TV • PAGE 21
THE BULLETIN • JANUARY 21 - 27, 2021
BY GEORGE DICKIE
Travel the culinary world
on cable and streaming
Now more than ever, this is a winter of
our discontent, what with bad weather
and the pandemic conspiring to keep us
indoors and in place.
And that, of course, means no travel.
Whether it’s a weeks-long vacation in a
sunny clime or a weekend away at a B&B,
many of us have back-burnered those
plans in the interest of keeping ourselves
and those around us safe and healthy. And
we’re not happy about it.
But you can always travel via your
palate. A number of new episodes this
week on Cooking Channel, Food Network
and discovery+ go to places near and far
to sample the local cuisine. So kick back,
click on the flatscreen and try to forget
you’re not lounging on a beach somewhere
in the Caribbean right now.
If exotica is what you crave, then
“Bobby and Giada in Italy” is sure to
satisfy. Streaming now on discovery+, the
series follows chefs and longtime friends
Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis
as they take a culinary tour of the Old
Country, stopping in Rome for the blanca
pizza and a sumptuous meal prepared by
a Michelin star chef, Siena province for
Tuscan-style burgers and wine country
for, well, the wine. There are also lessons
in cheese-making and beekeeping. Quite
the educational experience – for mind and
palate.
Over on Cooking Channel, the weird
and wonderful foods of Portland, Ore.,
are front and center on “Bizarre Foods:
Delicious Destinations” on Monday, Jan.
25. Here, host Andrew Zimmern tucks
into dishes that reflect the city’s quirky
personality, including boozy doughnuts,
Thai fish sauce chicken wings and crawfish
boils. Cuisine that’s a category all its own.
Wednesday, Jan. 27, on Cooking, “Man’s
Greatest Food” finds host Roger Mooking
sampling 15 incredible dishes around the
U.S., such as a gourmet Calabrian pizza in
a bowling alley, a lobster roll with bacon
cheddar bombs in a minor league ballpark
and custard French toast. Unexpectedly
delicious.
Immediately following on that night,
“Food Paradise” spotlights foreign meals in
domestic locations, be it German eats in
Wisconsin, Russian comfort food in New
York City or Danish cuisine in California.
No passport required here.
And over on Food Network on Friday,
Jan. 29, the theme is sweet and savory on
“Drive-Ins, Diners and Dives,” as host
Guy Fieri goes to Sioux Falls, S.D., for a
culinary extravaganza at a market-butcher
eatery; Fairbanks, Alaska, for hearty,
authentic Indian fare; and Fargo, N.D.,
home of a bakery/cafe that makes sticky
pecan rolls and a savory French pastry
dish. Yum!
Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis
BY JAY BOBBIN
Alan Tudyk
OF ‘RESIDENT ALIEN’ ON SYFY
WebLinks
An alien (Alan Tudyk) crashes on
Earth, hides in a remote Colorado
mountain town and assumes the
identity of the town doctor until his
mission is threatened by a local
9-year-old boy can who see his
true alien form in “Resident Alien,”
blasting off Wednesday on Syfy.
Learn more at www.syfy.com/
resident-alien
A singer-songwriter (Jann Arden) fac-
es the realization that her career is
coming to an end, while dealing with
a breakup, conflict with her sister and
her mother’s health issues. So she
decides to reinvent herself to reclaim
her celebrity status in “Jann,” debut-
ing Friday on Hulu. Find more on the
streaming service at www.hulu.com
Other fantasy projects you’ve done have
proved that you’re used to the genre. How
is it for you to return to it as a human-
looking extraterrestrial, who initially
comes to Earth with the intention of
eliminating mankind, in “Resident Alien”?
When I play the character, there is a lot of
discomfort going on inside of me, because it’s
sort of you’re looking standing behind yourself
looking out. That’s what he would be doing.
It’s like he’s wearing a mask, the mask that
looks like me, as he’s looking at the world. I
didn’t look in the mirror and find the creepiest,
weirdest faces; it’s usually the other way
around.
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