Travel Close Up » Travel Show Reviews

Jenn — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 16:46:06 +0000

Has anyone seen Giada De Laurentiis’ new show on Food Network, Giada in Paradise?

As far as I can tell from the listings it is a special only. So far she has been to Santorini, which is my ultimate dream trip and Capri, which is not too far behind! When we watch this show at my house, it must sound like we are watching sports. We make all the same noises that sports fans make when their team scores a point, falls down or takes a hit to the stomach with a flying ball. We love this show, but we also are tortured by it because we want to be there more than anything else! When Giada takes a bite of something delicious you hear groans from our couch, when she steps foot somewhere we’d like to be, you will often hear a “yes!” as she starts describing a dream spot. This show is really giving me the travel bug big time, which is a great motivational tool to get me fired up to continue with all my projects and find more!

I have been dreaming about going to Greece for years now. My ultimate plan is to follow the voyage of Odysseus as I have loved the Iliad and the Odyssey for as long as I can remember. I have also been a big fan of all the theories surrounding the lost city of Atlantis. Many scholars believe that the destructive Minoan eruption on Santorini is the most likely candidate for the lost city itself. I have always believed that anything is possible and with my Anthropology background, I am always searching for the truth behind the ancient mysteries. I guess this is something else that Giada and I have in common, as she graduated in undergrad with a degree in Anthropology before she went to culinary school in Paris. So I am guessing that she loves this new assignment which takes her to ancient places, where she can get the lay of the land, eat the food and just soak up that Mediterranean sun! What a life, huh?!

Last night the show about Capri aired and since her family has been “hanging out” there for a long time, as her Aunt Raffi says, Giada knows all the ins and outs of the place. This show was like a big family reunion for her. We got to see her go jewelry shopping and have drinks with her aunt and a friend. We got to watch her make Ravioli Caprese with the chef at the restaurant her grandfather Dino De Laurentiis eats whenever he goes to Capri. We got to watch her prepare shellfish for her family in the kitchen of another well known Caprese restaurant, in her bathing suit cover-up! So it is obvious that she is well-known there and very comfortable!

I do hope they keep airing these specials. I think Giada is much more suited to these international voyages in comparison to her Weekend Getaways which are mostly US based. But in both cases, these are not trips, getaways or otherwise that the average person is likely to go on, which is why I need to get my own food travel show! However, in the meantime, it is entertaining to see how the other half lives!

Jenn — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 18:36:40 +0000

222The Food Network is becoming a more diverse place. Instead of just featuring so-called master chefs, iron chefs, executive chefs and the like, the Food Network has also started featuring just really good cooks.
One such cook on the Food Network is Giada De Laurentiis, otherwise known as “Sorriso a 64 Denti” in my family. My family likes to watch the Food Network because it inspires us. We might not like the commercialism of it all the time, and we get annoyed a lot by egos of some of the more famous chefs, but we like getting ideas, day and night about what other people do with food.
We enjoy watching Giada De Laurentiis on the Food Network, because like Rachel Ray, she is a nice Italian girl, making foods that remind us of our grandparents and big family dinners. We tease her because she is like one of our own. She has her own show Everyday Italian featuring some of her family favorite recipes..

Her show probably has a following for two reasons, she is a lively and good cook with a spunky personality, and for all the male viewers she is cute, petite and some would say hot. One of Roberto’s friends was forbidden by his wife to watch it for this very reason. He was not watching it to learn how to cook favorite family Italian foods, he was watching it to watch her. But you know, good looks are an advantage when you are in the lime light. So go for it Giada!

Now, to spice things up a little more, the Food Network has given Giada her own travel show: Giada’s Weekend Getaways, where she gets to eat in cities all over the country. Unlike Anthony Bourdain, who by his very nature despises the Food Network (and I am pretty sure, Rachel Ray due to her commercial appeal), Giada goes to all the swankiest places in the cities she goes to. Unlike Rachel Ray’s $40 Dollars a Day show, also on the Food Network, Giada is not sparing any expenses. In fact, she never even says how much she spends on the meals she eats, things like a specialty gelato milkshake, called the “chocolate martini”, or a lobster pie, with a whole lobster inside. And Giada’s best tip for when traveling to places like South Beach, or LA, always rent a convertible!
So if you are looking for where to go on your travels to eat really well, and spare no expenses, you can check out Giada’s Weekend Getaways on the Food Network!
But for most of us, who are not the grand-daughters of one of Italy’s most famous film producers (Dino De Laurentiis), we cannot go on weekend getaways like this all the time, but if you like food, it is fun to see what she is going to eat next, and how extravagant it will be!

Mangia!

Jenn — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 20:53:24 +0000

122I heart Anthony Bourdain. He has been coined “the bad boy of cuisine”. His views and commentary is blunt and not at all glossed over. To me, he is kind of like my idol – what I want to be when I grow up. (Minus of course, the whole being a guy thing, and of course the smoking).

But besides that Bourdain is everything an aspiring travel writer with a hunger for cultural exchange, like myself, could hope to be: witty, experimental, honest, and at times waxing philosophical. Through this medium he has a never ending chance to get up close and personal with foodies all over the world. What he really does is bridge cultural gaps through food. Anthony Bourdain will eat just about anything. He lives the phrase “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. I have never seen him refuse a morsel of food, which epitomizes cultural relativism and respect. The heart of a people is usually their food. Anthony Bourdain is able to get to the heart of a Country/City/ Destination through the food he eats there and the people he eats it with. He has learned through his career as a chef, that you essentially are what you eat. Through that he has come to acquire a piece of everywhere he has ever traveled and exchanged thoughts and ideas.
Way to go Tony!

In honor of Anthony Bourdain and my respect for the man and his travel practices, I want to dedicate part of this blog to him, by reviewing his show:
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations ………