Rocco and Foodmomiac: Kindred Spirits

Rocco
Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac

I went to the Bertolli-sponsored Rocco DeSpirito lunch with a VERY cynical attitude. Yes, he is an attractive man, so I was looking forward to the eye candy, but quite frankly, I've always found him to be a bit of a tool.

I first saw him in person at an IACP conference in Baltimore. The panel he spoke on was all about branding. He sat up there with Ina Garten (perhaps the most real food personality out there) and talked about "his brand." It was a little much. I mean, I'm all about "my brand," but I don't usually talk about it in front of a full room. Tacky!

Well, then I went to the lunch. As you can see from the photo, he is still very attractive, and has clearly been working out. The funniest line of the lunch came from Kristen. As Rocco was working the audience, he asked if we had any questions. Kristen muttered under her breath, "Yeah, can you cook with me on your lap?"

While I was certainly impressed with his, um, pecs, I was more impressed with his words. Kalyn, one of the food bloggers in the audience questioned him about his new promotion of kitchen shortcuts. She wondered if by promoting shortcuts (such as creating a shrimp pasta dish using pre-made Bertolli sauce), he was hastening the death of from-scratch cooking in America. Great question, but Rocco's answer was even more impressive.

His response was that we had already experienced the death of from-scratch cooking. If his promotion of shortcut cooking helped bring families back into the kitchen (and out of fast food restaurants), that was a victory. It was a great answer, and I have to say that I agree.

I have so much guilt about not doing things the gourmet way. I don't have a lot of free time, and sometimes it's just too much for me to bake a loaf of bread from scratch or to spend hours in the kitchen making the perfect sauce.

My guilt often keeps me out of the kitchen all together. I feel so terribly that I'm not doing things the RIGHT way, that I end up not doing them at all. No time to make homemade sauce? We might as well order in or go to the neighborhood restaurant. But, I think Rocco (or his media trainers) might be right. If using a pre-made sauce gets us all together around the kitchen table, isn't that the better choice?

Comments

[Mom101]

Union Pacific was a fabulous restaurant. He's definitely got chops. But it's easy to forget that when his "brand" has more towards endorsements and reality tv.

I'm still bummed we didn't get to taste the pasta.

[Maria]

I will admit that I cared much more for his beautiful teeth than his Bertolli dish. I am perverted like that. :)

[Randi]

Did you meet Anna( cookie madness?) she posted pretty much the same thing about Rocco and cooking with convience products. Too funny.

[rebecca]

Ok, I just read your post about being a "full time" mom, and now this one, and I think I have a blog crush.

I've been the same way--by the time I get home from work, I'm pretty tired, and by the time I would get one of those from-scratch recipes made, it would be past my kids' bedtime. So, I fell into the "why bother, we'll just scrounge from the fridge or get takeout" trap. And then I'd feel guilty, which would depress me, and then I would not cook at all for weeks.

This summer, with another baby on the way, I knew things had to change. So I've been going back to simpler meals, and yes, using *gasp*! convenience products (Trader Joe's? Thank you for your many, many quick and yummy side dishes. You make the 1 1/2 hour drive to stock up worth it.). It may not be the vision of me-as-cook that I held when I was childless and in grad school, but it gets us together as a family, and gets nutritious food on the table. So far, so good!