The F Word

Have you been watching Gordon Ramsey’s show on BBC America, The F Word?

It’s fucking great.

Some may think right away “I hate Gordon Ramsey, he’s such an asshole.” Well yes, but if you’ve only watched Hell’s Kitchen, don’t be so quick to judge. It should be clear to anyone who has even a little kitchen savvy that the FOX cooking competition is stacked with losers specifically meant to fail and frustrate the head chef.

He does have a rough manner, an old-school kitchen charm, a loud and spicy vocabulary. But he’s all about the food and the guest, what more can you ask for in a chef, let alone a TV chef.

All the Rachel Rays and Tyler Florences and Paula Deens who primp and play to the camera are there for themselves and the audience. Even Bobby Flay, the “bad boy” of the Food Network is rather simpy and concerned for his best side.

Let’s face it, Ramsey doesn’t have a best side. The show is part survival competition, part cooking lesson, part food magazine. It opens with a bunch of cocky home-cooks who think they can handle working in a professional kitchen, with Ramsey. He quickly deflates all ego with his demand for perfection. The rate of success is judged by real diners who decide whether or not they would pay for the food. REAL RESTAURANT STUFF: Not a panel of snobby judges, but people with money in their pockets, the only people that truly matter to a real chef.

In another segment, Ramsey goes head-to-head with someone on similar dishes, last night saw different versions of Beef Wellington. If a table of diners likes the guest cook’s dish best, Rasmey has to put it on his menu. It’s great when he loses, if only for the stream of cuss the comes from his grinning face.

He’s my new Sunday night habit, that fucking banana.