Fed Up with Good Eating [+ Condiments]

This is my commentary on today's Tribune Good Eating section, which I think has hit an all time low:

There are 10 total pages. Fully 3.5 pages (or 35%) are Jewel, Dominick's, and Treasure Island ads. There are an additional 2+ pages of other advertisements, bringing the total ad space in the section to just over 55%.

The lead story is about ice cream cones. Something I enjoy eating occasionally for sure, but not something for which I care to have a historical perspective, nor do I plan to make my own 'lavender wafer cones' anytime soon.

The new food and wine reporter, Bill Daley, who by my recollection has been on the job now maybe four weeks, apparently has already run out of material. Because in this week's column on rose (a personal fave), his tasting panel was forced to endure Sutter Home White Zinfandel (from a box, no less) and Sutter Home 'White Cabernet Sauvignon'. What can we look forward to next week 'Battle of the Jugs'?

The Cheap Eats column decided to profile the newest and umpteenth-hundredth sushi bar in Chicago, and remarked that "the place seems undiscovered as most tables were empty". If I may paraphrase Gomer Pyle, "surprise, surprise, surprise!"

The Off the Shelf column reviewed a chocolate trowel filled with gummy worms, as well as another variety of the ubiquitous line of Barilla supermarket dried pastas. Why these products are worthy of ink, I'll never understand.

It bothers me a lot that in a city with such rich culinary diversity, our largest newspaper has taken such a McPaper approach to food and wine.

MikeK wrote:It bothers me a lot that in a city with such rich culinary diversity, our largest newspaper has taken such a McPaper approach to food and wine.

I really must agree with you, even though the Trib has at least a few knowledgeable people on the staff. The ads + junk to substance ratio has gotten out of hand. The ice-cream cone analysis reminds me of all that junk food programming that has taken over the Food Network. As with the stuff itself, a little of this 'info' is good, a lot is not.

One thing in this week's Good Eating section that I found interesting was the little piece by Maes on the Assyrian owned Heavenly Sweets Bakery in Skokie.

On the other hand, the Barilla notice in the Off the Shelf column is an embarrassment. First off, this brand is utterly pedestrian, American-made pasta; the only aspect of it that's imported is the name and so the marketing of the brand as 'Italy's number 1 pasta' is, to put it simply, misleading and dishonest. But, pace Ms. Enna and her enthusiasm for Barilla's "'Rigati' (ridged) line of pasta", the concept of spaghetti rigati strikes me as little more than a fairly stupid marketing trick, which unfortunately means it has a chance for success.

A

his tasting panel was forced to endure Sutter Home White Zinfandel (from a box, no less)

They should change the name to Cheap Drinks. Or maybe Cheap Drunks.

And, at the same time, the Tribune's sister paper, the LA Times, produces one of the best food sections in the country.

Where's the knowledge transfer???


http://www.latimes.com/features/food/?track=mainnav-food

And, at the same time, the Tribune's sister paper, the LA Times, produces one of the best food sections in the country.

Where's the knowledge transfer???

I recall when the Trib purchased the LA Times, there was a lot of speculation about the food section. At the time, Sun-Times was, and maybe still is, heavily using food articles from LA Times. I don't read the Sun-Times, but if the contractual arrangements are still intact, then it may be one reason why Chicago Tribune doesn't use their articles.

OF course, the Chicago Tribune is one of a handful of newspapers who has a test kitchen in the country. There could well be a territorial issue going on. As long as the editor's keep winning awards from professional forums, then there isn't likely to be much change.

Cathy2 -

At the very least, I'd expect that the Chicago Tribune's food editor can look to the west to see how a Tribune-owned paper can produce a successful food section.

At the very least, I'd expect that the Chicago Tribune's food editor can look to the west to see how a Tribune-owned paper can produce a successful food section.

You are assuming they believe they are less than successful ... I suggest they may believe they're the cat's pajamas; a regular king of the hill.

Gosh, I don't know but if I were them, I would always be looking for new ideas and emulating good ones when I see them. Sometimes creativity is keeping your eyes wide open to new ideas.

Full disclosure: I am not on the staff of the Tribune. I have no idea what they think. I just guess like the rest of us.

This is veering ever more off-topic (as to the topic, I agree), but I heard a story about the Trib and the LA Times (i.e., the old Times-Mirror Corp) the other day on the radio. There's been a fair amount of pressure between the merged entities. One has a great deal more journalist cred, the other makes a lot more money.

Rob

Mike K

I am glad you started this thread, because I was having similar thoughts this morning.

I pay for a copy of the NYT to get their Dining In/Out Section, for the Trib, I read it only if someone has thrown it away on the train.

I can even buy the advertising to content ratio, but for crying out loud, the front page of the section has a 14x12 photo of ice cream cones and only 5 inches of column content.....WHICH IS ABOUT A FACTORY IN PENNSYLVANIA. WTH, doesn't the Midwest produce anything? At least if you are not filling the space with content, then make some money on it. Is this some tired old theory that people won't read the Food Section unless there is a huge picture on the front.

Come on Trib...there are hundreds of producers in the midwest that deserve some ink. There are also quite a few potential subscribers that would like to purchase from these producers....and if you major advertisers don't understand that we look to them for distribution or at least for side dishes to go along with an artisnal product, then you ad people just are not selling the right story.

I am going to send Ms. Haddix a note asking her to read this thread at

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=602



Send your comments to her today, a copy of this is going:

Carol Mighton Haddix, editor
Good Eating, Room 500
Chicago Tribune
435 N. Michigan Ave.
CHicago, IL 60611

ctc-goodeating@tribune.com

My wife has been out of town all week since last Thursday. I have six Chicago Tribune papers, still wrapped in their plastic bags that have not been opened. No, not even Sunday's paper.

There was a time 20+ years ago where I took the one hour bus ride to the downtown Cincinnati Library weekly to read the newspapers from around the country. A lot of great ones.

What has changed?

1) The internet makes nearly every paper available in real time. Today's paper is yesterday's newspapers.

2) 24 hour newstalk, sportstalk, etc.

3) Great radio programming like KFI-AM - (www.kfi640.com) which features the Two Hot Tamales and a number of great cooking shows.

4) The newspaper seems to be more and more advertising with a few AP articles thrown in. Where are the reporters?

5) Too much tenure. How many good YOUNG columnists are there? Darn few.

6) The Chicago Tribune has been a major disappointment to me. The quality of the writing - down to the number of grammatical mistakes - is appalling for the major newpaper in the Midwest.

7) I buy the Tribune 65 miles outside of Chicago. Most of the ads that I get in the food section are for places 45-65 miles away. believe it or not, I am not going to run into the city to buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts from Treasure Island for $1.99/lb. when there are many better, closer, and cheaper alternatives in this area.

I don't think the food section is all that great. I do not think that they EVER have a good recipe that is low-fat.

I also sent a copy of my critique to Ms. Mighton Haddix earlier this morning.

I guess I'm more forgiving: the short items were interesting (some eggplant info responding to a reader, uhhhh there was something else I read and enjoyed)... but overall, the trib's food articles are at least readable, compared to their tech and science. I swear there's an editor who goes through the articles crossing out anything with more than two syllables in a science story, and don't get me started over Jim Coates' computing advice.

Vital Information wrote:I heard a story about the Trib and the LA Times (i.e., the old Times-Mirror Corp) the other day on the radio. There's been a fair amount of pressure between the merged entities. One has a great deal more journalist cred, the other makes a lot more money.

Rob

I heard the same piece on NPR recently. The skinny is that the acquisition of the LA Times by the Tribune company has produced more rivalry than synergies. The LA Times won five Pulitzer Prizes this year but is losing money. The Trib, on the other hand, is profitable and is clearly becoming the model for the LA Times as they annouced some 400 lay-offs. Here's the link to the NPR story:
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1971941

You are assuming they believe they are less than successful ... I suggest they may believe they're the cat's pajamas; a regular king of the hill.

Perhaps the Tribune should look to a barometer shuch as the Beard awards or some other nationally recognized critique, award.

During the last three years (since 2002), the LA Times has won four Beards and received nominations (but didn't win) for three others. During the same timeframe the Tribune won one Beard award (Kristin Eddy in 2002 for her series on spices.

Of course, that's not to say that the Beard award is a fail-safe barometer, but just a good indicator.

Some of the recipes in the "Good Eating" section are so bad that I have have nicknamed it the "Good Far*ing" section.

I think the spelling errors crept in when they went electronic a few years back. I don't know what they use for layout program, but you would think it would have a spell checker or a proofreader. Almost every article has typos.

Antonius wrote: . . the Barilla notice in the Off the Shelf column is an embarrassment. First off, this brand is utterly pedestrian, American-made pasta; the only aspect of it that's imported is the name and so the marketing of the brand as 'Italy's number 1 pasta' is, to put it simply, misleading and dishonest.

I guess I'm a little confused by this, since I thought Barilla was an Italian company, headquartered in Parma. I do know that they built a factory in Ames, Iowa about 6 years ago, but according to Forbes it seems the economic purpose was two-fold 1.) to bring a production facility closer to their second largest market, the U.S., and 2.) to bring a locus of production closer to their best source of durum semolina, which they found in western Arizona. Prior to that, they'd actually been importing North American wheat into Italy, to supply their only factory at the time outside of Parma.

FWIW, I think Barilla is a pretty good everyday pasta.
Alfonso

Alfonso XIV wrote:

Antonius wrote:I guess I'm a little confused by this, since I thought Barilla was an Italian company, headquartered in Parma. I do know that they built a factory in Ames, Iowa about 6 years ago, but according to Forbes it seems the economic purpose was two-fold 1.) to bring a production facility closer to their second largest market, the U.S., and 2.) to bring a locus of production closer to their best source of durum semolina, which they found in western Arizona. Prior to that, they'd actually been importing North American wheat into Italy, to supply their only factory at the time outside of Parma.

FWIW, I think Barilla is a pretty good everyday pasta.
Alfonso

I wouldn't say it's bad pasta and, in a pinch, if I couldn't get one of the good Italian brands, I would buy it, but I think it's definitely a cut below such readily available imported brands such as Divella, La Molisana and DeCecco, not to mention the artisanal sorts or supremely outstanding (small) factory brands such as Giuseppe Coco. But I would add that in Italy, Barilla is just good, basic pasta and there too I would rather buy stuff manufacured by better makers, the majority of which are in places no further north than the Abruzzi.

I do think they're sort of a fraud or at least misleading, because they push the idea that it's an Italian brand but it isn't made there. I'm hesitant to say too much here, pending further investigation and confirmation, but I know someone (very well) who knows someone who manufactures pasta on the east coast and does so now for Barilla. Nothing special about it; just different dies to cut the stuff. When I heard that, it confirmed what my palate had previously detected; it wasn't Italian pasta. But I'll look into it further.

A

I posted the exact same rant a few months ago on Chowhound about the Trib (hmm, and think it got moved by the moderators for being off-topic; thanks LTH).

And I agree about pdaane about the NYT food section. This week, a great article about wines from Puglia (most of which are not available in the Chicago area, unfortunately, but that's another Chicago-Wine-Distributor-as-Godlike-Marketing-Force thread), a well-researched story on raspberry farming and genetics, and a great little story on a man with a Hot Doug's-like fervor for pizza. Unfortunatley in Phoenix, but a good read.

Anyone know where downtown you can pick up the LA Times Wednesday edition?

The quality of the Trib has always been a sore subject for me being a transplanted New Yorker. What particularly bugs me, in the context of the food sections, is that the Trib's Good Eating perpetuates the east coast view of midwesterners, even Chicagoans, as hicks. The difference between the wine articles is case in point. The New York Times also did a piece on roses yesterday, but nary a white zinfandel in site. I happen to like roses, they are a wonderful summer wine - perfect for an evening outside. There are fantastic roses from California, Spain, France, Italy, even South Africa that are unknown and inexpensive. Why in the world would the Trib be rating such a poor quality and overexposed wine like Sutter Home?

For those of you who enjoy reading other papers' food sections (or what we're missing out on here in Chicago...), the Saute Wednesday web site may be of interest. On the right hand side of the home page is a link to the web site of most major papers.

Personally, each week I also peruse the food sections of the NYT, SF Chronicle, LA Times and the Star Tribune (Twin Cities).

http://www.sautewednesday.com

Michael M. wrote:Anyone know where downtown you can pick up the LA Times Wednesday edition?

Downtown, no. But one of my favorite places in Chicago is City News, on Cicero just a few doors north of Irving Park, and they carry many, many out-of-town (and for that matter out-of-country) papers. Their Web site is http://www.citynewsstand.com -- as it notes, they also have another, slightly smaller, location in Evanston a few yards from the Main stop on the Purple line.

FWIW, I do think larger bookstores such as B&N and Borders sometimes carry out-of-town papers, so if you work near one, you might check with them.

Bob s., thanks. The newstand in Evanston only carries the LAT Sunday edition, but I could check some of the B&N or Borders chains as well. The Cicero location is, unfortunately, too out of the way for me to get there that often.

Just to add to the rants - there was a time when I subscribed to and read many newspapers, including at various times the Tribune, Sun Times, Daily News (rest in peace, that was a fun paper), USA Today (primarily for national sports info), Naperville Dumb, umm, Sun, and others. The household still subscribes to the Trib and the Sun, and I get the Wall Street Journal. I barely look at either o the locals. My home page is the New York Times, after having been the LA Times for a year, and Yahoo prior to that, and I truly enjoy being able to scan the NY Times real time. It does not cease to amaze me how quickly they post updates - within 10 minutes of something happening they manage to get pictures and copy on the site.

As to food writing, most of my in depth NY Times reading is that section. I get most of my news from WSJ and NPR. In general, most other sources present things in a dumbed down way that borders on insulting - okay, actually goes way over the border. I want facts, information I did not know already, and the opportunity to draw my own conclusions.

It should be kept in mind that the Tribune has never, ever, ever, really had any tradition of quality journalism. It was first and foremost a mouthpiece for the Colonel, and has remained true to that over time. Its success seems to spring from the fact that its approach is one that is comfortable for the politicians and businesses of the city, and so financial reward followed.

Anyway, I imagine that the only "readers" Carol cares about are those that also advertise in her section. Certainly not loonies on the Internet!

To end on a positive note - while most newspapers are pretty sad and trending downward (when did the San Francisco Chronicle go completely to hell, BTW - I can no longer even read that paper!), the availability of news and information on this here Internet thingie sure is great!!!

First off, as a long-time [now part-time] employe of the Tribune, I can assure you that the corporate philosophy is all about making money, not spending it. Spending money to pay or retain good reporters, or buy good equipment, isn't considered necessary as long as revenue projections are being met. If "Good Eating" is getting lots of ad inches, it must be a great food section.

BTW, "what's so funny about peace, love & understanding", a favorite line of mine, is actually from a Nick Lowe song that Elvis C. recorded. Nick wrote it as an ironic parody, Elvis C. made it an anthem.

Giovanna

Nick wrote it as an ironic parody, Elvis C. made it an anthem.

Thanks Giovanna, I have corrected that. Are you sure Elvis was not being ironic, as well? His delivery always had a force that Nick's did not, but he has seemed to maintain a certain ironic distance.

Anyway, it was just a progression, given the response my White Sox tag had drawn.

Glad to hear we share musical interests. I may work this vein for a while - perhaps more Elvis, Nick Lowe, or even Dave Edmunds or the Bay City Rollers

dicksond wrote:[ I may work this vein for a while - perhaps more Elvis

Well, for this thread: "I used to be disgusted. Now I try to be amused." ?

Was the SF Chronicle ever good? Not when I lived in the Bay Area in the 80s. But one thing I liked in their food section then was the Green Grocer column by Joe Carcione (now deceased). It was a very straightforward column: what was coming into season, what was at its peak, what variety of tangerine or persimmon or whatnot to look for that week, a rough guide to typical prices. Useful and educational.

MAG wrote: Why in the world would the Trib be rating such a poor quality and overexposed wine like Sutter Home?

I had similiar thoughts to many above posters. I love learning about wine, and even though I would call myself an amateur, Mike Daley's wine choices were odd. I asked the same question as MAG. I think it was anwered by the full page ad on the back of that section. (Sutter Home wines on sale at the grocery store!!)

After writing this, I heard from Mike Daley. He is right, I made an incorrect assumption and in doing so I implied questionable ethics. He informed me that columns are written in advance. My observation reflects an advertising coincidence. Now, let's all toast to a wet and wonderful weekend. Cheers!

One of the reasons I love the internet is the terrific input from discussions groups like this!

I thought I was slipping into seniority or just living too long because it seemed like millennia since I'd discovered ANYTHING new in either food section....

Maybe it's our own fault for becoming far too reliant on "convenience" foods....
Growing up, my mom rarely cooked anything that didn't need to be cleaned & prepped to make it fit for consumption. Frozen vegetables were a RARE occurrance on our table, partly because Maman was a child of The Depression & frozen veggies were deemed expensive & extravagant!
And I can't imagine her ever paying extra for a boneless chicken breast. I don't think I ever ate chicken that didn't have a bone in it. At a picnic recently, I witness the horror of a friend's 8 YEAR OLD upon encountering a piece of homemade fried chicken that had bones in it. Seems he'd only met up with nuggets & tenders & hadn't a clue.

So, with the confluence of convenience items, less prep time was involved & more & more people just either got out of the habit, or never learned the difference between "cooking" a meal out of ingredients and "assembling" a meal out of packages. Notice the proliferation of 'cooking for idiots' programs on The Food Network.

The Trib food section is pretty lame, but it's aces above the Sun-Times. How many times have you seen a 'recipe' involving seasoning a chicken breast & sauteeing it (with vegetables)...and....Voila! It's edible!

The best, though, has always been the Swap Shop requests: "I'm looking for a recipe for a chicken casserole that uses a can of cream of celery soup, mushrooms, white wine and garlic powder. I think it's topped with cheese. Does anybody have one?"

Yeah, Einstein. I think YOU do.....

I'm getting old.......

zaphod wrote:The best, though, has always been the Swap Shop requests: "I'm looking for a recipe for a chicken casserole that uses a can of cream of celery soup, mushrooms, white wine and garlic powder. I think it's topped with cheese. Does anybody have one?"

Zaphod, I don't read the ST, but this gave me a good chuckle this morning.

In c-hound recently there was a thread about food memories, and many people responded. At my least reading, most everyone's favorite food from childhood was an item like you described: prepackaged, frozen, a pour-soup-over-it casserole, etc.

Interesting, huh? Possibly that particular c-hound board is skewed towards those born in the 60's-70's?

It's certainly a reflection of how ubiquitous those canned mushroom soup recipes were then. Before my recent trip to Wichita my mother in law offered to make us her famous Mushroom Magnifique one night. I replied, "If you don't want us to come just say so, you don't have to threaten us."