The man has been gone for a long time, but he's still stirring up controversy.The AFP reports that a Belgian cooking show, one that details the favorite foods of famous people, is pulling an episode of their program that covers Adolph Hitler's favorite meal, after news of the episode incited backlash and controversy. Flemish chef Jeroen Meus went to Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" hideaway in Southern Germany to cook the "meal of an atrocious man" -- a trout dish served with a butter sauce.
The use of "atrocious" doesn't seem to have been enough for the community, and the show has been condemned for "presenting Hitler as a simple man of the people," and also presenting him "without any historical context." Meanwhile, the network says that it "meant to put him 'in the right context,' adding that the chef also addressed Hitler's anti-Semitic policies."
Speaking as someone who almost didn't exist because of Hitler, I don't see an issue with television show discussing his favorite meal, unless the delivery of this information was callous or inappropriate. It's not like we're talking about people who hoped to "tell people we are different in the way he [Hitler] was different."
But what do you think?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-27-2008 @ 7:19PM
wolde said...
It's hard to find fault with what the chef on the show did or said. As a Jew, I take no offense at any of what he did. If, as the column states he commented on Hitler's evil nature, then what else could anyone ask of him. Showing Hitler's meal is a matter of historical curiousity, nothting more.
The interesting thing to me is that I thought Hitler was a vegetarian and the meal he liked was trout.
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10-27-2008 @ 7:22PM
Dean said...
As a Jew, I find that the young chef did nothing offensive at all, and can't understand the mindset of those who are raising a fuss. According to the article, he spoke about Hitler's evil character. What else is needed.
What's interesting is that apparently Hitler's favorite dish was trout; I thought he was vegetarian. Go figure.
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10-27-2008 @ 8:05PM
lizandrsn said...
The foods of famous people is one thing. Why do we have to know what Hitler ate? Did they run out of other people to feature? I just don't care to have this trivial knowledge.
What's next? Cannibalism? Count me out.
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10-27-2008 @ 9:51PM
Liz said...
And I'm w/Dean. I always thought he was a vegetarian. If not Vegan.
I agree, I'm appalled by what Hitler did and stood for. But what I've read about the show they covered he was not a good guy. They were just saying he liked this dish. They show all kinds of shows about him anyway, why not what he liked to eat. That is the least of why people should get mad.
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10-27-2008 @ 11:59PM
Unknown said...
As a dual major student that is nearly finished his degree in German I have watched many German movies about WWII in various German classes. The Germans, from my experience, have created many movies dealing with Hitler and they seem to accept that dark period in the history of the country.
I see nothing wrong with studying evil men in a historical context. If Hitler liked trout with butter sauce, thats fine with me. I would like to try it. I would b interested to know if the people that raised concerned are Jewish. It doesn't appear anti-semitic in motive.
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10-28-2008 @ 1:19AM
verdegrrl said...
Even evil people have ordinary wants sometimes. So long as the show didn't try to ignore the evil aspect (which apparently they didn't), isn't it better to know evil can be ordinary?
Would it be better to say he preferred jellied orphan brains or pretend he didn't exist at all? History forgotten, repeats itself. Better to know that even tyrants can be simple in their domestic comforts. It reminds us that guys who like apple pie or jelly beans, still have the capacity for evil.
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10-30-2008 @ 3:51PM
foxdude0486 said...
Being Polish with past relatives that went through the whole ordeal, I see no problem with the cooking show showing this dish. It's not like having an "evil" person that ate good dishes is making the bad person look good. Not like they presented his favorite meal as "Roast heart of a Jewish boy."
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