Acting with food FOOD TV | A behind-the-scenes view of 'Simply Ming' shows how they make the program look so attractive More videos
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Chefs Shawn McClain, left, and Ming Tsai pick out steamed New Zealand greenshell mussels with dashi broth, fresh ginger and parsley during the taping of an episode of Tsai's cooking show, "Simply Ming," last month at McClain's Chicago home.
(John J. Kim/Sun-Times)
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Steamed New Zealand greenshell mussels
Watching food TV for the last few years has made me a little insecure about my performance in the kitchen.
Sitting on the couch, watching television chefs crafting impossibly well-lit soft-focused steamy come-hither plates, I was sure I'd become soft and that I could never measure up with my own culinary chops.
It was true, I couldn't. Like Photoshopped glamor magazine covergirls and lip-syncing ingenues, the solo santoku-wielding culinary warrior who spits out three-course, five-minute meals on your flat-panel television screen is partly a digital mythology.
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