No Semi in Sandra Lee–She’s Real
Posted on March 21, 2007 by Gary McCarty
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I usually hate the [tag]Food Network[/tag] series called “Chefography” because, basically, who cares that these chefs went off to Europe to study here and there for pennies and came back to open their own restaurants and become Iron Chefs and millionaires?
In the case of [tag]Sandra Lee[/tag], whom I had always figured to be some privileged woman who just stepped into the Food TV biz like Ina Garten and Giada DiLaurentiis, I was flat wrong, however.
This woman had a childhood to rival almost anyone’s in hardship and tragedy. She was basically reared by her grandmother because her twice-married mother pretty much bailed out emotionally and physically.
Eventually, she founded on a shoestring a company called Kurtain Kraft, which used these simple hooks to create fluffy, wavy curtains–and which made her millions.
Tired of that, she returned to her cooking roots from when she cared for her stepsisters and stepbrothers when her mother was incapacitated–and had to do the food preparation on food stamps. She was 11 years old at the time, pretty amazing.
Thus was developed the concept of “Semi-Homemade Cooking”–using 70 percent ready-made ingredients with 30 percent fresh ingredients. I find her recipes interesting and practical, but if I’m going to cook, I want to experiment on my own (though I too rely on ready-made ingredients, even roux in a jar!). Nonetheless, she’s found a formula that connects with her audience, and that’s really all that matters. More millions.
Hats off to Sandra Lee for being a survivor and being a determined achiever. I’m not sure I can find those traits so evident in [tag]Bobby Flay[/tag] or [tag]Emeril Lagasse[/tag]. Maybe they struggled a bit, but food stamps–I doubt it very much.
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