Random Rant #1

1. So, I’m watching the food network and Emeril is on cooking some sort of pasta dish, he’s grunting and making noises while throwing in his catch phrases like “oh yeah babe.” He begins to add some shaved garlic, as he calls it, to this dish and the live audience, in which he is filming this show in front of, begins to applaud and whistle as if a woman in a bikini has just stepped into their view. I find this odd as I can’t imagine any time where I would feel the need to cheer in such a fashion at just about any event, save a kissing of the bride at a wedding or maybe a last second winning shot at a Vandy game, but never-the-less the audience does cheer. Then I notice something equally if not more odd. Emeril reaches for a bowl of chopped parsley and begins to add it to his pasta concoction only seconds after adding the garlic and the audience sits un-phased. Now I am completely confused as to what makes an ingredient “cheer worthy.” Why does the addition of the garlic receive such an exuberant applause while the parsley is met with respectful observation? Maybe the audience isn’t applauding at all, maybe it’s a well recorded applause track and there is a man in a booth on set somewhere deciding which ingredients are worthy of his recorded applause and which are not. But, the applause seems genuine enough as the cameras show shots of the amazed audience who seem as if they’re watching the most exciting show they’ve ever seen. The emotion seems forced and makes me uncomfortable for them. I understand this is television and they have to show us, the audience at home, how amazing the food is so we’ll be interested enough not to change the channel and watch something else that will capture our attention for a few moments until we get bored again and search through the 100 other channels all vying for our approval. So I guess I can’t judge them too harshly. I think I’m done here.