Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on January 15, 2012

64-year-old Food Network cooking show star Paula Deen, who is rumored to have type 2 diabetes, said that Michelle Obama ate more food on her cooking show than had any other guest

Paula Deen, the sassy Southern darling of cooking shows and fried foods who is believed to have type 2 diabetes, filmed a cooking show with Michelle Obama and fried shrimp back in 2008 before the presidential election.

And the pre-First Lady, who is now the self-appointed maven of controlling what school children and other Americans eat, reportedly ate more food than any other guest Deen had had on her show.

Imagine that. A fried food pig-out.

Reported in October 2011 by Washington Examiner, Paula Deen: Michelle Obama likes fried food too:

When Paula Deen met Michelle Obama, it wasn’t exactly the queen of butter versus the first lady of garden greens. Deen, known for her delicious not-so-good-for-you recipes like Gooey Butter Cake, said the two women had more in common than you might expect.

“Well, I did a show with Michelle and I just loved being with her,” Deen told Yeas & Nays. “She probably ate more than any other guest I’ve ever had on the show —she kept eating even during commercials.” Deen taught Obama how to fry shrimp during a TV segment in September before the 2008 presidential election. “You know what their favorite foods are — it’s hot wings, you know, those kinds of foods that are not necessarily top-of-the-list healthy foods, so she’s no different than the rest of us,” Deen said. “We love those kinds of foods, we just know that we can’t eat them everyday.”

Also reported last fall at New York Post, Paula Deen responds to reported food fight with Michelle Obama:

Paula Deen has spoken for the first time about the so-called “American Grown Food Fight,” her reported beef with Michelle Obama over fatty foods. She exclusively tells The Post she is not trying to “smear” the First Lady as the election swings into gear.

It all began when Obama appeared on butter-slinging chef Deen’s television show, “Paula’s Party,” in 2008, before her husband was elected president. On the show, Obama revealed that she had cooked seafood gumbo for an early date with Barack Obama and that her family absolutely loved shrimp. The two made fried shrimp and French fries and seemed to get along gloriously.

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Deen even recently told the Washington Examiner, “[Michelle Obama] probably ate more than any other guest I ever had on the show! She kept eating even dur­ing commercials. Know what [the Obamas’] favorite foods are? Hot wings.”

She paints a picture of Obama that’s a far cry from the first lady who was photographed holding a worm she pulled from a vegetable garden yesterday.

According to the Enquirer, Obama now regrets going on Deen’s show. “Michelle’s spitting mad,” a source told the paper. “She thinks Paula is trying to smear her and her family just as the 2012 presidential election race swings into gear.”

But Deen denies that Obama is upset with her.

Now this week, reported by US Weekly, Paula Deen to Address Diabetes Rumors on Today Show:

Paula Deen’s ready to talk, y’all.

The celebrity chef plans to set the record straight regarding dogged rumors that she has type 2 diabetes in a TODAY Show interview with Al Roker next Tuesday. The Southern-accented Food Network star and cookbook author, 64, became a household name for her decadent comfort food recipes heavy on fried food, butter and other fatty ingredients.

From Los Angeles Times, Does Paula Deen have diabetes?:

Looks like TV chef and butter champion Paula Deen may soon reveal she has Type 2 diabetes. According to Jeannine Stein at L.A. Times Booster Shots blog:

The Internet is buzzing with rumors that TV chef Paula Deen, queen of the deep fryer, could soon reveal to the world that she has Type 2 diabetes.

The Daily reports that Deen, known for fat-laden dishes such as deep-fried, bacon-wrapped macaroni and cheese, is on the cusp of spilling the refried beans about her condition. Last year, the National Enquirer wrote that Deen had the condition, and the Daily is also reporting that the TV star has inked a deal with a pharmaceutical company to endorse a diabetes drug.

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Update — January 17, 2012, New York Times reports: Chef Has Diabetes, and Some Say ‘I Told You So’.

Categories: Entertainment, Celebrities, Food, Drink, Government, Social and Political Climate
Tags: author, Body mass index, chef, childhood obesity, children, children diet, cookbook, cooking, cooking show, diabetes, fat, fat police, first lady, First Lady Michelle Obama, FLOTUS, food mandates, Food Network, food police, food show, fried food, home cooking, Michelle Obama, obesity, Paula Deen, school children, shrimp, television, TV, Type 2 diabetes