Memories: Frugal and Foodies

 

When he was alive, my brother was a foodie.  He loved to eat.  Even as a kid he wasn't afraid to explore new things.  Once when we were on vacation at Skytop, he ordered sweet breads.  He knew that they were not bread.  He knew what they were and he went for it.  

He loved the dining experience.  As an adult, he took his wife to Victoria & Alberts, an exclusive restaurant at the Grand Floridian Resort in Walt Disney World.  They would eat their way around the world at Epcot.

So you get the idea that he liked to eat.  He also liked to cook.  I think the only time my husband had turducken was when my brother made it at Thanksgiving time,  (Remember, I can't each any poultry due to food allergies and even being in a room with poultry that is being cooked can make it difficult for me to breathe.)

His love of good food and cooking started at a young age.  And when he was still young he got a copy of The Frugal Gourmet (paperback).  He watched the show too.  Maybe we all did?  (I can't remember.)  Most of Jeff Smith's cookbooks were in my mother's pantry.  I wondered recently what might have happened to them.  I suspect that my brother took them with him when he and his wife moved into the condo that my mother purchased and he rented from her.  I don't remember seeing them after he died, but then that was a very trying and difficult time, especially as my husband I did some cleaning out of the condo after his death.  (Upon reflection, his good friend and friend's mother also helped clean out the place; perhaps they took them.  I HOPE they took them.  It would be good if they had them.)

How did my brother get interested in the whole Frugal Gourmet thing?  Again, not 100% sure, but he might have been introduced to him via my aunt's husband.  Funnily enough, my aunt's husband liked to cook and drank wine like Jeff Smith (who was the Frugal Gourmet) and resembled him as well.  They both were balding with grayish beards and wore the same style glasses.  They both dressed similarly, wearing button down shirts and ties with an apron.  They both were exuberant men.  And so, eventually, was my brother.

I knew that the Frugal Gourmet show disappeared from the airwaves in the 1990s and I did hear of some sort of scandal surrounding Jeff Smith, but if you asked me what it was all about I wouldn't be able to tell you.  So when I heard about the documentary, I Bid You Peace: The Rise & Fall of the Frugal Gourmet, I was intrigued.  You can only view it streaming by purchasing on the creators website (https://ibidyoupeace.com/dashboard) and you have the option of a 5 part series, with each episode being around an hour and which also includes a movie version which is just under 2 hours or you can just purchase the movie version.  I went all in and watched the 5 episodes over a week or so. 

What did I think?   Well, 5 episodes is probably a bit too much.  (There was repetition that I don't feel was really necessary).  I haven't watched the movie, but I suspect that 2 hours is a too little.  I give the filmmaker/created a lot of credit for putting this all together.  It's completely independent, so no money came from Hollywood or any other "big wig," so the fact that it actually got out there and is being talked about months after its release is pretty impressive.

Since I guess you could say I was a fan (or pseudo fan) of Jeff Smith/Frugal Gourmet, it gave me some insight into the man and the brand.  I wish there had been more, but that's probably not possible since Jeff Smith is dead.  (He died in 2004 at the age of 65.)  His family is not talking (understandable considering the sexual allegations).  The 11 seasons of The Frugal Gourmet are not currently available either.   Would any of his cookbooks give me any insight?  I don't have them and I'm not sure how I feel about seeking them out and buying them.  (Especially since my allergies would keep me from making much of the recipes.)  So while there is much we do learn, I'm sure that there is much more that we don't and I would like to.  (Because I'm nosey and also intrigued.)

The series doesn't give any definitive answers.  It couldn't.  The sexual abuse allegations brought by several young men/boys was settled out of court in the late 1990s.  Was the payout of $5.5 admission of his guilt?  I can't judge that.  We will never truly know what did or did not happen or who Jeff Smith really was.  (Public persona and private person are two different things.) Personally, I think the "truth" is a gray area here; there may have been some abuse and there also may have been some misunderstandings. It can be both.  And a person who is "of the cloth" is just as fallible as any other human and it definitely doesn't make a person "good."  (I hope we have learned that by now, but...)

Mostly what this series did for me was bring back memories.  Memories of my brother.  Memories of my aunt's late husband.  Memories of meals and family gatherings.  For that, I Bid You Peace: The Rise & Fall of the Frugal Gourmet, was definitely worth the price (which was under $10).