Bay Windows - April 22, 2009
Scott Kearnan, Arts Editor

"Potato chips!" says Allen, when asked about his favorite gluttonous, guilty pleasure. "I don't feel too guilty about it, though. What's not to like? And I'm glad we have all those fine grocery stores now, but when it comes to potato chips they really drop the ball. You go to a Whole Foods, and you see 19 different kinds of potato chips. They're all thick cut and low salt, hard to chew... They don't have enough God damn salt on them! Potato chips should be salty! ... I have to make a special trip to some less fancy grocery store to get the good old Lays."

Okay, okay; considering that you're more likely to find him working on his next piece as a contributing editor to Esquire, banging out another book on food, and hosting two television shows on Food Network (Chopped and Food Detectives), there's no doubt that Allen is a gourmet guru. But he's also lending his culinary credibility to an important event: Dining Out for Life.

Now in its 19th year, the annual fundraiser brings together participating restaurants in cities across the country to support HIV/AIDS prevention, research, and treatment. The national event raises around $4 million each year, and on April 30, New England will have its turn in the cities of Portsmouth, N.H., and Providence, R.I. Eat dinner at any one of the dozens of participating restaurants, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated back to licensed agencies: AIDS Response Seacoast in New Hampshire, and AIDS Care Ocean State in Rhode Island.

Bay Windows spoke to Ted Allen about Dining Out for Life, his past on Queer Eye, his present TV work, and what tickles his own tastebuds.

Why did you decide to get involved with the Dining Out for Life campaign? This is my second year as spokesperson. Within the gay community there is more education around HIV/AIDS then with people generally, but plenty of us could stand to have a couple reminders now and then. There's a generation of kids who weren't around in the '80s when [the AIDS epidemic] first happened... but unfortunately, it's still not over.

It's not, but there can be a sense that somehow it's not the problem it used to be. Absolutely. There's a lot of stuff competing for people's attention these days. And it's a double-edged sword, the success we've had with research, prevention and treatment. You see magazines for drugs for people with HIV, and they're these great looking, healthy guys climbing mountains. It's wonderful! But they send a message to people that it's not a big deal. I have several friends who are HIV positive, and they go through the medicine regiments. It's not fun. It's a fistful of pills and all kinds of side effects. But it's hard to tell that to a 19 year-old. But I remember when I was young. It's hard to listen to these old gay guys telling you what it was like, "back in the day!'"

You don't need me to tell you that you're in one of those places that have such a strong regional cuisine of their own. Obviously much of it is from the sea, but there are so many great culinary traditions in New England. I have friends in Boston and spend time in Portsmouth. But I'm in Maine more than anywhere else. We go to one of those places where you can stay and pick mussels off the rocks, and get lobsters cheap as hamburgers! It's a fantastic way to eat. I grew up in the Midwest. You guys have it going on compared to us. We have great barbecue steaks, that it's it. Indiana doesn't have a cuisine.

Your Food Network show Chopped has a cool concept: chefs are tossed a bunch of unrelated ingredients, and have to create a dish within half an hour! What's the most impressive concoction you've seen? I'm impressed by anything that can be thrown together and is edible with secret ingredients in 30 minutes. Though I've been pressing the production, I don't want as many ingredients that are weird. I mean I know it sounds funny to give a chef macaroni and cheese in a box, but I really want the chefs to be able to make it possible. I think we had one battle where we went too far: they had Coca-Cola, macaroni and cheese, and tilapia. And then we penalized the chef because he left out the orange powder from the macaroni and cheese.

On Food Detectives you get to the bottom of food-related myths and beliefs. Anything shocking in the new season? [In one experiment], we served two groups of people the same food: warehouse club frozen fish filet, potato, green beans and chocolate cake. To one group we served it with plastic cups and paper plates and said, "You're getting fish filet and potatoes." We served the next group on fine china with crystal, on white linen tables, and described the food as panko crusted St. Peter's Fish. Some fancy name. I was shocked! People with the plastic cups, on a scale of 10 they ranked the meal at 2.5. The people with fancy plates: 8.5. ... And we asked them how much they would be willing to pay for the meal. For the paper plate crowd, it was $10. For the china group it was $35. Can you imagine the psychology?

I have to ask about your reflections on Queer Eye, too. It was quite a phenomenon. Queer Eye reached a lot of people. I have been thinking about it again lately, partly because Carson just texted me [Laughs]. ... I look back at it fondly; we did have a lot of fun. The guys were hilarious, and it was great because then we all landed on networks of our own. I had to do a voiceover for Food Detectives, and when I stepped into the booth with the script and the lines I had to read, and sitting in the booth were voiceovers that Tom was supposed to do for his show! So naturally, I wrote obscenities on his script.

Does it seem like lately the general masses are more interested in fine dining? What explains it? I think the reasons are really complicated. I think the celebrity chef phenomenon is really popularized with the Food Network. It created food stars and personalities that America could fall in love with. So even people who don't do a lot of cooking are watching the Food Network, and they're getting hooked for reasons other than the food. But what I love about this trend is that with it the growth of interesting, good food has seriously been happening. A chef once said to me, "Once you start cooking with fresh herbs and learn tomatoes are only good in August and September, once you learn how to pair wine with food, you're not going to go back." You can buy organic food at Wal-Mart now! It's incredible. My parents were from the generation that saw food and cooking as something you had to deal with, get over it. This is the generation that gave us the microwave oven and boxed, processed foods that taste terrible.

People also seem to be more concerned with healthy living. Do you think that has to do with it? So many nutrition trends come and go, and it's hard to know which stores are really good, what kind of drugs are being fed the pig that produces the pork. ... I'm more interested in great flavor than in healthy nutrition, I have to admit. Butter and cream aren't especially good for you! I'm a big advocate for eating natural food, but I do eat butter and cream. I eat a sensible amount, though!

Anything else you'd like to add about Dining Out for Life I have so much admiration for real activists. People who really work for low pay, do the thankless fighting, march in the streets. Those are the real heroes of the AIDS movement. But not everyone can do that. Some people have children, or you're locked in a career, or you work 80 hours a week. ... This is one of those wonderful fundraisers where everyone can make a meaningful contribution. Even if you're not able to take half a year off and work in a school in Africa, we all can manage to get to a restaurant with a group of friends and order a meal. It sounds trite [as in,] "Shouldn't I be doing more?" Well, you probably should. But this is great. It makes a massive difference and all the money stays right in your city, fighting the problem at home with your own neighbors.

For more information on the Dining Out for Life campaign and the full list of participating restaurants in Portsmouth and Providence, visit diningoutforlife.com. For more information on Ted Allen, visit tedallen.net.

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