"pbs" news and stories

If you bemoan the programming on the Food Network the way I bemoan the programming on the Food Network, then you'll be happy to know that Martin Yan, whom I kind of consider one of the godfathers of TV cooking, is going to be back on the screen on PBS.

The new show, called Martin Yan's China, is a far cry from the kind of show that the chef did 30 years ago. Back then, soy sauce was an exotic ingredient that was hard to find and Yan was simply introducing American audiences to the idea that Chinese food can be made at home. Today, soy sauce is almost a staple, so newness on the show comes from Chef Yan's travels to China and introductions into specific schools of Chinese cuisine.

I can't wait.

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Wow, now here's a blast from the past.

I remember watching Chef Tell (Paul Erhardt) on television in the 70s, 80s and 90s, on such shows as Evening Magazine, Live with Regis & Kathie Lee, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, and his own PBS cooking show, In The Kitchen With Chef Tell. This was after Julia but before Emeril, one of the very first celebrity chefs (and he really was a chef, becoming a Master Chef before age 30) that everyone knew.

Erhardt died of heart failure in Upper Black Addy, PA. He was 63 and had just completed his last book, about diabetic cooking.

Remember that show on the FoodNetwork in which Mario Batali and a sidekick toured Italy? Well, this October and November, Mario is taking his orange clogs for a culinary tour of Spain. His sidekick this time, though, is actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

According to an interview with Gwyneth in W magazine (the one with the cover shot where she most definitely doesn't look like herself), she offered to go with the Iron Chef, who asked if she was joking. She wasn't. Gwyneth spent many a childhood summer in Spain, and apparently, will "eat all that stuff. The crazy fish things, the eels." The only things she won't eat are beef and pork products, which is such a shame. How do you go to Spain and not eat Jamon Iberico?

I don't know about you, but I'm excited for the show to air on PBS. Gwyneth's voice is a little annoying to me, but I adore Chef Batali.

[via: TVSquad]

• A new twist on the classic banana cake.
• We told you last week about Alison Arnett leaving the Globe. Here's a look at her favorite restaurants and an essay on what it's like to be a food critic.
• PBS will profile 27 chefs in a new show.
• A lawyer quits her job and now makes gluten-free desserts.
• Harvard is going to Pete & Gerry's Organic Eggs.
• This week's recipes: Individual Pizzas, Granola, Chicken Adobo, Pink and Brown Parfait, and Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Scientists around the world are working to develop a reliable process that will grow meat in a lab from a few cells. So far, they have successfully grown meat tissue that, while it smells like meat, neither looks nor tastes very much like the real thing. The process has only been done on a small scale and the results resemble jelly. Flesh colored jelly. To get an idea of what this product currently looks like, take a look at PBS's virtual taste test, which compares the properties of lab meat to animal meat.

Scientists hope to see this jelly develop into something that looks and tastes like the cuts of meat that can be achieved from butchering a cow - without having to kill the cow and with the added benefit of being able to grow the meat at home in an incubator. Achieving this goal would nearly eliminate the need for animals in meat production and reduce the total energy and expense required to feed, raise, slaughter and transport those animals.

Meat from a non-sentient source presents an interesting problem for vegetarians, as many become vegetarians for ethical reasons alone, objecting to the practice of raising animals for slaughter. Because the initial culture cells can be taken without harming the donor animal, no animals would be harmed in this type of meat production. In-home meat growth might also limit access to truly natural meat, which may raise concerns of those who are against artificial and otherwise modified food products.

There is a short video segment available on the PBS website about cultured meat and a poll which reveals that 45% of respondents would eat the artificially grown meat. I can't honestly count myself among them.

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