What Paula Dean Did Wrong: Feeding America A Line of Bull

Paula Deen is a hero to millions. With restaurants, books, magazines, TV shows and more, Deen is both an icon and an industry.

So many people really seem to love her, understandably. She is lively, gregarious, charming and fun. And she cooks the kind of Southern fried favorites that people dream of, doing it with joy in her heart.

But hers is also the kind of food that can bring you some trouble over the long term if you eat too much of it too often. As evidenced now by Paula Deen herself. Hey, I like fried chicken as much as the next guy, but I don’t make a steady diet of it.

So when it was announced this week on the Today Show that Paula was diagnosed with Type II diabetes, it was as surprising as an alcoholic waking up with a hangover and tremors.

The real surprise surfaced when she revealed that she was diagnosed three years ago. That’s right, she has known about her condition for three years. Al Roker rightly inquired as to why she waited until now to say anything at all about it.

Because, she said, she had “nothing to bring to the table.”

Except that she did.

For three whole years, she continued to bring to the American table a steady diet of the very same death-defying food that brought her Type II diabetes. Her belated claims of having preached moderation would be laughable if they weren’t so transparent.

What finally brought Paula out of the pantry was her announcement that she is now being paid as a spokesperson for a big drug company that sells diabetes medicine. She had the opportunity to do the right thing without having to be compensated. Instead, whether one views hers as a savvy business maneuver or a distasteful, disingenuous hypocrisy is up for discussion. As is her legacy.

She had the prerogative not to say a word, but how many others have been similarly diagnosed during her three-year silence? She has to live with her coverup.

As of now, the Paula Deen message is that you can eat as much of whatever you want as you’d like without regard or worry because there’s a drug for that.

But she still has the opportunity to do the right thing and turn this into what they call a “teachable moment.”

What do you think?

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Robert Rosenthal is a top-flight ad executive, a classically trained chef and stand-up comedian who has accumulated 2.5 million frequent flier miles and overeaten at more than 2,700 restaurants around the globe. Rob hosted a series of cooking segments seen on PLUM-TV stations throughout the country, was guest host of WOR radio’s nationally syndicated Food Talk, and writes in the Huffington Post, The Daily Beast and Ad Age, which called him "undoubtedly one of the industry's most colorful characters." He is also the personal chef to his wife and kids, who named him the Short Order Dad®.
  • http://raulcolon.net Raul Colon

    Similar to Paula’s attitude of continuing to bring many down with her I see it way too often in my culture. I have family members that suffer from Diabetes and many other things and they still decide to ignore the fact that they need to improve their eating habits. 

    Since I am vegetarian it makes me look like the outsider and I can’t find a way to make the switch their mind set. I don’t need them to become vegetarian but taking a different approach of actually recognizing that if you eat fried foods and red meat every day there are consequences.

    Great post already shared it on a few platforms.

    • ShortOrderDad

      I hear you. Thanks for sharing it Raul.

  • http://beanathlete.wordpress.com/ Dennis Murray

    If she had chosen to never reveal that she had diabetes – and not become a drug company spokesperson – I’d have no problem with her continuing to shovel the same food on her show the whole time (and still!)

    I don’t care for her style of cooking – and know better than to cook it myself or consume it -  but I think if she adjusted her show moderately she could achieve a lot.

    But at this point, it looks like she is working to the drug company’s benefit by taking a medication only (or primarily) standpoint.

    • Shortorderdad

      Agreed. Now it’s going to look difficult for her to anything that feels genuine.

  • http://motherwouldknow.com/ Laura @MotherWouldKnow

    It’s been quite a week – Newt Gingrich tells us that his conduct (extra-marital affair, open marriage suggestion, etc) is not the problem – the problem is the media bringing it up, and  Paula Deen say that she has always preached moderation.  I can’t wait to see what next week brings.

    • Shortorderdad

      Next week is for reconciliation. Arnold and Maria. Ashton and Demi. Newt and Republicans.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=620957721 Amy L. Keyishian

    There’s a peculiar neener-neener reaction against any kind of healthy eating that is both self-defeating and ignorant, similar to when a climate-change denier notes that it’s cold outside, so therefore global warming must be a total sham. Deen’s fans are insistent that eating things like Twinkie Pie somehow fulfulls their extreme sense of entitlement. And you know, I’m guity of the same reaction — growing up with a diet-obsessed mom, I’ve had my moments of “screw you, I’m-a eat this pie. ALLA THIS PIE.” But they were moments. And my health, so far, hasn’t suffered. I don’t know when moderation became a dirty word, but Paula Deen and her rabid fans are just the latest example of Extreme Extremity (TM).

    • Shortorderdad

      We live in an “all-you-can-eat” culture where moderation is sometimes viewed as a dirty word. In this case, however, the Paula supporters are really supporting Paula the person, rather than the food she stood for. Their position is essentially that she never forced anyone to eat what she made. Nonetheless, the issue here is simply that obesity and diabetes continue on the rise and Paula can either choose to ignore that and take the drug money or come out and teach her people about more healthful habits.

  • Anonymous

    Great piece, Rob (I found out about it from TKOrbit). It certainly sheds light on Miss Dean’s character that she kept it hidden for so long, and that she’s now going to be a spokesperson for diabetes medicine. Yikes–but I hope she does the right thing, though that’s sort of doubtful at this point. She seems, sadly, out for money and image.

    • Shortorderdad

      Thanks. I don’t believe it’s too late for her to come clean and turn this into something positive…IF she does actually care about her image and legacy. Only time will tell.

  • Meal Makeover Mom Janice

    As a registered dietitian and cookbook author who teaches busy families how to eat a healthful and tasty diet, I am disappointed that Paula did not use her announcement as an opportunity to educate her many followers about the importance of lifestyle in treating and preventing type 2 diabetes. There was a teachable moment there, and she chose to tout the benefits of drugs to control the disease, which by the way, we are all paying for through our increasing health insurance premiums. We all know what her motivation is, but it is still disappointing. I am holding out hope (but not holding my breath) that she will decide to talk about lifestyle changes that people should make so they don’t end up with this disease.

The shoe cables a repent reward near the visible.