June 20, 2012

Meet Nadia G. And The Baron



















If you have no idea who either one of these characters are, don't fret. Hopefully, by the end of this post, you'll want to see for yourself what all the talk is about.

The lady on the left is Nadia G, host and creator of the show "Nadia G.'s Bitchin' Kitchen". The gentleman on the right with the raised eyebrow goes by Baron Ambrosia. He is the host of "The Culinary Adventures of Baron Ambrosia". These two have a few things in common besides being the topic of this post. First, both of their shows can be seen on The Cooking Channel. Second, both shows had their humble beginnings as series' on the web. Thirdly, without a doubt, these have to be the most unique and creative food shows on the air right now and possibly ever. They really are something you have to see to believe.

Since I believe in ladies going first, we are gonna talk about Bitchin' Kitchen. The show will start off like many cooking shows do. She will start each show by explaining the inspiration behind the meals being prepared in the episode. The inspiration could be something like preparing dinner for the in-laws to cooking on a meager students income. And that is where the show stops being like all the other shows.

Once the show gets going, you can quickly see this isn't your average cooking show. From the bright colors of the set to the high heels she's got on, there's a lot coming at you visually. And it doesn't stop with her, in the most literal of terms. She isn't the only character on the show. She is joined by a trio of guys to help explain some of the ingredients being used in finer detail. Here they are:

From left to right we have Panos, Hans, and the spice agent. Panos is the meat and fish guy. Hans is the food correspondent and usually has no shirt on and explains the heath benefits of certain foods. The Spice Agent talks about......SPICES! Never would have seen that comin'!

What I forgot to mention earlier is that everyone on the show is CRAZY! From Nadia to the three stooges pictured above, all of them are a bit nuts. And it's that insanity which makes the show hilarious.

The food isn't bad at all. I think it is about par with a lot of the other shows out there. I do like that she uses raw sugar in place of regular granulated. But, to be honest, It's not the food that brings me back. It's all the characters and quirkiness of the show that has me looking forward to each episode.

Now for the Baron.

If I had to compare this show to any other show out there, it would be Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. He doesn't actually cook anything himself. He visits small local eateries showing what any tourist would probably never see. And that's where the similarities end. The Baron's show is more like a sitcom than a cooking show. There is a plot to each episode, along with some fairly bad acting. But that's ok! The show is meant to be campy.

The show is unique in that food just happens to be there. If you take out the food, it would still be a show. There's that much going on in each episode.

One of things I like about this show is his weird sense of humor. One episode, he was given a food that he was told was an aphrodisiac. After tasting it, he responded "This is the type of food I would have before a date....with an entire harem.". That's the kinda shit I'm talkin' about!

There are also a couple other things I really like about him and his show. First is that he reps the bronx to the fullest. I can respect that. Second, he always gets a lot of black and brown faces on his show. He is all about ethnic flavors. I absolutely love that. You'll see more black faces in one episode of his show than you will see all day on Food Network.

Here's a trailer for his show before it got started.

Now check out Nadia G doin' her thang.

All in all, both shows at least deserve a look. I like 'em. Some people can't stand 'em. It's really your personal taste. Honestly though, how many times can we hear "My take on a classic" at the start of a cooking show and not feel like we've seen that a million times? While these two shows may not be the prototype of future cooking shows, I believe that they are gonna open up the doors for creativity in the cooking show realm. If the web can spawn these two delights as well as other hits like Epic Meal Time, I think the future of food television is headed for big things.

J. Miller

I claim no ownership of the pictures presented in this post. All pictures were found online through google search.

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