Rick Stein in India - IABU to want to slap him?

I don't know how he got away with that Jess! Re-framing a lack of fish as 'just a light touch with the fish pieces' i.e. 2 small cubes with rice and a lttle sauce, and taking the cameras down crowded alleys where hundreds of people had their tiny, crowded dwellings. I usually love Rick Stein's programmes, but that was exploitation at its worst!

It does make uncomfortable viewing ... Not one of his wisest decisions in my opinion.

Not a patch on Keith Floyd who never patronised people.

Reza Mahammad was really interesting in a series he made about Indian food a few years ago. He was the one under scrutiny by bemused Indian people who showed him their recipes and invited him into their homes, but he didn't seek out poverty-stricken people or try to fool anyone that poorly nourished children were having a great time trying to earn a few rupees.

That poor man who was cooking courgettes and not much else, for his family, when Rick's mate just waltzed in and picked up the bread. Then RS started eating it and the poor man offered them his food from the pan.

I thought that was so thoughtless of them, as the family clearly didn't have much of anything

oh cringe. I had turned him OFF by then.

Reza is so camp! I loved his programmes... "LSD... life saving dahl..." He's a hoot.

Watching Rick Stein last night , I did not enjoy it one bit , he has about as much personality as a blancmange , no charisma at all , and really he was faffin around with food but no recipes given.
Then that business with the fish it looked sooo unedible , and the fact it was caught in rivers , where I am led to believe , they bury their dead.

Got to be healthy , that !!!!!!!

Still there will be a book out soon , I have no doubt

I know that the Ganges is considered to be a holy river, and have seen film of bodies being transported along rivers for cremation on the riverbank, after which ashes are often allowed to flow in the river, but have never heard of bodies being buried in rivers. Wherever in the world cremations are carried out, families have used rivers, lakes and oceans to scatter ashes, and we do hear of burials at sea. Do say more nonu. I haven't come across this before.

I didn't like last week's progamme, but found yesterday's very interesting. It's Lucknow next week.

The bodies are burnt on a funeral pyre , in the river .

Is that enough ?

I think in Kerala the waterways are fast flowing and I don't remember seeing any burning ghats. I'm vegetarian in India. Never been able to stomach the fish or meat markets.

Thanks, nonu. I wonder if someone has mininfomed you? Bodies are cremated on riverbank funeral pyres, and may be transported by river first, but not cremated or buried in the river. Here's a typical, but special one - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-513632/Thousands-bid-fairwell-Beatles-guru-Ganges-river-funeral-pyre.html

I have been known to be mistaken . Laugh !!

The bottom line though is , I did not enjoy him or the prog. and the fish looked revolting .

Ah, we have different tastes, nonu. To me, those fish looked very tempting. I would have eaten them with my fingers, like Rick.

Laugh Again

Not unreasonable at all Jess. I heartily agree.

More to the point that the rivers are probably all open sewers. As the Thames was 150 years ago (and to a certain extent still is)
I may be wrong but I doubt that there are many state of the art sewage treatment plants (with UV sterilisation of effluent) in India.

Jess , I think that was the point I was trying to make , in a different sortof way .

heyho

I think the fish that Rick was eating on yesterday's programme came out of a Keralan backwater where tourists can stay on houseboats with all amenities, but it's true to say that many Indian rivers are still like open sewers. I can't imagine him agreeing to eat anything that came out of contaminated waters.

I do still feel like slapping him for that awful programme last week. What on earth was he thinking of?

mmm and where do you think the sewage from the houseboats goes when?
I bet he would woof down shellfish from all kinds of questionable sources.
TBH an actual, vertebrate fish, cooked properly, is unlikely to retain dangerously bacteria. Shellfish are a very different matter.

Jess an ex-colleage has just returned from India, staying in a tourist area where houseboats and small waterside houses all had sewage treatment units installed, and she was happy to catch fish for eating with the group she stayed with. I would discriminate where I ate local fish, as I guess Rick Stein would. I suppose that's why his treatment of the people in last week's programme grated. Seeing people in very poor areas in a romantic light was disingenuous, when it's certain he would be eating well and staying in luxury accommodation.

Stein's chippie in Padstow is no good either. When I was there two years ago it offered no alternative to fish, not very helpful for a family group which includes someone allergic to seafood. No problem at the rival and cheaper fish shop in the town centre

No alternative to fish? Isn't that what his chippy and fish restaurant are all about, grumppa?