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Is Marcela Valladolid The Mexican Giada? (Over-Enunciate Much?)
Published on: February 2, 2010 – 9:09 am by Jillian Madison 
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Everyone knows Giada loves her MAS-CAR-PON-EEEEE and SPUH-GIT-TEE. But did you know Marcela Valladolid loves her TOUR-TEE-UGHS?
On this weekend’s episode of Mexican Made Easy, Marcela made TOUR-TEE-UGH CHIPS and guac. She said the word TOUR-TEE-UGH an obscene amount of times, and even more annoyingly, grossly over-enunciated the word in her Spanish dialect every single time. Marcela, we get it. You’re Mexican. Now will you please stop exaggerating only certain words, and come up with recipes more exciting than beer with lime and chips and dip?
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THIS WEEK: Ina Garten's "beginner" recipes, new Food Network shows starting in September, thumbing through an issue of Semi-Homemade magazine, Rachael Ray's daytime talk show, Aarti's "accountability group", Claire Robinson on Big Daddy's House, another sensual reading of Alex Guarnaschelli's tweets, sink or swim voicemail, and much more.
I love “tortillas can actually be healthy for you” as she’s slathering on oil.
How about some LEE-PAH-TOUR?
Such is the trend. I watched her first episode and paid attention to annoyances like that, and she doesn’t quite take it to Giada’s level. Yet. But it’s still there.
Not nearly as irritating as watching local news and hearing the anchors or anchors with even a tiny fraction of Hispanic blood (or even if they’ve vacationed in Mexico once) somehow manage to pronounce their first name in an American accent and their last name like Peggy Hill would.
“anchors or reporters”, I meant. I shouldn’t type before the coffee kicks in.
Oh man, then you’ve got to see Tracey Ullman do a riff on a reporter from Buffalo named, Linda Alvarez. Tracey totally does the whole Spanglish put on BS. She speaks perfectly inflected English until she comes to her name and then it’s LEEEEEEN-DUUUUH AAAAALLLLL-VAAAAA-REZZZZZZZZ!! It’s hilarious.
This crap has to stop. It’s like Oprah getting all ghetto when she speaks to someone black. Why the switch to ebonics? It’s all this nonsense put on to have some street cred or something. Lame.
So far, this show is wholly uninteresting.
Motzi, I love watching her do Linda Alvarez and Arianna Huffington too.
If she’s the same, Linda Alvarez got her start, I believe here in Chicago. We don’t miss her.
They do the same thing with Arron Sanchez.
Or should I say Arrrrrron Sanchez (ala, Ted Allen on Chopped).
LOL I’m from Buffalo…I totally know what you’re talking about!
Damn, Leen-duh used to be in Phoenix as well. The girl gets around.
Linda Alvarez was an Emmy Award winning anchorwoman/reporter in Los Angeles for about 30 years who pronounced her name with an accent. Big deal. It didn’t seem to hold back her career! It’s kind of funny that Ullman, who has a thick cockney accent, would make fun of her.
It’s kind of funny that Ullman, who has a thick cockney
he he he…
I didn’t watch her show but I saw the preview a billion times and even that annoyed me.
I turned her show off after the first segment. Baking tortilla chips in the oven? Wow how groundbreaking.
The recipe was as subtle as her pronunciation.
I thought the exact same thing about her “accent”. Is this a new trend on FN? We have the Italian Giada, now the Mexican Marcela – what’s next, a German, Irish (well there is Flay), Greek, Jamacian….I see a whole series with Giada as the host..Name That Dialect…
And they’ll each have low cut blouses bursting at the seams with their humongous cleavage.
I’m just annoyed that we have YET another hispanic cooking show on FN. I mean first we have Ingrid Hoffman, then Daisy Martinez, now this lady. I mean come on. Why not branch out into Asian cuisine or something? Too bad Debbie got the boot!
Dammit Andy, she’s KOREAN, not Asian! LOL! How many friggin’ times does she have to tell you?
Hahaha. How could I forget? I’ll have to go concoct a korean style sauce now…just as punishment.
Debbie is Korean? I wish she had mentioned it at some point.
We keep getting new ones, because the other ones are not that great! Latin cooking is really in, and they want to capitalize on it and also keep viewers happy. I think it makes sense. And yes, they should also branch into other areas.
Debbie’s Korean?
Three isn’t that many.
It is when Asian (and others) is and has been ignored for years.
I would love to see some Indian cooking. Love me some potatoe filled pratha bread and curry.
This is why I couldn’t get through the first five minutes of the first episode. (tour-tee)UGH!
I agree wholeheartedly. This was instantly annoying.
kinda annoying, but I can get around it especially w/ all those (semi-famous) gringos out there totally fucking mangling “chipotle” and “jalapeno” to cite just the two most obvious examples.
Bobby Flay would marry a chipotle and mispronounce it at the alter.
You’d think with his pepper obsession he’d get the names down.
And in case Bobby hasn’t mentioned this yet today, ancho chiles taste like spicy raisins. He always says it like the thought just occurred to him as opposed to the fact that he repeats it all the time. Never having encountered a spicy raisin in my life, this comparison is meaningless.
I don’t think Bobby stays married long enough to get the names right.
Pronounce…. spaetzel. (sorry, could not provide proper accent marks but you should be able to do it)
Foodnes, that’s one that annoys me every time. Is it really so hard to say “schpetzeluh”? Obviously, it is.
Yup, it bugged me just as much as when Giada does it with Italian words. SO annoying!
My GF’s first language is Spanish and none of her family talks like that, unless they are making fun of another Latino. And in that case, this bitch has it pegged.
That is because Marcela is Mexican born and raised in Mexico, she is not a chicana, chingado pinches gringos pendejos..
im with you!!! people dont change accent just because they are on another country, they should have learned that already, having all those foreigners XD
im with you also!!! “chingados, pinches gringos pendejos”!!!! Whats wrong with her pronunciation?
I think you should pronounce things with the proper accent. I’m latina, so I am mindful of doing this with all cultures. If I speak to a Vietnamese person, I don’t chop up their name with my own accent, I try my best to pronounce their name with their accent…just like their foods! If it were asian food, you’ll would be pronouncing it right and not saying that it should be Westernized.
Say what ya want… the chick is hot!
‘Cuz yanno, that’s what really matters.
With THAT much makeup, your grandma would be hot!
I would take Marcella and Giada’s overpronunciation over Ina’s “Good Vanilla”, “Don’t Have Fun Without Me” and “How Bad Can That Be?”
Who ever writes Ina’s scripts needs to “Turn Up The Volume” on their writing skills.
I always thought that’s just how Ina talks for real. How easy is that?
LOL! You made me spray pop-tart (oh, the horror!) out of my nose! Ow!
To be honest, I didn’t notice it at all when I watched. I still don’t. Maybe because it seems to be a part of her normal speaking cadence? When Giada does it, she seems to pause for effect.
Did the show air with a missing segment in any of your markets? When the show aired here (Illinois), we got the opening segment (tortilla chips), commercial, the opening segment AGAIN, commercial, then the chicken and beer segments….no chipotle shrimp skewers or whatever, as promised in the open (and that was the one recipe I was curious about).
Yea I commented on that on Sunday. I guess they figured us dumbass people in Illinois couldn’t figure out how to cut up some rank old tortillas into triangles and stuff them into the oven!
Fan-f-ing-tastic!
Yeah, but was it just us, or was that nationwide?
The same thing happened while I was watching in NC.
Same in TN! I missed the entire shrimp segment… although somehow I don’t think I REALLY missed anything at all…
You did. I made the shrimp and it was delicious.
which part of illinoise??? (being facetious for those that rank on peeps that don’t pronounce shitpotle correctly…) foodness just peeeezed on the WC results lol.
which, btw, am from illinoise, so used to it — altho not for a number of years — used to the stoooooo-pit but it’s a dry heat desert remarks, having been in hooked on Feeenicks for 32 years… lmao as yet another flood is on the horizon (has Cali finally fallen off & no one has told us yet? Get parents, stat!!! — and make damn sure we get their kitchen!!!!)
on her facebook page she updated her status that someone in editing made a mistake. I guess we’ll never get that recipe?
What’s wrong with pronouncing words as they are supposed to be pronounced? Seriously, why do you find it so annoying?
Because we can, Ehhrrrrr-nehh-stoh.
Jerk-off.
Edward, that fruit was hanging so low that Ferd couldn’t resist. I considered not using my real name, but decided to leave some bait and see what these folks were really about. Thanks Ferd for revealing yourself.
because it makes no sense to pronounce every word you say in a perfect english accent then suddenly when any spanish word comes along you have to over enunciate it in a spanish accent!!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! it makes me want to break my tv!!!!
@Meghan. – you can tell Marcela primarily speaks spanish, not english. (and if you cant tell, her bio says she grew up in mexico) Why would she american-ize a mexican word while speaking in her non-native language? Pepin doesn’t. Would you pronounce your own name differently if you were trying to speak spanish? french? Regardless, she does have a kinda annoying voice – but props to her for learning the english accent.
She is pronouncing that way so that the gringos will understand how to say it. The correct way. That’s what i think is happening at least.
Yes the recipes are a little too simple, and the editing makes it way to repetitive, but she’s fresh and new. Not stuffy like so many others on tv.
I like it
“…so that the gringos will understand how to say it.”
SERIOUSLY? Are us gringos THAT retarded?
yes you are… sorry
and the comment above its completly righ… it´s TORTILLAS (the way she is pronouncing it) and not … TOUR-TEE-YAZ (the way you gringos pronounce it)
I´m sorry, but always felt that if we need to learn properly your lenguage…
then YOU should put a little effort on trying to at least pronounce some of the words you normally use the way they are supossed to be pronounced.
CHEE-POU-TLE—-its CHIPOTLE!!!!
JA-LA-PEI-ÑOU— its JALAPEÑO!!!
and finally…
CO-ROU-NAS (beer) — its CORONAA!!!!!
and so on…
Carmen — pronounce N!xau
pronounce entschuldigung
pronounce Beqa
pronounce nuclear
pronounce ИДИОТ
and so on.
Yeah…the only problem with that, Carmen, is that a LOT of Spanish speaking folks DO NOT bother to learn English…hence, the reason ALL of our product packages now have to be bilingual.
You should be careful whom you call stupid.
do not bother to learn english??? im sorry, but isnt she speaking in english? how do you think we should translate tortillas then? as if translating anything hurts you, suck it up darling
A lot of people never to bother to learn English, because unfortunately they were born in a country and a family that was not able to afford them an education in Spanish, let alone English. So if they can barely read/write in Spanish how are they supposed to learn English. Do you think that some poor caucasina person who was not afforded but only a 6th grade education (or less) is going to learn Spanish or French? If people don’t learn English, it’s because it’s to hard to build on to the little knowledge they have. Like any culture, Mexicans, latinos, etc. have the very well educated, and the ones that are not. Any high society latino that comes to the U.S. will learn English before stepping foot in the U.S. or at the latest, as soon as they arrive!
Carmen learn how to spell “LANGUAGE” before you start saying all gringos are stupid.
Actually I think the funniest part was the dubbed in “Wait for it..”
LOL agreed!
yes, she’s annoying. but she probably won’t last long. every spanish cooking show they’ve attempted has failed and fallen off the radar. just wait for this one to flop, too.
i mean, how far can you get with baked chips and guac?
wait…this is food network…nevermind.
Ugh, I hate that! I call it ‘convenient ethnicity’. Giada has it and obviously so does this chick. I think I’ll pass, thank you.
FNH could make “Guide To Pronunciation” a series. Giada handles Italian, and now we have Marcela for Spanish.
Wasn’t she a contestant on Martha Stewart’s “Apprentice” show?
Yep
A sI posted below she was not as Mexican back then. Just a pale looking white chick.
OMG, I refuse to watch the show, her previews made me want to claw my eyes out and stuff cotton wadding in my ears! Wait till the cleavage makes an appearance…then they will be twins…
personally I can’t wait for that.
She is pretty sexy, I’ll admit that, but I keep having to remind myself that Food Network’s purpose is not sexy women.
Now we just need to convince THEM of that…
I kept wondering if there was an invisible little person in the studio…it looked like she kept giving them a high-five with all those hand motions!
Yes, Jillian Madison What’s wrong with pronouncing words as they are supposed to be pronounced? and you dont know how to pronounce it is: THOR-TEE-YAZZ not TOUR-TEE-UGHS?
I find it amazing that so many people take exception to someone pronouncing Spanish correctly. Perhaps you find it so annoying because you are not used to hearing the words said they way they should be said. You want to know what is annoying? What is annoying is the complete lack of respect for the Spanish language. What is annoying is that Ro-tel/Velveeta ad and the voice over that says, “Kay-so.” That is so embarrassing. Marcela is pronouncing the words correctly although I did hear her dumb it down a few times and change “Serrano” with a beautifully trilled ‘r’ to and Anglicized, “Say-rahn-no.” She did it again with Cilantro, dumbing it down to “See-lahn-trow.” I’m sure the producers of the show would prefer if she mis-pronounce the words because if she says them with the correct accent and inflection then many in the viewing public, such as the people on this forum, would not understand what she is saying. Hah-lah-Peh-nyo” not “Hah-lah-peen-nyo.” “Ah-bah-neh-rroh” not “Hah-bahn-nee-yair-oh.” Its called respect for the language.
If there were a German show or an Irish show I’m sure I would not be reading complaints about “Schnitzel” being pronounced as it should be.
And, oh my goodness, isn’t just fabulous when someone says “Crême Brulée” or any of the other French terms with perfect diction? Would you get on Jacques Pépin’s ass for speaking his native tongue correctly? Je pense que non.
Its like that old joke: What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bi-lingual. What do you call someone who only speaks one language? American.
Go Marcela. Don’t dumb it down. Speak the language as it should be spoken.
PS: Vanilla is Spanish.
Ouch. This bilingual American (living in Uruguay currently) thinks you’re generalizing just a wee bit there.
Although I’m with you on the pronunciation of jalapeño.
BINGO!
totalmente de acuerdo… como puse en una respuesta más arriba…
se dice TORTILLA… no TOUR-TEE-YA
If you want to hear TORTILLA pronounced correctly, stay in Mexico.
Here’s a head’s up: Food Network is an AMERICAN company…NOT a MEXICAN one. Until YOU can pronounce every English word correctly, kindly DO NOT tell me what *I* should do in my own country.
ahh…so what?
I speak perfect English and I even know where to put apostrophes.
Diane, I’m American and don’t blow a gasket every time someone properly pronounces “tortilla.” Now go eat your mac and cheese.
Diane, might I suggest, since you are so provincial when in comes to the United States, that you not use any of the food products that are of Mexican origin. I’m not talking where they are grown, I’m talking of where they originate. All these foods are native to Mexico and America South: Tomatoes, Potatoes, Chocolate, Strawberries, Vanilla, and Avocados. If you want to exclude the middle-east as well then you’ll have to forgo Onions and Garlic.
And since I can pronounce every American English word correctly, get over it.
Why do people on this site find words being pronounced correctly so threatening?
ohhh darling! american company? as in the whole CONTINENT???? i looove how you asume your little piece of land is a continent, guess what? you’re not alone here, so cut the hate and just accept the fact that the origin of the words demands a proper pronunciation, ok?
Wow. I’ve gotta say, I’m used to the pronunciation (it’s the Southwest, after all), but it’s the sheer number of times she said it that made my eye twitch. And this is just nit-picking, but a single R in a word in Spanish (tortilla versus carro, to use the first word off the top of my head). The single R and the double R are pronounced differently. She’s over-emphasizing the R, when it doesn’t need to be rolled like that at all.
Edward, I think the gist is not the fact that she pronounces it correctly or incorrectly; frankly, I think that’s besides the point, and as you correctly pointed out, she’s inconsistent on that note. I think the phenomenon that irks people is the fact that Marcella, Giada, and others speak with American accents (and why not…they’ve been naturalized Americans for many years), yet revert to a different accent/method of pronunciation on only words that have been Anglicized into our language from their home cultures. Giada doesn’t put an Italian flair on everything…only Italian words. Marcella doesn’t put a Mexican flair on everything….only Spanish or Mexican words. If the hosts would typically speak with an Italian or Mexican accents, then I don’t think there would be an issue. As is, it tends to sound random and gimmicky as opposed to genuine.
That said, I actually don’t mind it so much, personally.
If she spoke with a Mexican accent all of the time, she wouldn’t have a show. I’m sure you’ve seen all of the reality shows out there where people are trying to get different jobs, whether it’s chef, designer, model or any other occupation, they are always turned down if they are not able to be understood by the average American.
I am Portuguese and Spanish and I speak with a perfect accent for either, and if I say a word that is understood in English, such as tortilla, I do say it with an accent. If you grew up on one language, you will revert back to it’s accent when you’re speaking it, it’s nearly unavoidable. And I have to say, if I was on TV cooking Portuguese food, I would surely say the words as I would to my Grandmother or any other Portuguese native. You should want to hear how the word is actually pronounced, not be annoyed by it.
I will agree on Giada, though. I’ve known many Italians and I’ve never in my life heard “spaghetti” over-pronounced the way she does.
I think you nailed it. It’s the complete stop down, change-of-cadence stumbling that annoys those of us who speak English first and usually only.
I don’t care if it’s tortilla or ricotta or umame or pierogi or aluminum (watch BBC for plenty of Britishisms), if the words surrounding it are presented with an American accent, I want the foreign words de-emphasized to keep the flow.
And when you’re on an American network, you gotta appeal to the gringos.
There is proper pronunciation, and there is over-pronunciation. Yes, I’d gladly deal with Giada and Marcela speech habits if it meant getting Paula and Rachel and Bobby to speak properly and not make up their own damn words, but it appears to the natives (those of us American mutts many generations removed from our foreign lands) that they try to hard to beat “proper” pronunciation over our heads. It feels patronizing and condescending. Like we suck because we happen to be born Americans and dare only know English.
You are projecting your own insecurities and rationalizations onto why she is saying the words correctly. If you feel patronized and condescended to then perhaps its time to go back and reclaim your native tongue. She is being who she is. You ask her to say words as they should not be said. She is sharing words with you as they should be said. Not once have I heard her say, “OK you stupid Americans … say it like this … ” No, she is being honest in her intonation, pronunciation, diction, and syntax. I presume you watch the Food Network to learn how to cook. Now you have a chance to learn some Spanish as well. What is wrong with that?
I think the thing people are forgetting is that Marcela’s first language is Spanish. So, for her to keep the flow and Anglicize certain words is asking her to do something that is counter to her natural speech pattern. When people speak their brains access the most readily available word. That is why when you are learning a new language you have a lag time. You are trying to say something in French and your brain accesses “Please” first then translates it to “S’il vous plait.” Its the same with pronunciation which is why people have accents, and yes, Marcela does indeed have an accent. When you ask her to Anglicize “Tortilla” you are asking her to go against her nature. You are asking her to interrupt her flow and say a word in a way that she is not really used to. I cringe when I hear her Anglicize words. Its an embarrassment and displays the intolerance for language and just how provincial the United States still is. If you are not willing to do the same, by which I mean, do your best to pronounce ‘foreign’ words correctly, you should not ask her to do the same. This is not just a show about Mexican cooking, it is a show about Mexican culture. She should, and I hope will continue to pronounce the every word as they should be.
I agree with most of what you are saying, but as a Spanish/ESL teacher, I have to disagree. My students who are native speakers of Spanish only in the accent of one language. If you give them something in Spanglish, they can confused and stumble over the words.
As far as translating to your native language before you speak, that only happens in new learners of the language. I have studied Spanish for so long that I don’t have to translate into English first (and would like meaning in the Spanish words if I did) and can simply understand the Spanish. For those like Giada and Marcela, they know English enough that they don’t have to translate to Italian/Spanish first. If they did, they would have to memorize their cooking scripts or they speech would take much more time. Simply step into an ESL classroom or Spanish I/II class and see how long the learner takes to process the words of their new language.
On another note: I also lived in Italy for 4 months in college and never heard anyone speak the way Giada does. I do have Spanish speakers speak the Marcela does. Her ennuciation doesn’t really bother me at all.
I for one absolutely agree w/ you
I’m kinda surprised nobody is making fun of her for saying “yay!” when she took the chips out of the oven!
Roo, we probably should, but it just too darned cute…like a 10 year-old making mini-brownies in an Easy Bake oven for the first time… :)
I know people who are actually from Mexico (is she? I don’t know) who don’t pronounce tortilla with so much flourish and enthusiasm. I’m Irish American. Is it my obligation to speak with a brogue when pronouncing corned beef and cabbage or soda bread? Wouldn’t that just be ASSININE?
“Corned beef and cabbage” are clearly English words with English pronunciations. Tortilla, chipotle, etc. are Spanish words that are used in English because there is no translation. The accent is not the issue here, it is the pronunciation.
I know many people from the Old Sod (where they speak English as well as learn Irish in school – no, not Gaelic) and they call it corned beef and cabbage. Not to be argumentative because this site is for fun but wouldn’t me pronouncing corned beef and cabbage with a brogue, due to the history of the dish, be the same as this woman’s dramatization of the word tortilla? Just sayin’.
She looks like a stripper.
I don’t give a rats ass how she says what she says. My problem is that this again is not authentic Mexican cuisine, but rather “Mexicanized” American food. She was so hung up on not doing a show with “yellow cheese” well, what about chips and dip??.boring!! what about pozole, or pollo en mole or even tamales e nopales con chile verde.. NEXT!!
YES! I’m totally with you!! I am from the Midwest and was nearly a grown-up before I learned that there is a difference between Mexican, Spanish, and Tex-Mex cuisines. Each has their own merits, but on a MEXICAN cooking show, I want to learn how to make MEXICAN dishes. I really don’t know how authentically Mexican guacamole is, but it’s fair to say that every Tex-Mex restaurant and American cookbook has a version of it.
I don’t care how you pronounce it, but teach me how to make an authentic mole, carnitas, or green chili sauce.
This show is about Mexican food made easy. Plus we’ve only seen two episodes. Give her a chance. Frankly, I’d much rather see Marcela take the lead in authentic Mexican food and not have to listen to carpetbaggers like Rick Bayless, regardless of his obvious love of the food. Carnitas, pozole, menudo, buche, nopales, chiles rellenos, tamales. This show is about quick and easy. It is designed for the North American palate. I’m with you guys. Turkey Mole, jalapeños en escabeche, frijoles a la olla, cabrito asado, there is so much.
Wouldn’t call Blyless a carpet bager.
BTW do you work for FN?
Bayless a carpetbagger ? Dude you really don’t know jackshit about food obviously. In fact, in your short time here, you’ve made some pretty stupid remarks . Are you a FN agitator ? Your boyfriend a Scripps monkey ?
Eat your Beefaroni Waldo. I’m sure that is where your palate is at.
THANK YOU! Guacamole and tortilla chips are NOT Mexican food! Unless she’s making posole, I can do that stuff in my sleep.
And if you want green chile sauce, you have to ask a New Mexican. Nobody does it like us.
Why can’t an already respected authority on mexican cuisine have a show? Rick Bayless for example….oh yeah – he doesn’t have cleavage – I guess he wouldn’t cut it.
PBS.
maybe he should get some moobs.
I think Rick Bayless has too much integrity and self respect (and probably money) to do one of these shows. I can’t believe he even did that challenge but was glad he kicked Chiarello’s closeted ass.
First off, I’m a lurker coming out in the open and I love your website. Since this post seemed to spark such a discussion on language, I couldn’t resist chipping in.
I think most people agree that Giada over-enunciates, but this lady did not seem to be taking it that far. I do agree with Waldo in saying that its feels more correct to revert back to the original pronunciation of the word if you are a native language speaker. It is simply a matter of years of conditioning. I am a non-native English speaker and there are several words in my native language that are now part of English. While I can (and do) pronounce them in their anglicized versions, it still feels very uncomfortable even after several years. I do it simply not to confuse the others.
In her case, she is unlikely to confuse anybody by pronouncing Tortilla the correct way, and I have no issues with that, unlike with someone like Giada, who is using the pronunciation solely as a gimmick. I also don’t have much issue with FNH making fun of it, coz hey, its a humor website.
I don’t think Giada is using her pronunciation as a gimmick. She was born in Italy, and spent her summers there as a child. It’s probably just natural for her to pronounce Italian words correctly.
My mistake, then. I always felt she dragged them a bit too much, even though I can’t be sure, having never been to Italy. :) Some of her recipes work for me, and that’s all I’m really interested in.
Okay, so oh sheeot on a shingle (ala MD) — totally went off topic & went on reply mode… my sincere apologetic mode, yes indeedy. So, do we not like the new Mex Chef??? I recorded the first program or maybe two, but haven’t watched yet. Not mucho interested in the decor, boobie shots, muffin tops (yeah, still from Feeenix, see that all too much here), etc… but are the recipes at least inovative (NOT on a spelling bee tonite, so not interested in my spelling’s integrity in the least… off the clock dammitol!), tastelly & try-worthy? If not, I shall implement due diligence & erase, such that I can make more room for Fairy programs for dear sweet misguided hubby… ugh! At least I can call the chefs/cooks (don’t matter much to me what they are at that point) hi-lited on the programs & get some real scoopie doopie doo… it works, too!!! Try it sometime! I digress, or something… getting past all the food porn shit, are her culinary presentations worth a shot? Living in the desert so close to the boarder & boardered by states that have very different Mex regional influences, I am truly interested… PS btw I am averse to onions (chalk one up to Snott on Chopped, agreed on that point) so am looking for something that is authentic with minimal use of onions, unless they are incorporated blindly… my faves have always been on Yucatan Peninsula… what’s she got goin’ on???? Thanks, in advance, for everyone’s unbiased & objective input on this. Also have a love hate relationship with Tomatoes — love them, but without Benadryl or Epi at the ready, they hate me… the bastards…
I agree with Enjay. When you are a non-native speaker of English and you have to pronounce words from your native language (Spanish, in my case), it comes as second nature to pronounce them the way they should be pronounced. Trying to pronounce the anglicized version of the words feels like I’m mispronouncing my own native language.
I do think, though, that she used the word “tortilla” too many times… Maybe that’s why it was so annoying.
I’m pretty sure Alton Brown made homemade tortilla chips out of homemade tortillas.
Kinda sad when the good ol’ southern boy can out-cook the actual current designated hispanic food network chef.
He did. He dedicated two episodes to corn tortillas alone. I’m hoping he does a flour tortilla episode soon.
Holy crap, I’d better not ever call up Jill’s “chat line” because you accent criticizers would have an absolute field day with me. My English sounds pretty similar to that of Ina Garten and I am a fluent Spanish speaker so I do use proper annunciation for all (recently-borrowed) Spanish words. I agree with others that it is very awkward to Anglicize the pronunciation of certain things THAT AREN’T ENGLISH WORDS in the first place. I am delighted to hear that a few people on the food network pronounce things in French, Italian, and Spanish properly! Now if only a few of the hosts could work on their pronunciation in English…
Cheese and Rice people! I’m pretty sure it’s the NUMBER of times she said it…not the way it was pronounced.
Get the piss over it!
I remember her from Martha Stewart’s Apprentice. She looks a hell of a lot more Mexican now than back then. She had a much lighter look almost blond. Mousy in look and nature. A lame contestant no skills of any kind. Interesting to see that now she is ‘Mexican’ suddenly she is much darker hair and skin tone. Kind of makes you wonder is she was doing a southern cooking show if she’d put on black face.
When she was on the show she would pull a Debbie and make sure everyone knew what her ethnicity was. Even back then she was very theatrical and deliberate in pronouncing any remotely Spanish words.
Calm down, overly dramatic people. I’m just going to recap the issue:
Proper Pronounciation = Acceptable
OVER-Enunciation = Annoying
How is it annoying when it comes to Giada and not Marcela for some people when they are doing the exact same thing with the pronounciation?
On a different note, I’ve decided to tell Bobby Tusch I’m raiding the Food Network and starting my own cooking show on Indian food/food I like. If they can give McStupid a show, I should be more than qualified. Even though I’m not a fan of cleavage and stripper make-up.
That’s McStupid Jr. if you please.
[...] TK wrote a very interesting post today. Here’s a quick excerpt:… grossly over-enunciated the word in her Spanish dialect every single time. Marcela, we get it. You’re Mexican. Now will you please stop exaggerating only certain words, and come up with recipes more exciting than beer with lime and … [...]
I really don’t care about her over-pronouncing spanish words as much as the fact that HER SHOW SUCKS! It doesn’t even remotely delve into the world of Mexican cuisine. Why did they get rid of Daisy Martinez (who covered all types of Hispanic food from Mexico to Spain to Central/South America to Puerto Rico, etc)?
I have watched both episodes and looking at my DVR guide for this Saturday’s episode, it doesn’t scream “mexican”. On the menu this Saturday: butternut squash soup, ancho-crusted rack of lamb w/ mint jelly sauce, and strawberry tartlets. The only thing I see that can be classified as Mexican is the ancho crust and BOBBY FLAY HAS ALREADY DONE IT!
Way to go FN- Decided to sign another amateur instead of real talent in their quest to find a “Star”.
You have a narrow view of Mexican food. Butternut squash originally comes from Mexico.
we mexicans actually eat strawberries and all kinds of fruits and vegetables.
I saw the tortilla show and that was enough for me. Another FN show I won’t be watching . Too ditsy for me. For genuine Mexican cuisine give me Rick Bayless or Diana Kennedy any day. I loved Daisy’s show too. FN is not about chefs anymore, it’s about celebrity
Waldo, your verbosity is exceeded only by your stupidity, get a dictionary before you start throwing insults around. Then get a Spanish one tontopollas
Aunt Sandy’s gonna make a drinking game out of this one… “Alright Bricer, every time the nice lady says ‘TORRRRRRRTIYUH,’ pour Aunt Sandy another shot of watermelon vodka, okay sweetie?”
Who cares how Marcela pronounces some of her words? I saw the show, cooked some of the recipes, and they were good. That’s all the counts. Maybe you guys should stick to Sandra Lee. LOL
I don’t kmow what you are talking about I am mexican MEXICAN (from Mexico not chicana) and that is the way I say tortilla, I think you are just jealous and frustrated because she has a cooking show on FN and you don’t.
Ooh NO! Now a gringo is gonna teach me how to pronunciate words from my own language, you are so stupid, go watch Paula Dean if you don’t like it.
Haw haw haw! She’s got a funny accent!
Now now, let’s play nice in the sandbox..we’re all friends at FNH. ‘Jealous’ of FN personalities? Ahhhh, no.
Its just obnoxious to be condescended onto while watching a freaking cooking show. The thing is, she didn’t apply her accent to other words (Guacamole for example has a different pronunciation) so why just to tortilla? That is annoying.
Her show was boring anyway.
hey, mexican girl speaking, she is not really exaggerating the word, it REALLY is pronounced like that, but of course gringos loooove monotonous accents :D
still, im with you on the lack of variety of her recipes
Did someone make a call to the Marcela Defense Force?
First off, none of us white Americans can help that we are white Americans either. We were born white Americans–I don’t recall spinning the Wheel of Ethnicity when I was a fetus. I popped out of the womb a white male, and I wasn’t given a choice in the matter. I’ve noticed quite a bit of barbs at the expense of the “gringos,” which should be just as unacceptable as if we made fun of anyone else’s background.
Note we bitch and complain about any exaggerated speech patterns. Paula’s overly-southern screetching, Rachel’s childish made-up crap, Giada’s Italian Hooked on Phonics, Bobby’s butchering of simple Spanish words, even Marc Summers’ strange pauses. It all can be annoying. As can completely breaking up the flow of your speech to “properly” pronounce something. It may be correct, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t cause a disconnect with the audience. And if that disconnect with the audience, who, given the network, all speaks English, is too great, the show doesn’t get watched.
And it’s a show about Mexican culture? Really? Mexican culture is best represented from a contemporary California kitchen overlooking the Pacific? Rick Bayless is more Mexican than Marcela if that’s the case.
I see this site as a FN-specific web version of The Soup. To take anything overly seriously here is to miss the point completely.
Thank you, Scruffy! I keep coming back to this thread because I am amazed at all the vitriol directed at “gringos.” This site makes fun of Giada’s over enunciations all the time and I have never seen anyone come to her defense like this. Some of these defenders have some major pent up anger and obviously don’t get what this blog is about. Sheesh, simmer down Marcela defenders and enjoy the greatness that is FNH! This will probably be Marcela’s first and last season anyway because judging by what we have seen so far, she appears to be a one trick pony.
Potro
for you and all the haters, the one trick pony has been picked up for 13 more espisodes. You Go Marcela!!!!
I always thought that gringo was a derogatory term.
In her defense, if she’s really hispanic and she goes around saying Tortilla like a white girl, her family and friends will probably rip on her all the time. I’m hispanic and if I say word that’s in spanish like I’m saying it in English, I’d never hear the end of it.
I was so excited for this show to start (what took FN so long to come up with a Mexican themed show?) Anyway, disappointment is an understatement. Butternut squash soup? Not quite the Mexican food I had in mind. Beer with ice? No thanks. And then her Spanglish enunciations just drive me nuts. I can’t take it. Id rather watch that freaky Rick Bayless on PBS.
1st of all, I am a native San Diegan…I never heard of this woman, nor did I ever hear of that B-O-R-I-N-G woman who won Food Network Star a few years back…
Today I saw the last 5 minutes of this show, and she’s making LAMB??? Oh, that’s mexican food for sure (???!!!)
They only gave her a show cuz she is young and attractive. How about scandanavian cooking??? A highly overlooked cuisine!
I just watched this week an old episode of Bobby’s throwdown. He came to San Diego to battle a guy who made the best fish tacos. She was one of the judges. She looked much whiter and had long hair then. I’m also from SD and had never heard of her. Her show is filmed in a house here in Pt. Loma.
Yeah, I happened to catch it on FN last week and thought it would be interesting to watch. But after hearing say TOUR-TEE-YAH once, I turned to my husband and said, “Oh no, not a Mexican Giada.” He said, “He doesn’t have her rack though.”
It’s interesting to see all the buzz this young lady is making. I’m a Mexican national from the state of Baja California and I have lived in San Diego for the last 8 years.
Unfortunately, I’d never heard of Chef Marcela Valladolid. Now I do, however, and it makes me feel proud of her. The fact that she hosts a TV show in the Food Network featuring Mexican cousine is a great achivement, for which I congratulate her.
If anybody thinks, however, that she’s doing wrong for pronouncing, or even over-enunciating, words in Spanish for which there is no translation to English, then I feel the need to comment that it’s very common for international chefs to do that. Have you ever heard a French or Italian chef saying “scargot” or “tortellini”? It’s natural to use the ORIGINAL accent. How about the “Hors D’oeuvres”? Some English-speaking people don’t even know what it means when they read it in a menu, let alone how to pronounce it.
Come on, accept it. Mexican culture has expanded drastically in the USA and it’s here to stay, reaching places in the media that were dominated by European and some Americans chefs. Thus, be aware that Mexican cousine is not just tacos, burritos, carne asada, salsa, and Margaritas.
BUEN PROVECHO !!!
I think you’re all making a big deal out of nothing. Tortilla IS a Spanish word, and guess what, it would be pronounced with none other than a Spanish accent! GASP! Seriously, folks, how else would you expect her to say it? Tour-till-luh? What about Jalapeño? Hal-a-peen-o? What if she makes eggs? Whoo-way-voes?
The last episode of Marcela didn’t even include Mexican food, made easy or otherwise (lamb, huh?). The neckline is coming down though, so the Giada-fication of our new chef is in full effect. Was wondering how long it would take and figured we wouldn’t have to wait too long!
Hate to point this out to you, but my grandmother who never stepped a foot outside Mexico in her life made lamb (but more often kid) quite often. Granted, she didn’t put an ancho crust on it, but it sure as heck wasn’t the blandness I’ve seen in other lamb recipes. If you go into southern Mexico, you’ll find the butternut squash. I’m a bit confused as to what everyone thinks should be “Mexican,” as classifying Mexican cuisine can’t be accomplished any more easily as saying something is “American” or “U.S.” cuisine. Each region has its distinct flavor profiles and favorite ingredients. The mexican food I grew up with is extremely different from that my husband ate as a child, which is equally different from what my son eats.
I’ve seen all three of the episodes thus far, and have taken away at least one recipe from each that I can use in my own kitchen. That is what is important to me … not the pronunciation, or enunciation, of ingredients or the number of times those words are said in a half hour time frame.
I haven’t watched the whole show, but from the posted recap the problem seems to be that she is such a newbie. She has a hard time coming up with anything interesting to say – get a writer – you cant just wing it. Plus, she is a little too excited and ditzy. She’s a woman acting like a teenager, which is just a tad sad. Anywho, hope she learns from her mistakes and toughens up quick. Good Luck Marcela!
LMAO @ all these people getting mad because someone doesn’t say foreign words in a hillbilly accent.
If you don’t know what the proper enunciation is, you can’t say she’s over-enunciating. Idiots.
She annoys me too. But I don’t know if she’s over-enunciating. This website must be run by white people.
That woman is the most annoying person on TV. She should either have an accent all the time or none of the time.
Okay kids, settle down.
The annoying thing about this video was the sheer number of times she said the words “tortilla chips” – not the pronunciation.
Marcela is pronouncing Spanish words properly because she grew up in Tijuana and speaks Spanish with a native accent.
Giada on the other hand was born in Rome, but moved to the US with her family as a child and doesn’t speak Italian fluently. If you watched her travel show to Rome and listened to her trying to speak Italian, it is basic and child-like at best. Which is fine. Nobody said she had to be a fluent speaker. She comes off as obnoxious because she tries way too hard to sound like she speaks Italian fluently by totally exaggerating every word. If she didn’t give us the over-enunciated, sing-songy version of Italian words, I would have no problems with her proper pronunciation of them.
I speak English, Spanish, and Italian and I do my best to pronounce the words of each language properly. I don’t understand why anyone would pronounce Italian or Spanish words with an American accent if they know the proper pronunciation. I mean really, why would I say GWAK-UH-MOLE-EEE when I know damn well it’s pronounced WAK-AH-MOHL-EH ??? Or MASS-CAR-POWN-EEE when I know it’s pronounced MAS-CAHR-POH-NEH (silent Hs!) Seriously, why would I???
It’s true, her over-enunciating is annoying but what’s more is how eager I was for this show to begin and now several episodes later, I do not have one recipe that I want to try (I still Tivo the show in hopes this will change). I will admit, Giada’s enunciations are humorous but I have so many recipes from her and have have learned so much from her shows and I just wish I could get something from Marcela other than hearing her say “touuuurrrrrr-teeeeeeee-yuhhhhhhs” 50 times in three minutes.