Wednesday, July 29, 2009

'Ready Steady Twat' In Chef Attack


I never thought I’d find myself agreeing with Antony Worrall Thompson.

True, I’ve always found him a pretty decent bloke, happy to share a fag out the back with lowly chefs, rather than ponce about with PRs, plus-fours and fake plummy accents like Marco Pierre White for instance.

But I’ve always considered him as someone who’s gone a long way on very little talent.

And he did little to ingratiate himself when he shut down part of his business empire only to open again months later still owing angry creditors thousands.

So imagine my surprise when I found myself whole-heartedly agreeing with his spiteful comments about fellow TV chefs Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal being overrated.

Now we know about his long-standing spat with Ramsay – who described him as a “squashed Bee Gee”, and my favourite, “Ready Steady Twat”.

And I don’t want to waste any further words on the former World Cup-winning footballer, who I think gets more than his fair share of attention already.

But I can see what Wozza means when he calls him a “one-trick pony” without "any depth".

"If it hasn't got an F in it, it doesn't feature in his show," he snipes.

I’m far more interested in his words about Blumenthal, who usually manages to duck out of celebrity chef spats by being nice about everyone in his tediously bland way.

"Heston loves his food, don't get me wrong,” says AWT (and you know there’s a but coming...there’s always a but...)

“But some of those egg-and-bacon ice creams, beetroot jellies where it's coloured orange...it's a gimmick. It's theatrics.

"Everyone will look back in ten years' time and be horrified – even Heston to some extent."

Sadly, I know it will take more than a German chef blowing his hands off to spell the end of molecular gastronomy and nitrogen cooking, or a rant by a squashed Bee Gee. But that’s exactly how I feel...as I’ve blogged about in the past...click here for more.

But one final note. Why can’t Heston - a kick-boxing, former debt collector apparently named after a motorway service station (yeah right) – emerge from Ramsay’s protective cape and put the boot in for once?

Childish, I know, but I can’t wait for someone to call him Willy Wanker.

5 comments:

neil said...

I agree to a degree. But I think its over simplified by merely saying it's a fad and writing it off. Most things we do day to day are fads. What we wear, what we are entertained by and laugh at, what we eat, how we style our hair, how we construct our cities and even the bulk of the jobs we do.
So it's right to say that in ten years or so we will all look back and maybe be embarrassed by some of it. To say you don't means you are either
(a) A liar
or
(b) The Fonz
But if what he does should become unfashionable at any point what you are left with is still a very talented chef with an unwavering passion and dedication to his craft who will no doubt adapt appropriately.

Likewise with Gordon. Yes he's made some mistakes and yes he went over the top with his expansion plans and got caught up in his own self promotional bollocks. But once you strip down all the marketing and bad decisions and things that with his success many others would have done in his place, what your left with again is a great talent and an extremely passionate and dedicated individual.

So if he's a one trick pony, what the hell does that make Antony Worral Twatface ? A lame donkey ?

Whether or not there is an ounce of truth to either if his statements he's not in any position to be saying anything right now. Why people are even interviewing him for his opinion is puzzling to me.

theundergroundrestaurant said...

Well I wrote my opinion about this sometime ago...You can learn from molecular cooking but it will look as embarassing as nouvelle cuisine in a couple of years...
http://marmitelover.blogspot.com/2009/03/molecular-gastronomy.html

Gordon Ramsay's tweet stream is ridiculous...an f word in every tweet. Clearly it's not him, it's a PR, but swearing does not equal personality.
Heston is only following two people back on twitter...Jamie Oliver (who doesn't do his own tweets) and Gordon Ramsay. It's saying that there are only two people in the world that I consider to be on my level.
It's a complete misunderstanding of Twitter. It's only an effective PR tool if you communicate, share, are democratic, are genuinely interested in what other people have to say.

Pete said...

I don't see what's wrong with 'theatrics'. I don't go to eat in restaurants just for the food, I go for an experience, to be surprised, entertained even. If I get an added-value experience then the restaurant has scored on two levels. I'd rather that kind of entertainment than a bow-tied man playing 'Yesterday' on the piano in the corner

Personally I think AWT is jealous that Heston and his team have a bit more creativity than he does. I can certainly tell you that eating at the Fat Duck was far more memorable than eating at Notting Grill, even if the Bee Gee did sign my menu for me.

I think all chefs should be encouraged to experiment with form, texture and colour, whether in re-interpreting classic dishes or inventing new ones. This is what moves cooking on. It is the term 'molecular gastronomy' that will die, mainly because it will be become clear that we are all 'molecular cooks' and that we have all been cooking 'scientifically' without actually appreciating it. Now, will someone pass me the sodium chloride...

Anonymous said...

Took me time to read the whole article, the article is great but the comments bring more brainstorm ideas, thanks.

- Johnson

Anonymous said...

Anthony Worrall is a walking mess. Anything he has to say about anything should be listened to then laughed at.