Chewing on the Paula Deen issue

The other day I used “Paula Deen” as a verb, as in “She was Paula Deened.”

Today I wrote a blog post about the tuna industry and titled the caption on Google+, “Of course I’ve eaten tuna.”

Insert three-beat drum riff.

I am not a Southerner, although I live in Kentucky (for twenty months now) and lived in Florida twenty-three years (although many claim Florida isn’t really the South). I was raised in Pennsylvania. I don’t have a culinary degree, nor do I have a contract with Smithfield Foods. I’m just a food writer with a few ideas, opinions and thoughts.

But none of these things really matter. You don’t need a degree, a restaurant, a contract with a food manufacture, or title to a piece of property to be affected by what happened to Paula Deen.

I read the mocking, funny tweetstream #PaulasBestDishes, had conversations on Facebook, read two intriguing, compelling, eloquent articles, “An Open Letter to Paula Deen,” by Michael W. Twitty, culinary historian, and “Paula’s Worst Ingredients” by Frank Bruni, in The New York Times, still I’m frustrated.

Don’t get me wrong, I know Paula Deen admitted to using racial slurs, and the wedding thing? Unbelievable. And Deen is accused of discrimination (violent, racist, sexist behavior) in the workplace. All uncalled for, morally wrong (in the case of the racial slur), and against the law (in the case of the discrimination.)

Would I feel less frustrated if I liked Paula Deen, watched her show, or bought her cookbooks?

Probably not. In fact, I’m sure her fans are reeling.

That’s right. I am not a fan of Paula Deen. Not the woman. I don’t know her. It’s the corporation Paula Deen, I don’t like. Now in light of her current issues, I really don’t like her. But I could forgive her if she showed, in time, she didn’t mean those things she said, regardless of her age, her upbringing, or that she’s from the South.

And it’s not that I don’t like Southern food. In fact, I love to cook and eat black-eyed peas, biscuits, jambalaya, stewed greens and tomatoes. I don’t have enough experience to write about the full flavors of the South. But fried chicken? I can do without.

Paula Deen’s version of Southern food. Ditto. Not that all of her recipes are laden with fat, but watch a few of her shows and well, you get the point.

My issue with the Paula Deen thing arose after I finally did watch a few of her YouTube videos. In a nation suffering from obesity (for many years now), the last thing/person/corporation we need to support is a celebrity chef extolling the virtues of all things fat. A burger sandwiched between glazed donuts? No thanks Paula. I’ve been fighting an extra seven pounds for a few years now and I rarely eat donuts and burgers. Never together.

The other thing about Paula Deen that torched me was the paid endorsement for the diabetes drug. She knew she had diabetes for years. Yet she kept the machine going, obviously eating what she cooked, all in the face of her deteriorating health.

Many people say the issue isn’t the slur. I don’t know. Maybe it is. I think it’s a combination, one-two punch.

Maybe we’ve needed this conversation. Time and circumstance have a lot to do with how we perceive life’s situations and events.

Maybe (in my conspiracy theory thought process), Michelle Obama made an executive decision. After all, not only is Michelle The First Lady, she is an Afro-American. Strong-willed. Smart. Her initiative, her baby, her mission, (more than likely conceived before The Obama’s moved into the White House) was announced Feb 9, 2010, Let’s Move: America’s Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids. And the same day, President Obama signed a presidential memorandum and created the Task Force on Childhood Obesity.