Two episodes into the latest season of Top Chef, and most of the chefs have
already established personalities and tics that will only grow and annoy as the season
progresses. I appreciated the stab for marriage equality by the lesbian from Seattle
in Episode 2, but really: are we to believe she would pass up a catering
opportunity for breeders in the future?
But that wasn't the most offensive part of this young
season. Twice already, separate contestants have prepared ceviches that
impressed the judges (and forgive me for blanking on names, but both were
women). Problem is, they pronounced the Latin American seafood staple in a way
I've never heard anyone say it: by dropping the e at the end so it sounds like cevich.
]
Excuse moi? What's
with the attempt to Frenchify the dish? In my many years surrounded by Mexican
food-loving gabachos, I've never heard any of them pronounce ceviche wrong.
It's a word impossible to fuck up, and I seriously doubt chefs of all people
would mispronounce the word. And if there's one Spanish-language rule even the
dumbest Know Nothing comprende, it's that you pronounce every vowel when
speaking Español.
Yet those two contestants mispronounced the word–free lunch on me for
anyone who emails me if they fuck up the word again tonight…
