YumSugar

Does Mario Have Beef With Gordon Ramsay?

YumSugar — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:15:23 -0800

It seems that Tyler Florence and Andrew Zimmern aren't the only ones to have a public feud. They're in the company of Mario Batali and Gordon Ramsay, who reportedly aren't getting along. According to Page Six, Batali banned the Hell's Kitchen host from entering any of his restaurants after Ramsay began calling him "Fanta Pants" behind his back to make fun of the orange shorts that Batali often sports. The Italian chef told the Guardian, "I've banned him from my restaurants. Ramsay's people call, trying to book tables, and I say no. I won't have him in there." The feud allegedly goes back more than a year, when Batali first dissed Ramsay's food as dull and outdated and declared that the UK chef didn't get New York.

Here's the catch: New York magazine's Grub Street, skeptical of the feud, recently put Batali's claims to the test and discovered that Ramsay isn't exactly getting turned away from Batali's restaurants after all. A magazine intern, posing as an assistant for Ramsay, managed to get reservations for at least three of Batali's restaurants right away.

What do you think of this brouhaha? Are you on Team Mario or Team Gordon? And did Batali really ban Ramsay, or do you simply think this feud is one huge publicity stunt?

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Tyler Florence and Andrew Zimmern's Public Feud

partysugar — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:00:19 -0800

Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern doesn't like Tyler Florence and he's not afraid to publicly express his disgust for the Food Network chef. Last week on his personal blog, Zimmern said in a discussion of Ryan Seacrest's reality show, Momma's Boys:

Monday’s episode featured the worlds least talented TV chef, Tyler Florence, once again churning out the questionable cooking advice and the leading the ladies through a menu of the Moms fave recipes. Watching Florence wolf down the food, stare and ogle every ass that strolled by his cutting board and play the role of local TV stud was high comedy of the highest order.

To find out what Florence had to say about ZImmern, read more. Florence's quick response was posted on his Facebook account:

Normally I have pretty thick skin when it comes to blogs and what people think. It is a free country after all, But this guy Andrew Zimmern, the guy who eats dried camel cock for a living, has decided to dis my life's work because I did, my personal friend, Ryan Seacrest, a favor and helped him out with his first big television production, "Momma's Boy's" It was a big hit for NBC and something I had a fun time doing. It's bubble gum reality, who cares. It was funny. I guess it hard to have a since of humor when you're on your 10th take of eating Yak testicles, smiling to the camera, wondering where your life went wrong......... mmmmm, Delicious! Go get'em guys. Let's put an end to Chef on Chef violence in '09.

I think it's interesting how Florence asks for an end to chef feuding after he violently disses Zimmern. What do you think of the battle? Who do you side with: Zimmern or Florence?

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Ben and Jerry's vs. Haagen-Dazs: A Pint-Sized Battle

partysugar — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:15:05 -0700

There's been some heated public debates between competing brands. The latest two companies to join the feuding? Ice cream giants Haagen-Dazs and Ben and Jerry's. To pay for the high costs of natural and top-quality ingredients, Haagen-Dazs has reduced the size of its pints from 16 to 14 ounces. Despite the decrease in packaging, Haagen-Dazs still calls its container a "pint." Ben and Jerry's is highly offended by this "downright wrong" move, and pledged, in a statement, to provide consumers the same quantity and quality in its product:

One of our competitors (think funny-sounding European name) recently announced they will be downsizing their pints from 16 to 14 ounces to cover increased ingredient and manufacturing costs and help improve their bottom line. We understand that in today's hard economic times businesses are feeling the pinch. We also understand that many of you are also feeling the same, and think now more than ever you deserve your full pint of ice cream.

While I understand that many brands are shrinking their products, I have to side with Ben and Jerry's; it's not fair to call something a pint when it's not one. How do you feel about the debate?

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