thing. But cooking? I would think that age would bring much-needed expertise and valuable, crucial experience. The best cooks I have known have been doing it for decades and decades.

Well, I guess this show doesn't have anything to do with the FACTS, this is reality TV. And they can't use outright sexism and racism anymore, as they did on the MTV's prototypical reality show, THE REAL WORLD, and as they are perilously close to doing on the Real Housewives franchise, with NeNe and Kim close to brawling. And come to think of it, they DO love to trash the fat people at every available opportunity.

So, let's stir up some shit by trashing GRANNY. The um, 42-year-old "granny"--that is. What on earth would they do with a REAL granny?

Depressing, just very depressing.

I'll just go back to obsessing over Afghanistan.

Gay-bashing neanderthals on the loose in Long Island

Left: Josie Smith-Malave, from New York Magazine

I'm no gourmet cook, so I can't explain the fact that I am a huge TOP CHEF fan. I was therefore very upset to hear of the following:



Former 'Top Chef' contestant Josie Smith-Malave beaten by anti-gay attackers on Long Island

Sept. 12, 2007, 8:13AM
Associated Press

SEA CLIFF, N.Y. — A former contestant on Bravo's Top Chef was beaten by attackers yelling anti-gay slurs, her lawyer said.

Josie Smith-Malave, who was featured on the second season of the reality show, was among a small group of women who were asked to leave a Sea Cliff bar over Labor Day weekend, lawyer Yetta Kurland said Tuesday.

About 10 young people followed the women and began screaming anti-gay epithets, spitting on them and then beating them, Kurland said.

Smith-Malave, who is in her early 30s, is openly gay, Kurland said.

Nassau County police said they were investigating, but declined to provide details of the incident.

Smith-Malave, a Miami native, is a former sous-chef for Marlow and Sons restaurant in Brooklyn. She has played for the New York Sharks of the Independent Women's Football League.

From the Head-On Radio Network.