BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!

Subject: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 15 May 05 - 02:15 AM

I have never seen any of his programmes as we cannot get any Brit TV over here. But having read this I can only think of the man as a a total waste of space. I am not a vegitarian but I am very aware from living and working overseas of always asking what people can eat.

Is this man a complete idiot? Nor can I see how he did not know as the programme producers claim. Pity the poor victim did not lump him.

Ramsay's pizza joke outrages vegetarians
By Roya Nikkhah
(Filed: 15/05/2005)

Gordon Ramsay, a chef almost as famous for his four-letter outbursts in the kitchen as for his food, has sparked outrage after feeding meat to a vegetarian in his new television show.

The programme was filmed for the second series of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, which will be broadcast later this month on Channel 4.

   
Gordon Ramsay: 'Good luck with the Vegemite!'
In the first episode, which coincidentally will be shown during National Vegetarian Week, Ramsay invites passers-by to sample pizzas at La Lanterna, a struggling Italian -restaurant in Letchworth, Hertfordshire.

One of the volunteers who agrees to take part says that he has been a vegetarian for eight years. Ramsay replies that the restaurant's chefs have prepared a vegetarian pizza and gives him one to try. After the volunteer - identified only as "Bob" - has eaten the pizza, Ramsay tells him: "Unfortunately, that pizza has got a lot of mozzarella and tomatoes, but underneath all that there is parma ham."

The vegetarian complains to Ramsay that he has played a "mean" trick on him, but Ramsay jokes that he "hasn't come out in a big rash". He is then filmed laughing at the man and asking him if he would like some more, while telling the restaurant's chefs that they have "converted a vegetarian". As the volunteer hurries out of the restaurant, Ramsay calls out after him, "Good luck with the Vegemite!"

The incident has infuriated vegetarians, who have denounced Ramsay's actions as offensive and unethical. Tina Fox, the chief executive of the Vegetarian Society, said: "I am amazed that Gordon Ramsay can find the discomfort of a fellow human being so amusing.

"It can be deeply upsetting for vegetarians to find they have eaten any part of an animal in error. Would Gordon find it equally amusing if an anaphylactic customer died at the table due to eating nuts?"

Rose Elliot, the award-winning vegetarian food writer, called Ramsay's behaviour "outrageous" and said that she would no longer visit his restaurants.

Dave Spikey, the actor who stars in Channel 4's comedy series Phoenix Nights, who has been a vegetarian for more than 20 years, said: "I find it extraordinary that anyone could have so little respect and regard for other people's sincerely held moral beliefs and ethical choices."

Leading chefs were also critical. Tom Aikens, the chef-patron of the eponymous restaurant in Chelsea, said: "People often choose to be vegetarians for serious dietary or religious reasons. To feed them meat is unnecessary, unkind and certainly not funny."

Heston Blumenthal, the owner of the Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, said: "If someone decides not to eat meat they have made that decision for a reason and it should be respected."

Alex Scott, the owner and head chef at La Lanterna, said that the vegetarian in question appeared distressed after the incident: "I did feel a bit sorry for the guy as he ran out of the restaurant looking very sick and pale. Gordon fell about laughing and I think it made his night, as he's not known for his liking of -vegetarians. I think Gordon just forgot to tell him the pizza had parma ham in it, but he definitely knew because he oversaw us making it and discussed the ingredients with us."

A Channel 4 spokesman said: "We believe this was a genuine mistake and that Gordon Ramsay did not deliberately set out to give meat to a vegetarian."

In an interview to promote the BBC's Comic Relief programme in 2003, Ramsay was asked what had been his most recent lie, to which he replied: "To a table of vegetarians who had artichoke soup. I told them it was made with vegetable stock when it was chicken stock."

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 May 05 - 02:38 AM

What a jerk.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Sooz
Date: 15 May 05 - 04:22 AM

It isn't uncommon. This is why we don't risk eating out except in a dedicated vegetarian restaurant.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 May 05 - 04:30 PM

Well, having seen just one of his programmes, I'm surprised anyone actually wants to work with him. He is rude, ungrateful and overbearing. If I'd had to be sous chef under him, he'd have ended up with the knife between his ribs. It's time he was put back to washing up and working his way back up from the bottom, maybe that might change his attitude to his employees whom he treats little better than slaves.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,smiler
Date: 16 May 05 - 12:14 AM

If I am eating in a restaurant, I explain that I am allergic to meat products, rather than say I am a vegetarian. They know then that if they put any meat/derivatives in my meal, I could sue the arse off them should I fall ill.

Yes if Ramsey doesn't respect vegetarians, he doesn't respect anyone else who eats in his restaurant, let alone what he cooks. He is unprofessional. Don't eat there.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Peace
Date: 16 May 05 - 12:18 AM

Regardless of the vegetarian's reasons for being a vegetarian, Ramsey had no business doing that. I don't know why the word asshole comes to mind.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: open mike
Date: 16 May 05 - 01:44 AM

cuz assholes is what they put in hot dogs, and sausages, among other things.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: shepherdlass
Date: 16 May 05 - 06:12 AM

And this is the man who spewed when someone fed him a dodgy scallop. Like all bullies, he doesn't like it when he gets the same treatment he dishes out to others. It's time he grew up and learned a Michelin star doesn't necessarily make you a good person.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 16 May 05 - 06:16 AM

True! I've got FOUR Michelin tyres on my van, and I'm still a total arsehole.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,Blowzabella at work
Date: 16 May 05 - 07:51 AM

Scuse me for asking, and I'm not out to defend Gordon Ramsey by any stretch of the imagination but, in principle, doesn't this thread fall into the same category as one not so long ago about a performer at at recent festival who misbehaved? Will someone come along sooner or later and say that, if Gordon gave a vegetarian meat to eat, he must have had a good reason for it and people should have a taste of his food before they go slagging him off.....he is an artist, after all, and they are sensitive types......

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,smiler
Date: 16 May 05 - 08:06 AM

An artist disrespects themself, if they don't respect other people.

However someone who knocks a meal together is not exactly an artist.

I like to think I can cook a good curry, but wouldn't call it an art.

Ramsey got lucky in his field.

Apart from that, I'd like to second the previous poster who implied he is an arsehole.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 16 May 05 - 08:31 AM

I suspect that Gordon Ramsey considers himself to be more of an artist than a pissed up, head butting folkie! He is also considerably richer no doubt. Good point Blowzabella.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST
Date: 16 May 05 - 09:15 AM

At least he doesn't head butt his customers. Any vegetarian who has eaten out at a restaurant that isnt a specialised veggie one, has had more than a whiff of animal, whether it be the stock/oil/pans/utensils/.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,jOhn
Date: 16 May 05 - 12:23 PM

I know someone who has worked with Gordon Ramsy, he said he's a total arseole.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Dave Masterson
Date: 18 May 05 - 10:48 AM

I'm afraid the Gordon Ramsay's of our world are the product of our contemporary society, which seems to think it OK for people to behave and speak in a boorish and foul-mouthed manner so long as they exhibit some apparent redeeming factor, such as being able to cook a decent meal, or kick a football into a goal with some regularity, and grant them celebrity status as a result.

I for one would not cross the street to dine at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant's, even if you paid me, not because I think he is not a good chef, which he most probably is, but simply because if find his behaviour so offensive. A few years back someone of his temperament would have quickly been shown the door by the media, and his restaurant's would soon have been empty. Nowadays he gets a TV series. I think we've lost the plot somewhere, don't you?

Today it is not only trendy to be foul-mouthed (and I am sad to say, some Mudcat contributors are no exception), but if you want to get to the top of the heap (dung-heap though it is) it seems to be compulsory, and those who find this sort of behaviour offensive are ridiculed and laughed at.

Having said that, I'm sure that underneath the arrogance, bad language and lack of respect, the real Gordon Ramsay is screaming to get out. I wonder what went wrong.

I feel we are all to blame to some extent, and we all need to clean up our act, because if we don't the Gordon Ramsay's and their ilk will continue to prosper.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 19 May 05 - 04:45 AM

Dave, I agree in all but one point. Indeed, foul language is "trendy" now - witness the appearance of the FUKC label and the FAQ-U TV programme. Or the language used in some of those pseudo-trendy programmes on Channel Four.

Where I disagree is that you're cutting Mr Ramsay some slack, as if his environment is forcing him to behave in such a manner. Sorry - I think THAT is the real Gordon Ramsay that we see, free of basic decency and free of inhibitions.

Others in his profession and of similar stature not only behave in a more civil manner, but also try to give back something from what fortune has bestowed upon them - Jamie Oliver is one such example, and there are plenty of others.

So, no excuses for GR. And no custom from me either. And the same holds for some of my colleagues, who regularly have business dinners at establishments such as his.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST
Date: 19 May 05 - 05:12 AM

"I'm afraid the ...........of our world are the product of our contemporary society, which seems to think it OK for people to behave and speak in a boorish and foul-mouthed manner so long as they exhibit some apparent redeeming factor, such as being able to cook a decent meal, or kick a football into a goal with some regularity, and grant them celebrity status as a result."

.....or play the concertina?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,Lee
Date: 23 May 05 - 05:50 AM

Hahahaha!!! That is awesome! I wish I would of thought of it first, it's going to make awesome TV. I personally find this piss funny and it'll have me chuckling for weeks.... Yes you may think I've got a sick sense of humour... AND YOU'D BE RIGHT!!! DICE. All you vege's out there, I hope you took your leather shoes off to bitch and moan!
POWER TO RAMSEY!!! Sweeeet!

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Stu
Date: 23 May 05 - 11:16 AM

Tosser.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Stu
Date: 23 May 05 - 11:19 AM

Gordon Ramsey that is.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST
Date: 23 May 05 - 01:18 PM

Tosser.
Lee that is
C.D

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Sooz
Date: 23 May 05 - 02:07 PM

Both of them.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,Lee
Date: 24 May 05 - 04:45 AM

Tossers.... ALL VEGE's..... You are what you eat! you Turnips!
Sweet! :)

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST
Date: 24 May 05 - 08:31 AM

You certainly bear more than a passing resemblance to a cow's behind.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Tam the man
Date: 24 May 05 - 01:48 PM

People like Gordon Ramsey who swear all the time are just idiots who have very little brians, they are showing how ignorant they are.

I don't think he's a prat but in his words a fucking rich prat ( arsehole)

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Once Famous
Date: 24 May 05 - 03:26 PM

this Ramsey is a bad boy outlaw after my own heart.

This is real theater at it's finest.

All vegetarians should know how to enjoy a great cheeseburger.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Chorusgirl
Date: 24 May 05 - 05:45 PM

Saw him briefly on tele tonight - but luckily knew where the off switch was. He is crude and ignorant if he thinks how he speaks and treats people is good and should be copied - there is something sadly wrong.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Terry K
Date: 25 May 05 - 04:20 AM

The whole basis of this thread is totally misleading. I saw the programme last night. GR was consulting for an Italian restaurant which was palpably going down the pan business-wise and food-wise.

GR had suggested they actually use real food - fresh ingredients - and suggested two pizza recipes for them to prepare, and do a random test on passers-by as to whether they liked them or not.

While the waitresses were handing out slices of pizza, GR who was observing, spoke to a youth who was wearing a typical veggie "uniform" (no stereotypes here), saying something like "you look like a vegetarian".

When the guy said he was, GR pointed out to the girls that they had served a veggie some pizza with ham in it. He was quite amused that the guy had already said he liked it, as was everybody else - all falling about laughing in fact.

"The incident has infuriated vegetarians, who have denounced Ramsay's actions as offensive and unethical".

Why am I not surprised at this statement?

Ramsey's was not to blame for the incident happening - his only fault in the situation was to find it amusing. Also fairly predictable, given his nature. Believe me, he is not the type to pussyfoot around a situation, nor can I imagine him being prepared to tread on eggshells around someone's dietary preferences.

Surely the veggie guy knows that pizza often contains meat? Why did he not ask? Which one is the bigger prat? I'm no great fan of Ramsay incidentally, but fair's fair.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,sklenge
Date: 25 May 05 - 05:06 AM

I was appalled at his attitude, which reflected the attitude of the chef and head waiter idiot. In effect Ramsay was showing himself no better than the prats at Lanterna for his disrespect for punters.

I don't like Ramsay anyway with all his pointless posing... It was so obvious that HE was the one who was desperately jealous of that foul car reg. plate he couldn't keep thinking about it.

Any professional chef who lies about the ingredients he has used is playing a very dangerous game with fate. I don't suppose he would have got away with laughing about feeding ham to a muslim.

Another annoying part of the irony is that Letchworth is renowned as a Quaker town - filled to the brim with vegetarians. His chances of finding a vegetarian passer by were significantly higher there than anywhere else GB.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST
Date: 25 May 05 - 07:43 AM

I'd rather eat from his kitchen though, knowing he is passionate about hygiene and ingredients.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Once Famous
Date: 25 May 05 - 11:39 AM

Yeah, vegetarians who love organic food forget that their own shit is organic.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Blowzabella
Date: 26 May 05 - 10:17 AM

and your point is what, exactly?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST
Date: 26 May 05 - 10:51 AM

I think he is trying to tell you that you can, and should, eat your own shit because it is organic.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: girochaser
Date: 26 May 05 - 12:11 PM

Well to be honest he is one of the most respected chefs in the world would run a great kitchen anywhere. For those who havent worked in a real pressure kitchen then people do shout swear and occasionally smack others its in the job. But for this guy who is a "celebrity" still runs his own kitchens and works 18 hour days then good on him. He has found a way of getting his style of cooking across and people watch him.
Why? Because he is different

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST
Date: 26 May 05 - 12:30 PM

Just because he works like he does and insults people DOES NOT MEAN IT IS CORRECT and he should not be worshipped for it.

"occasionally smack others its in the job"

It should not be in the job, if it happens it needs stopping we do not have to accept being treated in this way.

You do not go to work to be treated like a piece of shit so do not accept it.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST
Date: 26 May 05 - 12:33 PM

I doubt if he has any trouble getting recruits to willingly sign up to learn from his expertise. Probably a list of them as long as your arm. They know they will learn the best, from the best, and then go on to their own kitchens or continue working under him. Those who can't handle the heat etc...

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Tam the man
Date: 26 May 05 - 01:30 PM

As I said he is a complete Arsehole (to use his words).

he's under pressure, what a load of crap, he makes more money than some of you, he's got other people to work for him, as I said it's not clever to swear, if he treated his workers with a little bit more respect, then he might get the job done in half the time.

If he spoke to like that I would belt him in the face, and I would feel really great.

Maybe some should do that to him because he not only an arsehole but a two faced arsehole.

Tom

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 May 05 - 04:59 PM

I love that word, "prat". You Brits are so lucky to have it. It always makes me think of a small fish of some kind. And it conjures up such a delightful image of the complete inanity of the person being referred to.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST
Date: 26 May 05 - 07:37 PM

If we aren't supposed to eat animals why are they made out of meat?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: LadyJean
Date: 27 May 05 - 12:33 AM

I used to love the Galloping Gourmet, when I was a girl. He opened his show with a dirty joke. Then he got drunk while he cooked. I never see Kirchewasser that I don't think of him.
Gordon Ramsay sounds like a real jerk. I'm not a vegetarian. But I don't like meat pizzas. For me the perfect pizza has mushrooms, black olives, onions and a bit of feta with the mozzarella. (The real Mystic Pizza in Mystic Connecticut serves something like it.) I've got a friend who's allergic to meat. He could have made someone sick with that stupid prank. He deserves a nice big Ex Lax chocolate cake. (Simply subsitute Ex Lax for baking chocolate.)

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,Cubby
Date: 30 May 05 - 09:46 PM

I don't know why chef's have such bad attitudes when they don't even have real jobs. Its not like anyone really needs these people. Its like Ramsay has a little Napolian complex as he doesn't have the cranial capacity to get a real job.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 31 May 05 - 02:23 AM

GUEST of 26 May 05 - 07:37 PM

So are people made of meat - going to let me tuck in to a nice piece of roast ass of GUEST? No... some people feel the same revulsion at eating bits of dead animal. I worked for 8 years in a restaurant that specialised in vegetarian/vegan meals and the regulations were such that we had to have separate storage and utensils for meat products and a specially designated area in the kitchen for its preparation. It was just as strict as the rules for preparing halal or kosher foods.

Were I that vegetarian and could prove that I'd deliberately been fed meat despite being told otherwise, I would be sueing the ass off that unthinking, malicious bastard. It's the same sort of mentality that thinks it funny to spike drinks at parties and accept no responsibility for the consequences.

And GUEST of 26 May 05 - 12.30 PM - I agree. If you were subjected to physical violence by any other person in any other job or situation, you would not accecpt it. That person is breaking the law - it's called assault. So, in the UK at least, is shouting at someone. That's called common assault and is a chargeable offense. If his behaviour were used in any other situation, Ramsay would be finding himself looking at a disciplinary hearing at least, if not a new job before the end of the week.

It may be good television, and it may get the point across, but it's not happening on MY telly and there is more than one way to skin an orange.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 31 May 05 - 04:18 AM

His show "Hell's Kitchen" premiered in the U.S. on the Fox channel Monday night. The producers are surely cashing in on the trend to have elimination contest shows, such as Elimidate, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and some show that was on recently about amateur boxers competing to see who would be the champion of......well.....the champion of that particular TV show. So, now here's a restaurateur variation on this elimination contest theme. Entertaining? Yes. I'm sitting there thinking "what a jerk," but I watched it from beginning to end. The producers know exactly what they're doing. They know the market. Yeah, it's lowest common denominator TV, a sort of "guilty pleasure" experience. Does he strive for perfection in his subordinates through bullying and heaping abuse on them? Yes. Restaurant kitchens are known to be places that are not pretty. As Anthony Bourdain shows in "Kitchen Confiderntial," there's a rough, stressed, macho culture in those kitchens. But, this guy looks to be WAY over the top with it. This vegetarian incident, though, goes much further. Really unethical.

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,Mrs Miggins
Date: 31 May 05 - 06:26 AM

I 'ad that Gordon Rammy in me pie shop once, 'e tried to tell me 'ow to make pies, cheeky bugger.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 May 05 - 03:09 PM

William Shatner has done the chef routine on TV a few times. He raised it to a whole new level. Of course, that goes without saying, right?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,M Sorrenti
Date: 21 Jan 07 - 10:48 PM

I just saw the bbc kitchen nightmare with the vege bloke.
Feel sorry for the chap. Actually feel bad for the owner of Lanterna. Ramsay displayed to bbc viewership how much of a faccia di merda his ristorante is.
Vegeterians outraged over Ramsay's tele monkey business. I am surprised thou at him, with his excellent knowledge of food and the workings of restaurent business. He put the customer last. I guess it's kinda of like yank auto workers having agro over hydrogen fuel cell cars. Anyroad. Ramsay knows the business and is rich. So he must be licking more ass then kicking vege ones.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 01:27 AM

I have to say, though, that since I posted, I went to the second restaurant he opened, at the Clarridge hotel, on my November '05 trip to England, and it was one of the best meals I've ever had, if not the best. Different chef there, but Ramsay's recipes and Ramsay oversees the operation. Whatever his faults, he ain't a phony .His reputation as a topnotch chef is well earned. No wonder he has Michelin 3 stars at his flagship restaurant. Yikes, I'd hate to work for him, though.

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 07:56 AM

Chanteyranger - the salient part in your comment above is 'different chef there, but Ramsay's recipes'.

You could give 10 people an identical recipe & ingredients and you would end up with 10 different dishes. Every cook/chef puts things together differently, regardless of who is overseeing them or which instructions they are following. When I worked in a restaurant, you could tell who had made certain dishes even though the 3 cooks/chefs we had there used the same recipes. Some were better at the mushroom roasts than nut roasts, others made better curry than me. I was the only person who could get the nut and rice rissoles to stick properly, even though the others copied me.

We provided a good, healthy, prompt and hygenic food service without any recourse to swearing, shouting, screaming or slapping. We were Egon Ronay recommended and in several good food guides.

Almost a year since my last posting here, I'm still convinced that Mr Ramsay is more concerned with his money and fame, than he is with the welfare of his staff or his customers. If he can lie and joke about meat in a vegetarian dish then how can we trust him when he says there is no fish or nut product in other dishes?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Scrump
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 09:09 AM

Yes, he comes across as an arrogant b*****d. No doubt he must be good at his job or he wouldn't have got where he is. I find his constant unnecessary swearing on TV tiresome - I'm no prude, but there's no need to use the 'f' word every few seconds like he does. He obviously thinks it's 'cool' or 'clever', like an 11-year old would. He'd get more respect from me if he grew up and acted his age.

As for eating in his restaurants, no way! I can't afford a second mortgage.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Rasener
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 09:25 AM

He is a wind up merchant, who only wants the best. Can't see much wrong with that.

However I don't approve of the way he continually swears at people. Its not really necessary.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Scrump
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 10:15 AM

The only programme I've enjoyed watching at all is the one where he goes into failing restaurants and tries to turn them around. Some of the idiots who try to run a restaurant haven't a clue how to go about it, and while I partly feel pity for some of them, it's often great comedy.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: SINSULL
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 11:20 AM

I wonder if he is trying to tone down his image? Last night I saw a bit of his show. A customer returned an appetiser, said it was disgusting and refused to pay for the meal.

He turned to his kitchen staff who stood by in terror and asked them what they should do? One said "Get the rest of the meal right" and he agreed and sent them all back to the kitchen. No shouting. No swearing.

I changed the channel because I can't stand him anyway. Much prefer Iron Chef and the latest reality show Top Chef(?) where one contestant keeps screwing up (adding sugar to a low cal meal, eg) then bursting into tears when she gets caught.

No - I do not spend valuable productive time on this. The reruns go on at about 1AM when I pay my bills.

I do enjoy The Barefoot Contessa as well. She has absolute orgasms over food. Hilarious.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 12:42 PM

My nephew works for Gordon Ramsay (he's the 'different chef' referred to in Chanteyranger's post of 01:27 above.) He has followed him to three different restaurants over the years, and despite being headhunted by various household names, wouldn't work for anyone else.

I've met Gordon several times now, and firmly believe the following to be true, even if mutually exclusive: Gordon has immense personal charm; he makes you think you matter, even when there's no advantage to him. He is considerate to his staff, and rewards ability; he is inconsiderate to his staff, and makes demands on them which verge on slavery sometimes. He has absolutely no tolerance of the second-rate. Anyone who stays the distance in one of his restaurants will end up as a chef with the best CV in the world, grateful as hell, and glad they don't have to do it all again. He has had his sensitivity filter removed, so that he will make the cruellest remarks to harmless people who get deeply hurt. The bottom line, though, is that he's close to genius as a cook - I tend towards inverse snobbery when it comes to food, and don't know one end of a classy menu from the other, but when I've eaten at Claridges I've had no trouble recognising that I've moved into a different dimension.

Oh, and as far as I can tell on my limited acquaintance, the 'trade-mark' swearing is just that: he turns it on in the kitchen and when the cameras roll. His decision: his multi-millions.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: bubblyrat
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 01:43 PM

Aren"t we humans funny?? We look down,with contempt,upon those who haven"t "made it" in life---Losers, No-hopers, Wasters,Loafers,we cry !!! Then,when we encounter someone who HAS made a success of their life,out comes the Envy and the Jealousy !! They are,of course, Loud-mouthed,self-opinionated,egocentric,ruthless,ambitious,thoughtless,cruel,domineering-----the list goes on & on & on,if you want it to .Now, I don"t much care for Gordon Ramsey as a person,& I wouldn"t go out of my way to make his acquaintance, BUT he is GOOD TELEVISION, he KNOWS WHAT HE"S TALKING ABOUT, and I enjoy watching him shake people up and turn LOSERS into WINNERS ------I only wish to GOD that I had the talent to do that !! He must be a very happy & contented total prat ---but I suspect that not all Prats are. HUMANUM EST ERRARE !!!

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Scrump
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 05:26 AM

The bottom line, though, is that he's close to genius as a cook - I tend towards inverse snobbery when it comes to food, and don't know one end of a classy menu from the other, but when I've eaten at Claridges I've had no trouble recognising that I've moved into a different dimension.

Your comments are interesting Rusty Dobro. But it's just food, when it comes down to it. Do we need to get that excited about it? Yes, I've been for good meals (not at Ramsay's, but I've eaten in restaurants run by other good chefs such as Rick Stein, Robert Carrier, etc.) and appreciated them, but I think maybe you can go over the top with something as basic as cooking a meal.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 05:35 AM

Depends on your idea of 'making it in life'. Not everyone counts their blessings in coin of the realm.

My idea of 'making it' is to have people who love me, people I love, food enough to be able to share, and at my death, someone say 'she was a good person, tried her hardest not to hurt anyone, one of the best'.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 05:44 AM

I think maybe you can go over the top with something as basic as cooking a meal.
Sorry, but I disagree. That's like saying you can go over the top with something as basic as singing a song or playing a tune or writing a story. To me good food is as important a sensual pleasure as good music or good literature.
I find people who regard food as 'merely fuel' to be very depressing, and feel sorry for them. If you can find them, two films which can help you appreciate the sensual importance of food are 'Tampopo' and 'Babette's Feast'.
Cooking may be 'only' cooking, but it is also capable of huge sophistication and subtlety, with a vast number of variables. It is an art form.
Ramsey is an excellent chef because he doesn't cut corners, because he has a good palate, a creative imagination and because he is a perfectionist. That he can also be a bully is a pity, but he did learn his trade at the hands of a notorious bully (albeit a bully who was also an excellent chef). It's a pity he's taken on the mantle of his mentor - and it's to Angela Hartnett's credit at the Connaught that she is able to be a nice person and an excellent chef (though not yet in Ramsay's league).
To call him a prat on the basis of his television work is facile. It's like calling a musician a prat when you've never heard him or her play and have just seen them talk. The man may have traits that you find abrasive, but he's certainly not a prat. A prat to me is someone who debases himself or herself for the television by showing people how to cut corners and how to disguise mediocrity with a few frills. Fanny Craddock and Ainsley Harriot spring to mind in that genre.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Scrump
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 05:50 AM

I agree that people who strive to set new standards are important, that we shouldn't settle for second best, etc. But to trample over people just in the pursuit of making a perfect meal is to me, going too far.

I don't think Ramsay is a prat, by any means. He knows what he's doing and is very successful at what he does. It's a pity that others have to suffer to allow him to do so. I do think he's arrogant though (but it's arguable that someone good at what they do is entitled to be arrogant) and his childish constant swearing I find tiresome (not offensive, just irritating).

As I said, it's only food. Something we need to allow us to do the things that really matter, like making music :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 08:09 AM

"total prat"

I love these British expressions. Is a total prat anything like a "complete and utter tosser"?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Scrump
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 08:20 AM

Pretty much, Little Hawk.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: guitar
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 08:24 AM

the man is a total idiot, I mean he's just a cook, I mean would he find it funny if someone did that to him, I don't think so.

he should repects others the arsehole.

Tom Hamilton

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Grab
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 08:43 AM

But it's just food, when it comes down to it. Do we need to get that excited about it?

"It's just music. Do we need to get that excited about it?"

Last time I saw Ramsay on TV was one of those failing-restaurant shows. He went in and absolutely pulled them apart, but you could tell the reason was that he was so passionate about the restaurant putting good quality food on the table. The chef and his mate were clearly not prepared to make the effort and up their game, and Ramsay was really having to keep them working. On the other hand, there was a young lad there who was only 18 or 19 but was prepared to give it a go, and the head waiter who did flambeing at the table as showmanship was also good, and Ramsay had nothing but praise for both of them. Bottom line, he didn't let anyone get away with anything, so if they screwed up then he'd let them know, but equally if they got it right then he would be really effusive in telling them what a good job they were doing.

It might not be nice to be told about every little thing you get wrong, but you won't improve otherwise; and conversely you also need to be told when you get something absolutely right. I've worked with people like that, as most of us probably have. Most of them aren't people who I'd like to keep as friends, but if their reason for doing it is to get a good result, that's something you can at least respect and work with. From what I've seen, Ramsay isn't after a Claridges-standard performance from everyone - all he's after is the basic competence to do the simple stuff well.

As for the vegetarian thing, if Terry K's account of the programme is correct, it's pretty ironic in how it happened. It's no-one's fault except the veggie's in not checking (or tasting - duh!) what he was eating - if someone has food intolerances/preferences, it's THEIR responsibility to check before they eat.

Graham.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: guitar
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 02:19 PM

I mean my sister and neice are both vegetarians, and I respect them for that, I mean I wouldn't expect them to eat meat.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: jeffp
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 03:42 PM

Ramsay is just a cook. And Segovia was just a guitar picker.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Big Phil
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 07:16 PM

Sock it to em Gordon.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 08:47 AM

its an out rage on all people you should respect them
so you think they should eat meat thats fine but they don't so get used to it

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Scrump
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 09:05 AM

As for the vegetarian thing, if Terry K's account of the programme is correct, it's pretty ironic in how it happened. It's no-one's fault except the veggie's in not checking (or tasting - duh!) what he was eating - if someone has food intolerances/preferences, it's THEIR responsibility to check before they eat.

I'm not sure all vegetarians would agree with that, Graham (I'm not one myself, just to make that clear). If a restaurant serves a meal advertised as suitable for vegetarians, and it turns out not to be the case, I would hold the restaurant responsible.

I guess it's not always possible in any case, for a veggie to be able to tell from the taste, whether a dish has any animal content (e.g. if animal fat is used to cook something it may not be particularly easy to detect by taste, depending on the other ingredients).

As I said, I'm not a veggie but I respect the right of veggies to be served with what they asked for.

A veggie friend of ours was out for lunch with us and she ordered a veggie dish. They brought her what turned out to be the non-veggie version, and she ate a fair amount of it before she suspected something was wrong. She questioned the waiter and he checked and confirmed the wrong dish had been served. Our friend was quite upset to know she had been eating animal products - I regard that as a serious lapse by the restaurant.

To add insult to injury, when I paid the bill, the waiter asked "Was everything all right?". I won't record my response - suffice to say I didn't leave a tip :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: John Routledge
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 09:19 AM

It sees a bit severe for a vegetarian to beat themselves over the head if they eat half a meal which was not what they ordered and the difference was not immediately apparent.

Different story if they prepared it themselves

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: jeffp
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 09:25 AM

It's also a bit severe to blame the waiter for what was obviously the cook's error.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Scoville
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 09:48 AM

Okay, using "tosser" to describe "prat" is not helping the Americans. Is "prat" closer to a)loser, b)jerk, c)f*ck-up?

And what is it with chefs these days? I know it takes a lot of work to be good at it (as it takes a lot of work to be really good at anything, as a bunch of musicians well know) but it seems like chefs are the prima donnas du jour right now. They're all over TV screaming at their employees and mocking their customers. Sorry, I don't think anyone is entitled to be that arrogant no matter how good they are at anything--that's just self-centered, egotistical, and childish. Sort of in the same category as fashion designers demanding thinner and thinner women because they are ARTISTS and their clothes are supposed to hang a certain way and they should apparently be exempted from the rules of basic good health. Well, get a goddamned coat rack, because humans aren't supposed to look like that. Either that, or learn to cut clothes that look good on curves, since you're so freakin' smart.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Scrump
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 09:54 AM

It's also a bit severe to blame the waiter for what was obviously the cook's error.

I don't think it's obvious at all. How is the customer to know whether the error is the waiter or the chef's? For all we knew the waiter could have made the error when he wrote down the order.

In any case, the waiter is the customer's point of contact with the restaurant, so it's him I communicate my wishes, complaints, etc. through. If he's not to blame personally, it's up to him to take it up with the chef or whoever is responsible. Basically, I don't care which individual is to blame, but I hold the business (the restaurant) responsible.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: sapper82
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 09:58 AM

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Scoville - PM
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 09:48 AM

Okay, using "tosser" to describe "prat" is not helping the Americans. Is "prat" closer to a)loser, b)jerk, c)f*ck-up?

Probably about the same as being a wazzock.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: jeffp
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 10:02 AM

Then talk to the manager. It's your responsibility to find out who to blame before apportioning it.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: jeffp
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 10:05 AM

You also received a check I presume. It's easy to read what was written on it.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Scrump
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 10:07 AM

Okay, using "tosser" to describe "prat" is not helping the Americans. Is "prat" closer to a)loser, b)jerk, c)f*ck-up?

Could be a or b, or can just mean idiot. Basically these words are applied to someone you have contempt for, for whatever reason.

("Toss" is slang for "m*st*rb*te".)

Sorry, I don't think anyone is entitled to be that arrogant no matter how good they are at anything--that's just self-centered, egotistical, and childish.

I agree with you, but if someone is arrogant and good at what they do, it's more tolerable than someone who is arrogant and not good at what they do (such people are truly insufferable, and I've known one or two like that) - that's the point I was trying to get across. I don't condone his behaviour at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,ib48
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 04:01 PM

Foul mouth scottish prat would describe him better

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Grab
Date: 25 Jan 07 - 06:34 AM

If a restaurant serves a meal advertised as suitable for vegetarians, and it turns out not to be the case, I would hold the restaurant responsible.

Sure. But if a free-samples place is saying "here, try one of these" and you say "sure" and stuff your face without asking, it's not their fault if you eat something non-veggie. :-)

Graham.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Scrump
Date: 25 Jan 07 - 07:16 AM

Of course you're right there, Graham.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 25 Jan 07 - 07:20 PM

.....he is an artist, after all, and they are sensitive types......

Not, apparently, sensitive to the feelings of others. Calling him a prat, or an arsehole is quite frankly an gratuitous insult to prats and arseholes everywhere. He's nowhere near that high on the food chain.

As for patronising any restaurant that would allow him in a kitchen, I'd rather eat worms. Come to think of it, the way his mind works.....

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: alanabit
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 09:01 AM

When I was recovering from hepatitis B back in 1986, I had a series of relapses, which literally had me vomiting and crawling around the floor. Most nights I would wake up with stomach pains and it would take an hour or more until I was able to get back to sleep again. A friend advised me to eat little meat, if at all. I simply used up the meat in my fridge and I have never bought the stuff again. The pains at night ceased within days and the relapses stopped.
On one occasion, when I was travelling, I specified a vegetarian lasagne in a restaurant. I had eaten a few mouthfuls before I stopped and challenged the waiter. "There is only a little meat in it..." It may only have been a little to him, but to me it meant a night (and I had a gig) when I did not have a complete hour of not running to the toilet. It hurt my stomach too.
The words "total prat" would be something close to a compliment compared to what I really think about the likes of Gordon Ramsey. I never have offered food with excrement, vomit, saliva or mucus in it. That is how we vegetarians feel about it when someone thinks it is funny to poison our food.
I will never enter one of Ramsay's establishments. I won't buy into this fallacy of the temperamental genius. The real quality people in any walk of life have always been unfailingly courteous and kind to me and those around them. It is not necessary to be a tyrant to make any working environment function better. As previous posters have noted, this cook is a metaphor for a certain type of media figure currently in vogue. The bully as a media sensation is not a very savoury characteristic of our times.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Scrump
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 09:27 AM

The bully as a media sensation is not a very savoury characteristic of our times.

Or sweet for that matter :-)

Well said, alanabit.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Jim Lad
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 09:39 AM

He's probably a good cook but with the constant flow of profanities, I doubt that I could ever consider him to be a Chef. A real chef is an artist & what you say effects what you think. He did a series on rescuing restaurants that was pretty good though. Guess I'm just a Jamie Oliver kinda guy!

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Scrump
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 09:40 AM

jeffp wrote: Then talk to the manager. It's your responsibility to find out who to blame before apportioning it.

I disagree. As I said, I'm not interested in apportioning blame to any individual. I don't care who is to blame - why should I? If I have a complaint I should be able to tell the waiter, and rely on him passing it on to the manager. I would then expect the manager to take appropriate action to deal with the problem, and make sure it doesn't happen again - but I don't need or want to know any details.

But of course I would ask to speak to the manager if I didn't get a satisfactory response from the waiter.

You also received a check I presume. It's easy to read what was written on it.

Yes, but as you don't normally get a check until the end of the meal (in a UK restaurant, anyway) it would be too late to be of any use, apart from confirming the order was wrong. Unless you are assuming the check is handed to you at the start, like in a fast food restaurant?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: jeffp
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 12:22 PM

You stiffed the waiter on the tip. That has no effect on the cook. If it's the cook's fault, you took it out on the waiter unnecessarily. Reading the check would have allowed you to apportion blame properly. Instead, you took it out on the closest person, who may or may not have deserved it.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Blindlemonsteve
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 03:05 PM

he´s one of those people that makes me feel sad to be British, If i worked for him there would be Bloody nose soup on the menu. I cant understand why he hasnt been decked years ago. and i´m a pascifist....

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,Shiv
Date: 19 Dec 07 - 06:28 PM

I must admit that what Gordon did was unacceptable. I wonder if he would have had the balls to try and fool a muslim into eating pork and then laughed about it. I will never go into any establishment belonging to him and i will tell as many people as possible about this incident at the Italian Restaurant.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Becca72
Date: 19 Dec 07 - 07:13 PM

Let me first say, I love "Kitchen Nightmares"

Secondly to address the issue of 'unwanted' items in your food...I am allergic to uncooked tomatoes. I get hives and they make me vomit. So I always make sure to tell the waiter "no tomatoes" whenever I order anything with even the remotest chance of having any in the dish. When my meal arrives know what I do? Instead of getting half way through and starting to break out and get nauseous, I CHECK before I even begin eating. It's my allergy and my responsibility to make sure I don't eat what I cannot. From the description of the person above who actually watched the show in question it was not Gordon Ramsey's fault the kid didn't ask if it contained meat, though I will admit he can be a real ass and probably shouldn't have found it so funny.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: goatfell
Date: 19 Dec 07 - 08:13 PM

to use on of his words he's an ARSEHOLE

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Teribus
Date: 20 Dec 07 - 12:15 AM

The coming season remind me about the actions of this "so-called" total prat:

Remember about Christmas last year that fog descended on Heathrow?

I think Ramsay's "Hells Kitchen" is based on the US West Coast.

Well on the 23rd December one of the last aircraft to get into Heathrow was a plane from the US carrying Gordon Ramsay. Immediately on landing he transferred from Heathrow to Brize Norton and flew out to Khandahar in Afghanistan. He then arrived at Camp Bastion and cooked Christmas Dinner for 720 men of 42 Commando Royal Marines, and he did personally cook it, he didn't supervise, he actually cooked it. In addition to that he had brought with him "goodies bags" for everyone, he got a bit ticked off when he found that the whisky miniatures have been confiscated.

When he was finished he got back on a plane and flew back to UK for Christmas with his family.

Now anybody that knows about jet-lag can tell you just the travelling would be gruelling enough - oh and to add to all that, everything was paid for out of his own pocket, to make up for the whisky that went missing he bought beer instead that would work out about £500 per round.

So if you're going to call the man a total prat, or a tosser, I wouldn't advise you to do it round Plymouth in anything other than the softest whisper.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Bert
Date: 20 Dec 07 - 01:41 AM

I do watch Kitchen Nightmares because it's one of the few programs on TV which is educational. I just ignore the swearing.

Hell's Kitchen though is a complete fake. Where does he find those people? He had a group of so called chefs one time and they were horrified when he served them tongue, kidneys and tripe, they had never tasted any of those things. And they were supposed to be chefs!!! Any reasonably good cook should know how to serve those dishes and make them palatable or even delicious.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 20 Dec 07 - 03:09 AM

I think its really positive. Every week he goes out and sorts out someones problems.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Big Phil
Date: 20 Dec 07 - 06:36 AM

Well done Gordon for trying to to educate the veggies to the delights of meat.

Phil*

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Megan L
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 04:49 AM

Bert it is physically impossible to make tripe palatable never mind delicious :p The war time generation was really the last to eat those things.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 04:58 AM

Rubbish, I adore eating tripe, unfortunately it is very difficult to buy now, due to the health police. Since BSE all offal has been difficult to buy, and it's only seen in butchers' shops, never in supermarkets. Of course it would never have arisen had we not been so greedy as to feed bits of animals to other vegetarian animals!
Tripe and onions in a white parsley sauce, lovely, Tripes a la mode de Caen, delicious.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Stu
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 05:28 AM

They are screening the US version of the show over here (UK) at the moment and there are some fundamental differences in the way the show is presented and edited to the UK version.

To my mind, the US version puts the confrontation between Ramsay and the main protagonist(s) to the fore. Talking heads from the outset set the scene from that episode's subjects point of view, and then Ramsay is sent into the restaurant like some sort of culinary ferret to flush out the terrified staff. Cue shouting/swearing/slamming of doors/tears, and all this is voiced over by some bloke who sounds like he's narrating a trailer for Black Hawk Down rather than a show about food and the business of selling it.

Gone is Ramsay's own narration which provides insight into the reasons he acts like he does towards the staff, how a business needs to be run. Gone is the emphasis on menus, service and the potential of the various underlings in the kitchen. Everything is edited into tiny chucks (presumably for easy digestion) and no shot is longer than 4 seconds. I suppose this is designed to add pace and drama to the programme, but it ends up inducing motion sickness and a sense of frustration as the camera never lingers on a subject long enough to capture the subtly of a situation - there has to be NOISE at all times. To my mind, the edit ends up making some of the scenes look staged.

Try to catch the UK version - it's a lot more considered and whilst the swearing and confrontation is still there the whole show is better edited and offers more insight into the highs and lows of running a successful restaurant.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Tweed
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 09:00 AM

Gordon Ramsay...one Total Badass of a Cook.

Fixed Christmas dinner for the troops? That's very damned cool.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Becca72
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 10:22 AM

Stig, we actually have both versions where I am (New England) as they play the original on BBC America on my cable provider. American audiences in general like fast moving noise so I would guess that's why the show is edited that way over here.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Stu
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 11:16 AM

"American audiences in general like fast moving noise . . ."

Shame really, because you miss so much of the detail.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Becca72
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 11:21 AM

I agree completely. I actually prefer to watch the BBC version of his show.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Teribus
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 11:33 AM

Great Guy + 100 Up

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 01:54 PM

"American audiences in general like fast moving noise . . ."

To find out whether that is true, and how far it is true, would require quite a lot of painstaking research. I doubt very much if that has in fact been carried out.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 08:34 PM

McGrath, permit me to prove this without writing research grants and wasting years of time tormenting rhesus monkeys:

NASCAR Lots of noise and fast moving stuff

NBA Fast moving game with lots of crowd noise.

NFL More of the same if the referees behave

NHL More of the same as above with the added bonus of watching players assault one another with deadly weapons.

Yup, I'd say that many (possibly the majority of) Americans like fast moving noisy events. I'd have to say that any of the above will draw more fans than any folk or blues clubs that I've ever been in.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Tweed
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 09:11 PM

HAW! That's me as GUEST up there McGrath. Just got a new lapdog and didn't think to sign myself in yet.

Proving that some Americans (like me) have trouble with the details. But I ain't much on NASCAR so I'm an anomally I reckon. ;~)

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: SINSULL
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 09:15 PM

I honestly did not know what NASCAR was until I moved to Maine. As to Gordon, the US version tries very hard to make him a sympathetic character whose only purpose is to make a restaurant profitable. To me he is a rude asshole.
But so is the local weatherman.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Nickhere
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 12:19 AM

Actually Dave, you don't even need to have one redeeming factor to behave like an overblown arsehole these days - I'm thinking of airport security staff here and the way they think that seriousness of their job allows them to treat airline passengers with thinly veiled contempt. Not all of them are like that of course, but quite a few can barely hold themselves in check

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Stu
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 04:03 AM

Sinsull - the problem is I don't think the American version gives Ramsay (or the restaurateurs) the credit they're due. As I said, in the UK version Ramsay himself voices the narration and this gives some insight into his thought processes. He has on occasion actually employed staff from the kitchens he has visited in his own establishments if they wanted the challenge.

It's pretty disingenuous to suggest all Americans have the attention span of a goldfish because this show is edited badly and glorifies the confrontational aspect of the situation. Take a good look look at American literature, American film (not the Hollywood crap) and American TV like Twin Peaks to realise they too can do considered and subtle.

Unfortunately, like much UK TV the mainstream stuff can give the less discerning viewer being an arsehole isn't just a a state of mind, but a natural condition. But then perhaps it is.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 04:34 AM

The thing is -he's Scottish. If he'd been English, he would just pay the bill, thank the waiter and piss off. No programme.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 05:02 AM

Anybody want to buy my Big Al Whittle CD?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 07:14 AM

If he'd been Irish, he would have discovered the cook had a great grandad in Limerick........

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Teribus
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 11:38 AM

And if he'd been Welsh, he would have had a leek in the soup.......

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,foodlover
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 06:34 AM

GET OVER IT
the guy obviously knows how to cook and how to rescue a failing restaurant. any manager worth his or her weight in any business can clearly cut through the bullshit and do what needs to be done to accomplish the goal of making the business successful. if it means hurting the feelings of some useless employees that are too thin-skinned to deal with the pressure when the shit really hits the fan than that's the way it has to be. how many of you whiners out there deal with real pressure or just float through the day snacking on chips and going on the internet? hmmm?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: goatfell
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 07:51 AM

The guy as far as I care is a to use his words A FUCKING ARSEHOLE and he cannae cook, i mean real proper meals what you get with people like him is a shitty wee meal that two mouthfuls and it's a way and it cost you dear friends £80.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 16 Feb 08 - 01:42 PM

Absolutely! I bet he 's never tried making anything hard like egg and chips. Getting the egg and chips both as hot as each other - at the same time.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Teribus
Date: 17 Feb 08 - 06:01 AM

"The guy ..... is ....... A FUCKING ARSEHOLE and he cannae cook, i mean real proper meals" - (Arran)

Well then Tom, I take it that you have actually sampled his cooking then?

I know around 720 very big hungry men who would vehmently disagree with you. They were the guys of 42 Commando that Gordon Ramsey personally cooked Christmas dinner for in Camp Bastion Afghanistan, and it was by no means - "a shitty wee meal that two mouthfuls and it's a way" What is more having voluntarily given up his own time at Christmas to do this he paid for the whole thing himself.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 17 Feb 08 - 10:32 AM

Teribus old man, do Trolls have to actually play Hall of the Mountain King before you recognise one?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,foodlover
Date: 18 Feb 08 - 03:56 AM

so has he personally ever offended you? have you actually ever eaten his food? what the fuck do you care? so you poo poo his effort to feed the troops in afghanistan? eggs and chips? are you fucking kidding me? what the fuck have you accomplished in your shitty little lives?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 18 Feb 08 - 04:13 AM

'what the fuck have you accomplished in your shitty little lives?'

Most of us on this site get through life without expressing ourself in those terms, and given the occasional provocation - that's quite an achievement.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,foodlover
Date: 18 Feb 08 - 04:35 AM

well aren't you special

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Stu
Date: 18 Feb 08 - 04:57 AM

"what the fuck have you accomplished in your shitty little lives"

Most of us have learned to write well enough to use capital letters.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 18 Feb 08 - 05:38 AM

fucking unique on the internet mate, we are.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Folk Form # 1
Date: 18 Feb 08 - 07:52 AM

When they had pogroms against the Jews in Russia and Central Europe, they use to stick sausages in the mouths of dead Jews in order to mock their beliefs. Now, I would not be so crass as to make a direct comparison between what they did and what Gordon Ramsey did, but the parallels are there. More than a prat. A totaly obnoxious one.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Feb 08 - 12:09 PM

Is there any way we could work Woody Allen into this thread? Give it a bit more humour?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,foodlover
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 04:34 AM

So, I paid for some typing lessons and learned how to use the shift key. I also took some etiquette lessons and learned how to express myself without using profanity. I thank everyone for helping me achieve these levels of self-enlightenment. Now can we get past the cheap, nitpicking observations and address what i was really talking about?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 05:13 AM

welll, now that you've asked nicely - yes I was kidding about egg and chips.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: goatfell
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 11:57 AM

anyone who swears as much as him is just an ignorant idiot, because you can get you view across without swearing

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Amergin
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 12:58 PM

I hope you all realise that this incident occurred 3 years ago...

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Big Phil
Date: 21 Feb 08 - 05:39 AM

Gordon just tells it as it is, would you prefer to be deaf than hear Gordon swear. I think not.

Phil*

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 21 Feb 08 - 05:39 PM

I like Gordon Ramsay. I'm a fan. just in case my slightly obtuse method of expressing myself has not conveyed that - I should like it to be noted.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Thompson
Date: 09 Mar 08 - 05:20 AM

Interesting. It's regarded as ok by many of the posters here for Ramsay to mock someone for his *principles*.

I wonder would people feel the same glee if he did the same with *religious* dietary principles - if he fed a Jew pork or a Muslim non-Halal food, then sniggered and mocked and told the chef he'd "converted" the person.

For our American friends, a prat is, of course, the same as a gobshite. Clear now?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Big Phil
Date: 09 Mar 08 - 10:23 AM

If you did not tell the religious, the Jews and the Muslims that they had eaten the "wrong" food, would they know any different, NO.

Phil*

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Mar 08 - 01:28 PM

You wouldn't know any different if you ate a nice fresh meat loaf that I had cleverly concealed some dog shit in, either. It would not kill you.

But how would you feel afterward when I told you about it? People whose religious beliefs preclude eating pork will get very upset, and sometimes feel quite ill, if they discover that they inadvertently ate something with pork in it. That's understandable. You would feel the same if you had grown up believing it's not good for you to eat pork.

Is this relevant to the discussion? I ask, because I have not read this entire thread. If it is not relevant, then please disregard it.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Thompson
Date: 09 Mar 08 - 05:33 PM

I think it's relevant. Ramsay (allegedly) mocked a vegetarian for being fooled into eating ham.

It just seems like a nasty, boorish thing to do.

But since the vegetarian's stance comes from *ethical principles* rather than *religious dictates*, it seems to me that people are a lot more willing to side with Ramsay - in what strikes me as nasty bullying.

(As opposed to the nice kind, of course.)

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Mar 08 - 07:45 PM

It IS a nasty, boorish thing to do. It indicates that Gordon Ramsay has no respect for other people if they're different from him, but I doubt he would enjoy being mocked in a similar fashion if he'd eaten a sandwich, for instance, with some dog shit concealed in it.

It would be interesting to see his reaction. I bet he would not be even slightly amused.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,James H
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 01:54 PM

I've seen the programme in question. Gordon Ramsay offered free pizza to passers by. He did not make any claims about it being vegetarian or otherwise. Somebody tried some first and then found out it had ham in it afterwards. Gordon found this extremely funny, and made a big fuss about the situation. That maybe a bit insensitive but he hadn't tricked the guy into eating it. Really, it was the vegetarian's fault, for not checking whether the free sample was vegetarian or not before tucking in.

Not quite the same as Little Hawk's dog shit analogy because I wouldn't expect food to have dog shit in it since nobody that I know of considers that to be a normal food stuff, so i wou,ldn't expect to have to ask whether a free sample contained any. Whereas plenty of people do eat meat as a matter of course so why should a vegetarian assume that something was vegetarian without checking?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 11:17 PM

It's really quite odd that a vegetarian would NOT check before tasting. Specially in the case of pizza, for gosh sakes! I mean, it's downright strange. People who are worried about whether things might contain meat always ask, in my experience.

Why on earth would anyone automatically assume that a free sample of pizza was vegetarian if they had not already been told it was vegetarian?

Seems to me that we might be missing part of the story.

Vegetarians are used to the fact that the majority of prepared food around them in western society is not so likely to be vegetarian, and they do ask.

Maybe the entire thing was a setup so that Gordon Ramsay could get some controversial publicity and a few laughs on his show... ;-) Consider that possibility.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:03 AM

GR don't need publicity. Its a top show.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 11:23 AM

Passing out pizza with ham in it without telling people - it wasn't just vegetarians he was liable to risk upsetting, but Jews and Muslims. A bit inadvisable to do that really...

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 12:35 PM

Damn right.

And it would upset pigs also. That makes for 4 angry special interest groups all on account of one ingredient.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Penny S.
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 03:57 PM

He has been scathing about veggies in other programmes, too. He has also been as rude about older customers. I saw him being extremely rude about the clientele of a restaurant in Sussex which had regulars from what he called the "blue rinse brigade". He was determined to make the place unattractive to them for their weekly meal out.

(It was another of the places where you wonder whay they have asked him in and then NOT checked the hygiene practices in the kitchen before he arrived.) I haven't watched him since.

Silly of him going on about the old though. He may never end up as a veggie, but he's sure going to be old some day, unless something worse happens first.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 04:10 PM

I wonder....if all the old people and vegetarians and other types of people who don't meet Gordon Ramsay's standards of perfection were exterminated...would he then be happy?

My guess is, "no". I bet he'd find someone else to look down on right quick.

I bet that getting old will come as a real shock to him. ;-) Goodness knows, it has been a bit of a shock to me and most of my contemporaries, I can tell you. Everyone feels about 25 inside their mind for their whole life, I think, but their body does not cooperate with that notion. We are youngsters trapped in aging bodies, and not entirely pleased about the matter. This will also happen to Gordon Ramsay unless, as you say, something else happens to him first.

I remember some foolish lad I knew in my 20's who was always making fun of the "old farts" in the neighborhood, as he called them. He IS one now. Poetic justice, ain't it?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Wesley S
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 04:14 PM

Didn't Ramsey just open up a place in Heathrow Airport?

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 23 Mar 11 - 08:12 AM

Give me a Hairy Biker anyday. They do let you know what's gone into the dish and if you don't like some of what is on offer then you don't have it or don't cook it. There standard might not be quite as high as Gordon Ramsey in cheffing terms but I can't imagine them being dishonest about added ingredients either. Most of the dishes originate from family kitchens and with a few recipes of the bikers thrown in it makes a good programme and without one bitchy comment throughout.

Gordon Ramsey is definitely past his entertainment value now. The bad language was just sensationalism at the time and it really is past it's sell-by-date now. From the past threads (luckily I didn't see the programme) but tricking someone into eating something that they normally wouldn't is not clever. An ex did the same thing with venison sausages and he knew that I had a thing about not eating it but he was so full of himself that he had to prove a point, manipulative bully.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Becca72
Date: 23 Mar 11 - 08:58 AM

Patsy,

I have seen the show in question. Gordon Ramsey did NOT trick anyone into eating anything. The guy grabbed a free sample and did not ask what was in it before he consumed it. If you have dietary requirements/restrictions it is up to you to make sure they are followed, not some guy on the street handing out free pizza.

As for the show, I still watch regularly and fully enjoy it.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 23 Mar 11 - 09:04 AM

Becca,

So the guy's eyes were bigger than his belly, lol! That explains it.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Becca72
Date: 23 Mar 11 - 09:26 AM

That's for sure! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 23 Mar 11 - 02:27 PM

This is the Gordon Ramsey who throws customers out of restaurants because he is throwing temper tantrums with the kitchen staff???????

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Mar 11 - 01:29 AM

He has not yet served Chongo a meal. When he does, he may get a surprise.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 24 Mar 11 - 03:49 AM

the thread title is redundant... Gordon Ramsay and total prat are interchangeable terms.

Give me Nigela any day. How the hell does she manage to look so good after all the eating she apparently does on her shoes. Must be a vomitorium between scenes.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,Steamin' Willie
Date: 24 Mar 11 - 06:37 AM

Ok, two points;

1. The man is a prat, yes. If you are vegetarian, I would expect a chef to respect that. Mind you, I read above that he was just handing things out and people were eating them. if you have any eating taboos, best to check before accepting freebies on the street eh?

2. I have eaten at his restaurant in The Hilton, Dubai Creek and it was one of the best culinary experiences I have had. (I love my food, and have been lucky enough in life to have eaten at many of the top rated places in the world.)

So lets separate the prat from the art. I use some of his recipes for dinner parties and the ones I use seem to work, and work well. (Used his method / stuffing for the goose last Christmas and it was wonderful. Other than substituting the flour (a celiac in the family) I followed his instructions to the letter and glad I did.

On the other hand, I watch Nigella Lawson whenever there is a series on, but only recently found out she was a cook. Sorry, not concentrating on what she is doing, rather how she (and the camera) is doing it.......

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 24 Mar 11 - 10:16 AM

All these chefs are okay, but honestly....

breathes there a soul so dull that wouldn't rather have a decent cod and chips at george's chip shop in Belper. Salt, Vinegar, mushy peas, couple of slices of bread and butter to make butties, pot of strong tea. Some posh folk go for the tartare sauce, but i reckon that's just being fancy.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 24 Mar 11 - 11:37 AM

My parents have total control of the remote when I visit so it's not of case of whether I want to watch it or not really. A favourite of mine was Keith Ffloyd, my idea of cooking is with a glass of red wine in one hand and stirring something until it's cooked in the other, voila!

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 24 Mar 11 - 01:21 PM

I think he has done the world a service by exposing how filthy some restaurants are and how rotten some of the food is that they serve. I don't know how they make it through health inspections. And he does seem to usually suggest fresh, pretty simple food. He has an unattractive personality to be sure.

I have wondered, as people look for suitable jobs for ex-prisoners, who have an awful time on the job market, if they could not be formed into cleaning teams and go out and clean restaurants at night. Surely the cooking staff would be too exhausted to clean properly in many cases. They could go in with industrial strength steamers, fresh energy etc. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Mar 11 - 01:25 PM

Chongo is eager to be served by Nigella too. Very eager in fact. Nigella is definitely on the front burner as far as Chongo is concerned, whereas Gordon Ramsay is either on the back burner or perhaps the side board.

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Jun 11 - 10:14 PM

What a delight to once again be reminded that Gordon Ramsay is a total prat! ;-)

The spanking video, on the other hand, was a deadly bore. (grin)

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: Penny S.
Date: 25 Jun 11 - 05:43 PM

I have read a story about him which shows another side. A writer lived quite close at one time, and his son made some mince pies and left them on Ramsay's doorstep as a gift, with a note. The plate was returned, with praise for the pies as the best he had tasted. Nice.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Gordon Ramsay...total prat!
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 26 Jun 11 - 06:56 AM

Mmmmm!!! Nigella!

The woman who made whisking pornographic (think about it).

Gordon Ramsey, though, comes across as a total prat - but then he probably has to be to be on telly.