The Food Wife
Encyclopedia
"The Food Wife" is the fifth episode of the twenty-third season
of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons
. It originally aired on Fox
in the United States
on November 13, 2011, and was seen by around 7.5 million people during this broadcast. In the episode, Homer
feels left out when Marge
, Bart
, and Lisa
start a food blog. This blog quickly becomes popular and the trio is invited to a molecular gastronomy
restaurant. Feeling pity towards Homer, Marge invites him along. However, after beginning to worry that he will reclaim his position as the parent perceived as the most fun by the children, she sends him to the wrong address. Homer unknowingly arrives at a meth lab, where a gunfight starts as the police burst in.
The episode was written by Matt Selman
. It contains several references to different foods and famous chefs, and is largely devoted to the foodie
culture, which Selman has said that he "always thought was funny and fascinating. The idea of food as not only something you enjoy eating, but as something that you are so passionate about that you're kind of bragging about it." Tim Heidecker
and Eric Wareheim
, the stars and creators of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
, guest starred in the episode as two foodies and performed a rap song that makes fun of foodies. Chefs and media personalities Anthony Bourdain
, Gordon Ramsay
, and Mario Batali
also guest starred in the episode, but as themselves in a dream sequence. Although "The Food Wife" has received generally positive reviews from television critics, particularly for the rap song, it has also attracted criticism from certain food critics.
takes his children, Bart
and Lisa
, to a video game convention for another fun Saturday. Upon their return home, Marge
feels upset that Homer gets to be the "fun dad", while she is stuck doing unexciting things with the children. Next Saturday, she decides to take Bart and Lisa to an "X-Games" convention, thinking it will be something fun. However, when they arrive, they are disappointed to find out that it is a Christian event, and the actual name of the convention is "†
Games". The car engine dies on the way back and they are forced to stop in the neighborhood of Little Ethiopia, where the three go into a restaurant serving Ethiopian food. Although initially averse to the exotic food, Marge is reminded of the fact that she wants to be a fun mom and therefore asks for the most authentic dish on the menu for her and her children. All three of them enjoy the food. At the restaurant, Marge, Bart, and Lisa bump into a group of foodie
s, who encourage them to start their own food blog
, "The Three Mouthketeers". The blog quickly becomes popular and the three spend much time together trying out new food and writing about it. This leaves Homer feeling left out and sad.
When the trio gets an invitation to an exclusive molecular gastronomy
restaurant called El Chemistri, Marge invites Homer out of pity. After announcing this to Bart and Lisa, he reclaims his "fun dad" title, leaving Marge worried about losing her new bond with the children. In one of her dreams that night, she and the children are trying out new food together with chef Anthony Bourdain
when Homer jumps in on a hop ball
and eats up everything, taking away the children's attention from Marge. Homer, Bart, Lisa, Bourdain, and other famous chefs that have shown up, such as Mario Batali
, then jump away from Marge on hop balls, leaving her by herself. Afterwards, Gordon Ramsay
appears next to her, using profanity while telling her that she should not have invited Homer. The next day, she deliberately gives Homer the wrong address to the restaurant.
When Marge and the children arrive at El Chemistri, Homer unknowingly arrives at an illegal meth lab that he thinks is the actual restaurant. While the trio eat their meal (deconstructed Caesar salad
) with other foodies, Marge feels guilty about misdirecting Homer. Meanwhile, Homer meets the meth dealer and other drug addicts, whom he believes to be food hipsters
. Just as he is about to have a taste of the meth (which he thinks is food produced with the help of molecular gastronomy), the police burst in and a gunfight ensues between them and the drug addicts. At El Chemistri, Marge receives a panicked text message from Homer requesting help, and she asks the other foodies to help save her husband. They refuse, so she, Bart, and Lisa head by themselves towards the meth lab after receiving doggie bags from the chef who is angry that they are leaving. After arriving, Marge throws apple pie from her doggie bag into the mouth of the meth dealer. This causes a flashback inside his mind to his childhood days when his mother used to make apple pie. With the help of this distraction, the police subdue him. After Marge apologizes to Homer, they and their children decide to have fun together as a whole family from now on.
"The Food Wife" was written by executive producer of The Simpsons Matt Selman
. The writing process began around September 2010. According to Selman, the episode mainly revolves around Homer and Marge competing about who is perceived as the most fun by Bart and Lisa, a situation that he thinks parents can identify with in real-life. The episode also focuses heavily on foodies and food blogs. Selman said in an interview with New York
magazine's Grub Street publication that the foodie culture is "just a world that I always thought was funny and fascinating. The idea of food as not only something you enjoy eating, but as something that you are so passionate about that you're kind of bragging about it. 'I'm the one who discovered this particular Korean pork-neck soup restaurant,' and you can kind of claim that as yours. The blogging just feeds into that kind of territorial element that I always thought was inherently funny. And when I write Simpsons episodes, I try to start with a world I think is funny, and think, 'What's a good story we can tell in that world, using the characters that we have?'"
Describing himself as "sort of a foodie", Selman has said that food is constantly on his mind and that he particularly likes reading food critic Jonathan Gold
's reviews in LA Weekly. He told LA Weekly
s Squid Ink food blog that he likes foodies, despite making fun of them in "The Food Wife". He commented that on the show, he has often "taken something that I love, found the one little weird, bad thing about it and harped on that", giving foodies as an example and writing: "You can make fun of them for being pretentious or snobby or taking the fun out of eating. That you'd rather photograph something than taste it is a funny nuance of the phenomenon. That it's more about sticking your flag in something than actually enjoying it. We kind of make fun of foodies, but in real life we actually love them."
Selman was pleased with the finished result of the episode. He noted in the interview with Grub Street that Marge starting to blog about food "does not sound inherently exciting, but the episode itself is actually very exciting, and I'm super thrilled with the way it's turned out." Selman thinks a strong thing about the episode is the fact that, despite Homer's love for food, Homer is not the one that becomes a foodie as one might expect. He explained that this is because although Homer loves eating, "he's kind of a blue-collar kind of guy who doesn't like foreign food, weird food, savoring food, intellectualizing food, blogging about it, photographing it – he just wants to be stuffed all the time."
cooking, referrals to chefs Wylie Dufresne
, Frank Bruni
, and Ruth Reichl
, a mention of the soup phở
from Vietnam and how to pronounce it correctly, and the inclusion of the El Chemistri owner who is based on the Spanish chef José Andrés
(known for using molecular gastronomy). Selman has commented that food produced with the help of molecular gastronomy "lends itself to comedy quite nicely. There’s a dish [at El Chemistri], for instance, called Regret. The waiter cries into your soup when he serves it. The human tear is the final ingredient." The fictional character Swedish Chef
is also seen in the episode, and the scene where the meth dealer is reminded of his childhood after eating the apple pie is a reference to the Pixar
film Ratatouille
.
In addition to the foodie culture, "The Food Wife" parodies the video game industry and references games such as God of War
, Call of Duty
, Medal of Honor
, Madden NFL
, and Angry Birds
. In the episode, Homer, Bart, and Lisa visit a video game convention called the Expensive Electronic Entertainment Expo (E4), which is a reference to the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) that is presented annually in the United States by the Entertainment Software Association
. This marked the first time that the family visited a video game convention in The Simpsons. Selman and other staff members on the show had previously visited E3 during the release of The Simpsons video games such as The Simpsons Game
. While appearing on GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley on November 11, 2011, Selman commented that "We've been to so many [E3s] and we've been pushed around, and knocked around, and seen so many PR guys [talk] about how hard it was working on their game. We've seen how expensive the food is, and how nuts it is, and the bloggers, and the photos, and just the noises [...] We had to do it on the show."
In the episode, Homer and his children want to see the unveiling of a new Funtendo console called Zii Zu, which is a reference to Nintendo
's Wii U console. As he and the children make their way through the crowded convention to get to the unveiling, the screen turns into a first-person shooter game
through the eyes of Homer. He uses Frisbee
s and a fire extinguisher as weapons to get forward. According to Selman, the inspiration for this came from the fact that "if you've been to E3, you know it's insane, it's super-crowded, it's super-loud, and walking through it feels like a video game, like a nightmarish first-person video game of bloggers and nerds. You just want to get the thing that you want to get to."
and Eric Wareheim
, the stars and creators of the American sketch comedy
television series Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
, guest starred in the episode as foodies Amus Bruse and Fois Garth, respectively. These two characters are among the foodies that Marge, Bart, and Lisa meet at the Ethiopian restaurant. In the episode, they sing a rap song that according to Selman is "all bragging about how awesome and cool you are as a foodie." It was co-written by the duo, and was inspired by the song "Empire State of Mind
". Selman has commented that "In animated TV shows, whenever you're trying to show people having fun doing their new thing [in this case, Marge and the children creating content for their blog], it just kind of becomes a boring montage. And we've done so many montages on The Simpsons over 25 years, it's like, oh God, no more montages. [...] So we were like, 'Why not do a silly rap song?' Rapping is sort of inherently boastful, and there's something about being a foodie that's inherently boastful. It's like the boastfulness [that] links those things. So Tim and Eric perform a food rap song in the show – an extremely silly rap song, and the name is intentionally silly: 'Blogging a Food Blog.'"
American chef Anthony Bourdain
guest starred in the episode as himself. Selman wanted him on the show because he is a big fan and he thinks Marge would have a liking for him. Bourdain's appearance was cut short because the episode ended up being too long, and as a result, his "bad boy persona is not fully explored," Selman told Squid Ink. In addition to Bourdain, guest stars in the episode include chefs and media personalities Gordon Ramsay
and Mario Batali
as themselves. These three all appear in Marge's dream. When asked by Digital Spy
about his appearance, Ramsay said that "I grew up watching The Simpsons and love that they're foodies," and joked that "For God's sake, I had to promise Marge a spot on MasterChef
to get on the bloody show!" Selman wishes that he could have given Batali more than one line, but has admitted that "You just can't fit everything into a 21-minute show."
) and an eight percent share. The Simpsons became the highest-rated program in Fox's Animation Domination lineup that night in terms of both total viewers and in the 18–49 demographic, finishing before new episodes of Family Guy
, American Dad!
, and Allen Gregory
. For the week of November 7–13, "The Food Wife" finished seventeenth in the ratings among all prime-time broadcasts in the 18–49 demographic.
's Josh Harrison gave it an eight out of ten rating, writing that "You gotta love these Simpsons episodes that really get into the heart of a subculture. Diving head-first into the world of foodies and food blogging (after a hilarious geeky pit-stop at a video game expo), 'The Food Wife' shish-kabobs gourmet diehards while highlighting a very real problem between Homer and Marge." He concluded that the episode is "a definite swing for the fences, and I think it hits its mark completely." The scenes at the video game convention were praised by Anthony Severino of Game Revolution
as well. He commented that the writers "nailed it. Everything from the massive displays, long lines, and even the look of the Los Angeles Convention Center
was spot on. The best was how they portrayed people with 'VIP passes', you know those things that we journalists get, as douches who think they're better than the regulars."
In his review of "The Food Wife", HitFix
's Alan Sepinwall commended it for "stay[ing] true to the characters. Of course the kids would consider Homer to be the fun dad on those occasions when he's actually making an effort, and of course Marge would feel jealous of this. And if she goes too far in trying to keep this as her special thing, she also recognizes it immediately, feels guilty throughout the meal and then heads off to save the day, complete with a great homage to the climax of Ratatouille." Sepinwall also praised the episode for being "packed with great jokes", such as Heidecker and Wareheim's rap song and the scenes at the video game convention where the screen turns into a first-person shooter game. Similarly, Haydens Childs of The A.V. Club
praised the episode as "funny and well-observed", giving it a B+ grade, and cited the rap song as the highlight of the episode. He also praised Bourdain, Batali, and Ramsay, and stated that he wished Bourdain would have gotten a bigger part in the episode. Childs further wrote that "The best thing about this episode is that it doesn’t try to stuff any outlandish plot mechanics or out-of-character character moments down the viewers’ throats. It sticks to the basics: the family dynamic combined with gentle mocking of a still-current fad. I say 'still-current' because although it is probably true that food blogging is a bit past its expiration date in some cities, I don’t think that it has been overdone everywhere."
of The Village Voice
disapproved of it for being outdated. He commented that "this show should have been done, say, two or three years ago, when food blogging was hot. By now, many food bloggers of our acquaintance have out-migrated to paying gigs, and the concept of the food blog has been co-opted by every major media outlet, rendering real food blogs – the old-fashioned kind, where someone stood alone in their kitchen cooking things, or wandered the hinterlands seeking out unique deliciousness – nearly obsolete." Sietsema also criticized the scenes showcasing molecular gastronomy because he thought they were out of date, since molecular gastronomy is, "by now, long past its prime". Chris Shott, a food critic for Washington City Paper
s Young & Hungry column and blog, wrote negatively about the character that owns El Chemistri and is a parody of José Andrés. He commented that "For one thing, the character seems far more subdued than the kooky, wild-eyed power drill-wielding cook we saw on Conan recently. The satire here, involving a deconstructed Caesar salad of foams, gels and airs, is more a riff on molecular gastronomy in general than a send-up of Andrés' over-the-top personality."
Self-prescribed foodie Katharine Shilcutt of the Houston Press
Eating Our Words food blog criticized the episode for giving what she thought was an inaccurate depiction of foodies, as people that are "tacky, snotty, slightly racist, hoarders of food experiences that you gather like rare gems and patronizingly hold over other people's heads." Shilcutt added that she found it upsetting that what she believes to be the moral of the episode is that "Educated, passionate people are elitists. It reduces all the hard work that people put into creating good, honest food into a joke, and not a terribly funny one. There was no balance in the episode between smug, arrogant, obnoxious foodies and those who have a genuine, guileless interest in food and all its important permutations in our lives."
Other food critics have written positively about "The Food Wife". Lesley Balla of LA Weeklys Squid Ink blog listed her ten favorite quotes from the episode, placing the entire rap song about foodies and food blogging at the top. She commented that "Plenty of insider jokes at foodies' expense season the episode. So was it as funny to a non-food-world person as it was to someone who could identify each culinary personality in Marge's dream [...]? Safe to say, yes; it is still The Simpsons, after all. For foodists, the whole episode is entirely quotable — we're sure it will be in the food blogosphere for years to come." Laine Doss, a food blogger for the Miami New Times
and New Times Broward-Palm Beach
, commented that she "loved Lisa Simpson's list of cutest vegetarians [that appears on the blog], which included Paul McCartney
, Russell Brand
, and Edward Cullen
." Doss, as well as Elizabeth Gunnison of Esquire
s Eat Like a Man blog, also commended the rap song.
The Simpsons (season 23)
The Simpsons twenty-third season is the current season of The Simpsons. It premiered on September 25, 2011. It will include the 500th episode which is expected to air February 19, 2012. Due to financial difficulties, the network was unable to produce the show under its current contract and unless...
of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
. It originally aired on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on November 13, 2011, and was seen by around 7.5 million people during this broadcast. In the episode, Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
feels left out when Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
, Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
, and Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
start a food blog. This blog quickly becomes popular and the trio is invited to a molecular gastronomy
Molecular gastronomy
Molecular gastronomy is a subdiscipline of food science that seeks to investigate, explain and make practical use of the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients that occur while cooking, as well as the social, artistic and technical components of culinary and gastronomic phenomena in...
restaurant. Feeling pity towards Homer, Marge invites him along. However, after beginning to worry that he will reclaim his position as the parent perceived as the most fun by the children, she sends him to the wrong address. Homer unknowingly arrives at a meth lab, where a gunfight starts as the police burst in.
The episode was written by Matt Selman
Matt Selman
Matthew "Matt" Selman is an American writer and producer. Selman grew up in Massachusetts, attended the University of Pennsylvania and was editor-in-chief of student magazine 34th Street Magazine. After considering a career in journalism, he decided to try and became a television writer...
. It contains several references to different foods and famous chefs, and is largely devoted to the foodie
Foodie
Foodie is an informal term for a particular class of aficionado of food and drink. The word was coined in 1981 by Paul Levy and Ann Barr, who used it in the title of their 1984 book The Official Foodie Handbook.- Distinguished from gourmet :...
culture, which Selman has said that he "always thought was funny and fascinating. The idea of food as not only something you enjoy eating, but as something that you are so passionate about that you're kind of bragging about it." Tim Heidecker
Tim Heidecker
Tim Heidecker is an American actor, comedian, musician, writer and director. He is one half of the comedy team of Tim and Eric...
and Eric Wareheim
Eric Wareheim
Eric Wareheim is an American actor, comedian, writer and director. He is one half of the comedy team of Tim and Eric. Wareheim, along with Tim Heidecker, created the television shows Tom Goes to the Mayor, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and Check It Out! with Dr...
, the stars and creators of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! is an American sketch comedy television series, created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, which premiered February 11, 2007 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim comedy block and ran until May 2010...
, guest starred in the episode as two foodies and performed a rap song that makes fun of foodies. Chefs and media personalities Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Michael "Tony" Bourdain is an American chef, author and television personality. He is well known for his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and is the host of Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure program Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.A...
, Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay
Gordon James Ramsay, OBE is a Scottish chef, television personality and restaurateur. He has been awarded 13 Michelin stars....
, and Mario Batali
Mario Batali
Mario Batali is an American chef, writer, restaurateur and media personality. In addition to his classical culinary training, he is an expert on the history and culture of Italian cuisine, including regional and local variations. Batali co-owns restaurants in New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles,...
also guest starred in the episode, but as themselves in a dream sequence. Although "The Food Wife" has received generally positive reviews from television critics, particularly for the rap song, it has also attracted criticism from certain food critics.
Plot
HomerHomer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
takes his children, Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
, to a video game convention for another fun Saturday. Upon their return home, Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
feels upset that Homer gets to be the "fun dad", while she is stuck doing unexciting things with the children. Next Saturday, she decides to take Bart and Lisa to an "X-Games" convention, thinking it will be something fun. However, when they arrive, they are disappointed to find out that it is a Christian event, and the actual name of the convention is "†
Christian cross
The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity...
Games". The car engine dies on the way back and they are forced to stop in the neighborhood of Little Ethiopia, where the three go into a restaurant serving Ethiopian food. Although initially averse to the exotic food, Marge is reminded of the fact that she wants to be a fun mom and therefore asks for the most authentic dish on the menu for her and her children. All three of them enjoy the food. At the restaurant, Marge, Bart, and Lisa bump into a group of foodie
Foodie
Foodie is an informal term for a particular class of aficionado of food and drink. The word was coined in 1981 by Paul Levy and Ann Barr, who used it in the title of their 1984 book The Official Foodie Handbook.- Distinguished from gourmet :...
s, who encourage them to start their own food blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
, "The Three Mouthketeers". The blog quickly becomes popular and the three spend much time together trying out new food and writing about it. This leaves Homer feeling left out and sad.
When the trio gets an invitation to an exclusive molecular gastronomy
Molecular gastronomy
Molecular gastronomy is a subdiscipline of food science that seeks to investigate, explain and make practical use of the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients that occur while cooking, as well as the social, artistic and technical components of culinary and gastronomic phenomena in...
restaurant called El Chemistri, Marge invites Homer out of pity. After announcing this to Bart and Lisa, he reclaims his "fun dad" title, leaving Marge worried about losing her new bond with the children. In one of her dreams that night, she and the children are trying out new food together with chef Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Michael "Tony" Bourdain is an American chef, author and television personality. He is well known for his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and is the host of Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure program Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.A...
when Homer jumps in on a hop ball
Space hopper
A space hopper, also known as a moon hopper, skippyball, kangaroo ball, bouncer, hoppity hop, or hop ball, is a rubber ball with handles which allow one to sit on it without falling off...
and eats up everything, taking away the children's attention from Marge. Homer, Bart, Lisa, Bourdain, and other famous chefs that have shown up, such as Mario Batali
Mario Batali
Mario Batali is an American chef, writer, restaurateur and media personality. In addition to his classical culinary training, he is an expert on the history and culture of Italian cuisine, including regional and local variations. Batali co-owns restaurants in New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles,...
, then jump away from Marge on hop balls, leaving her by herself. Afterwards, Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay
Gordon James Ramsay, OBE is a Scottish chef, television personality and restaurateur. He has been awarded 13 Michelin stars....
appears next to her, using profanity while telling her that she should not have invited Homer. The next day, she deliberately gives Homer the wrong address to the restaurant.
When Marge and the children arrive at El Chemistri, Homer unknowingly arrives at an illegal meth lab that he thinks is the actual restaurant. While the trio eat their meal (deconstructed Caesar salad
Caesar salad
A Caesar salad is a salad of romaine lettuce and croutons dressed with parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, egg, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and black pepper. It may be prepared tableside.-History:...
) with other foodies, Marge feels guilty about misdirecting Homer. Meanwhile, Homer meets the meth dealer and other drug addicts, whom he believes to be food hipsters
Hipster (contemporary subculture)
Hipsters are a subculture of young, recently settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers with musical interests mainly in alternative rock that appeared in the 1990s...
. Just as he is about to have a taste of the meth (which he thinks is food produced with the help of molecular gastronomy), the police burst in and a gunfight ensues between them and the drug addicts. At El Chemistri, Marge receives a panicked text message from Homer requesting help, and she asks the other foodies to help save her husband. They refuse, so she, Bart, and Lisa head by themselves towards the meth lab after receiving doggie bags from the chef who is angry that they are leaving. After arriving, Marge throws apple pie from her doggie bag into the mouth of the meth dealer. This causes a flashback inside his mind to his childhood days when his mother used to make apple pie. With the help of this distraction, the police subdue him. After Marge apologizes to Homer, they and their children decide to have fun together as a whole family from now on.
Production
Matt Selman
Matthew "Matt" Selman is an American writer and producer. Selman grew up in Massachusetts, attended the University of Pennsylvania and was editor-in-chief of student magazine 34th Street Magazine. After considering a career in journalism, he decided to try and became a television writer...
. The writing process began around September 2010. According to Selman, the episode mainly revolves around Homer and Marge competing about who is perceived as the most fun by Bart and Lisa, a situation that he thinks parents can identify with in real-life. The episode also focuses heavily on foodies and food blogs. Selman said in an interview with New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine's Grub Street publication that the foodie culture is "just a world that I always thought was funny and fascinating. The idea of food as not only something you enjoy eating, but as something that you are so passionate about that you're kind of bragging about it. 'I'm the one who discovered this particular Korean pork-neck soup restaurant,' and you can kind of claim that as yours. The blogging just feeds into that kind of territorial element that I always thought was inherently funny. And when I write Simpsons episodes, I try to start with a world I think is funny, and think, 'What's a good story we can tell in that world, using the characters that we have?'"
Describing himself as "sort of a foodie", Selman has said that food is constantly on his mind and that he particularly likes reading food critic Jonathan Gold
Jonathan Gold
Jonathan Gold is a food critic who currently writes for LA Weekly and used to write for Gourmet magazine. In 2007 he became the first such critic to win the Pulitzer Prize. He is also a regular on KCRW's Good Food radio program....
's reviews in LA Weekly. He told LA Weekly
LA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
s Squid Ink food blog that he likes foodies, despite making fun of them in "The Food Wife". He commented that on the show, he has often "taken something that I love, found the one little weird, bad thing about it and harped on that", giving foodies as an example and writing: "You can make fun of them for being pretentious or snobby or taking the fun out of eating. That you'd rather photograph something than taste it is a funny nuance of the phenomenon. That it's more about sticking your flag in something than actually enjoying it. We kind of make fun of foodies, but in real life we actually love them."
Selman was pleased with the finished result of the episode. He noted in the interview with Grub Street that Marge starting to blog about food "does not sound inherently exciting, but the episode itself is actually very exciting, and I'm super thrilled with the way it's turned out." Selman thinks a strong thing about the episode is the fact that, despite Homer's love for food, Homer is not the one that becomes a foodie as one might expect. He explained that this is because although Homer loves eating, "he's kind of a blue-collar kind of guy who doesn't like foreign food, weird food, savoring food, intellectualizing food, blogging about it, photographing it – he just wants to be stuffed all the time."
Cultural references
Selman wanted to include things in the episode that "only really hard-core foodies would have any idea what we were talking about. This was like a love letter to foodie culture." Food references featured in the episode include jokes about sriracha sauce and sous-videSous-vide
Sous-vide is a method of cooking food sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath for a long time—72 hours is not unusual—at an accurately determined temperature much lower than normally used for cooking, typically around...
cooking, referrals to chefs Wylie Dufresne
Wylie Dufresne
Wylie Dufresne is the chef and owner of wd~50 restaurant in Manhattan. Dufresne is a leading American proponent of molecular gastronomy, the movement to incorporate science and new techniques in the preparation and presentation of food.-Early life:...
, Frank Bruni
Frank Bruni
Frank Anthony Bruni is an American journalist. He was the chief restaurant critic of The New York Times, a position he held from 2004 to 2009. In May 2011, he became the first openly gay Op-Ed columnist of The New York Times....
, and Ruth Reichl
Ruth Reichl
Ruth Reichl - pronounced RYE-chil - is an American food writer, co-producer of PBS's Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie, culinary editor for the Modern Library, host of PBS's Gourmet's Adventures With Ruth, and the last editor-in-chief of the now shuttered Gourmet magazine...
, a mention of the soup phở
PHO
PHO may refer to:* Primary Health Organisation* Potentially hazardous object, an asteroid or comet that could potentially collide with Earth...
from Vietnam and how to pronounce it correctly, and the inclusion of the El Chemistri owner who is based on the Spanish chef José Andrés
José Andrés
José Ramón Andrés Puerta , known as José Andrés, is a Spanish chef often credited for bringing the small plates dining concept to America...
(known for using molecular gastronomy). Selman has commented that food produced with the help of molecular gastronomy "lends itself to comedy quite nicely. There’s a dish [at El Chemistri], for instance, called Regret. The waiter cries into your soup when he serves it. The human tear is the final ingredient." The fictional character Swedish Chef
Swedish Chef
The Swedish Chef is a Muppet that appeared on The Muppet Show. He was operated by Jim Henson and Frank Oz simultaneously and is now puppeteered by Bill Barretta.-Character:...
is also seen in the episode, and the scene where the meth dealer is reminded of his childhood after eating the apple pie is a reference to the Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
film Ratatouille
Ratatouille (film)
Ratatouille is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the eighth film produced by Pixar, and was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005...
.
In addition to the foodie culture, "The Food Wife" parodies the video game industry and references games such as God of War
God of War (series)
God of War is a series of action-adventure video games based on Greek mythology.The main trilogy—God of War I, II, & III—in the series were developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's Santa Monica division , with Ready at Dawn Studios developing the PSP and Javaground the mobile phone installment...
, Call of Duty
Call of Duty
Call of Duty is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision in 2003. It is the first game in a series with the same name. The game simulates the infantry and combined arms warfare of World War II. The game is based on the Quake III: Team Arena engine...
, Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor (series)
Medal of Honor is the name of a series of first-person shooter games set in World War II, with an October 2010 reboot based on the conflicts of present day Afghanistan. The first game was developed by DreamWorks Interactive and published by Electronic Arts in 1999 for the PlayStation game console...
, Madden NFL
Madden NFL
Madden NFL is an American football video game series developed by Electronic Arts Tiburon for EA Sports. The game series is named after Pro Football Hall of Famer John Madden, a well-known former Super Bowl-winning coach of the Oakland Raiders and color commentator...
, and Angry Birds
Angry Birds
Angry Birds is a puzzle video game developed by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Mobile. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the game was first released for Apple's iOS in December 2009...
. In the episode, Homer, Bart, and Lisa visit a video game convention called the Expensive Electronic Entertainment Expo (E4), which is a reference to the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) that is presented annually in the United States by the Entertainment Software Association
Entertainment Software Association
The Entertainment Software Association is the trade association of the video game industry in the United States. It was formed in April 1994 as the Interactive Digital Software Association and renamed on July 16, 2003...
. This marked the first time that the family visited a video game convention in The Simpsons. Selman and other staff members on the show had previously visited E3 during the release of The Simpsons video games such as The Simpsons Game
The Simpsons Game
The Simpsons Game is an action/platformer video game based on the animated television series The Simpsons, made for the Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable. The game was developed, published, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It was released in North...
. While appearing on GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley on November 11, 2011, Selman commented that "We've been to so many [E3s] and we've been pushed around, and knocked around, and seen so many PR guys [talk] about how hard it was working on their game. We've seen how expensive the food is, and how nuts it is, and the bloggers, and the photos, and just the noises [...] We had to do it on the show."
In the episode, Homer and his children want to see the unveiling of a new Funtendo console called Zii Zu, which is a reference to Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's Wii U console. As he and the children make their way through the crowded convention to get to the unveiling, the screen turns into a first-person shooter game
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
through the eyes of Homer. He uses Frisbee
Frisbee
A flying disc is a disc-shaped glider that is generally plastic and roughly in diameter, with a lip. The shape of the disc, an airfoil in cross-section, allows it to fly by generating lift as it moves through the air while rotating....
s and a fire extinguisher as weapons to get forward. According to Selman, the inspiration for this came from the fact that "if you've been to E3, you know it's insane, it's super-crowded, it's super-loud, and walking through it feels like a video game, like a nightmarish first-person video game of bloggers and nerds. You just want to get the thing that you want to get to."
Guest appearances
Tim HeideckerTim Heidecker
Tim Heidecker is an American actor, comedian, musician, writer and director. He is one half of the comedy team of Tim and Eric...
and Eric Wareheim
Eric Wareheim
Eric Wareheim is an American actor, comedian, writer and director. He is one half of the comedy team of Tim and Eric. Wareheim, along with Tim Heidecker, created the television shows Tom Goes to the Mayor, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and Check It Out! with Dr...
, the stars and creators of the American sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
television series Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! is an American sketch comedy television series, created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, which premiered February 11, 2007 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim comedy block and ran until May 2010...
, guest starred in the episode as foodies Amus Bruse and Fois Garth, respectively. These two characters are among the foodies that Marge, Bart, and Lisa meet at the Ethiopian restaurant. In the episode, they sing a rap song that according to Selman is "all bragging about how awesome and cool you are as a foodie." It was co-written by the duo, and was inspired by the song "Empire State of Mind
Empire State of Mind
"Empire State of Mind" is a song by American rapper and hip hop artist Jay-Z, featuring vocals and a chorus from R&B and soul singer Alicia Keys. It was released as the third single from Jay-Z's 11th studio album The Blueprint 3 by his Roc Nation label in October 2009...
". Selman has commented that "In animated TV shows, whenever you're trying to show people having fun doing their new thing [in this case, Marge and the children creating content for their blog], it just kind of becomes a boring montage. And we've done so many montages on The Simpsons over 25 years, it's like, oh God, no more montages. [...] So we were like, 'Why not do a silly rap song?' Rapping is sort of inherently boastful, and there's something about being a foodie that's inherently boastful. It's like the boastfulness [that] links those things. So Tim and Eric perform a food rap song in the show – an extremely silly rap song, and the name is intentionally silly: 'Blogging a Food Blog.'"
American chef Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Michael "Tony" Bourdain is an American chef, author and television personality. He is well known for his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and is the host of Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure program Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.A...
guest starred in the episode as himself. Selman wanted him on the show because he is a big fan and he thinks Marge would have a liking for him. Bourdain's appearance was cut short because the episode ended up being too long, and as a result, his "bad boy persona is not fully explored," Selman told Squid Ink. In addition to Bourdain, guest stars in the episode include chefs and media personalities Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay
Gordon James Ramsay, OBE is a Scottish chef, television personality and restaurateur. He has been awarded 13 Michelin stars....
and Mario Batali
Mario Batali
Mario Batali is an American chef, writer, restaurateur and media personality. In addition to his classical culinary training, he is an expert on the history and culture of Italian cuisine, including regional and local variations. Batali co-owns restaurants in New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles,...
as themselves. These three all appear in Marge's dream. When asked by Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
about his appearance, Ramsay said that "I grew up watching The Simpsons and love that they're foodies," and joked that "For God's sake, I had to promise Marge a spot on MasterChef
MasterChef
MasterChef is a television cooking game show franchise, started with Masterchef". The same MasterChef logo is used around the world. The show has expanded to many versions in other countries.- International adaptations :...
to get on the bloody show!" Selman wishes that he could have given Batali more than one line, but has admitted that "You just can't fit everything into a 21-minute show."
Release
The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 13, 2011. It was watched by approximately 7.5 million people during this broadcast. In the demographic for adults aged 18–49, the episode received a 3.4 Nielsen rating (down five percent from the previous episodeReplaceable You
"Replaceable You" is the fourth episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 6, 2011. In the episode, Homer gets a new assistant named Roz who is secretly out to steal his job...
) and an eight percent share. The Simpsons became the highest-rated program in Fox's Animation Domination lineup that night in terms of both total viewers and in the 18–49 demographic, finishing before new episodes of Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, American Dad!
American Dad!
American Dad! is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane and owned by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions. It is produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television...
, and Allen Gregory
Allen Gregory
Allen Gregory is an American animated television series created by Jonah Hill, Andrew Mogel, and Jarrad Paul that airs on FOX. The series premiered on October 30, 2011.-Synopsis:...
. For the week of November 7–13, "The Food Wife" finished seventeenth in the ratings among all prime-time broadcasts in the 18–49 demographic.
Critical reviews
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. OlogyOlogy
Ology is an entertainment and social media website based in New York City. It is run by Beth Haggerty and Vivian Moran, both of whom founded it. The company focuses on helping users to find and share content about their interests.-History:...
's Josh Harrison gave it an eight out of ten rating, writing that "You gotta love these Simpsons episodes that really get into the heart of a subculture. Diving head-first into the world of foodies and food blogging (after a hilarious geeky pit-stop at a video game expo), 'The Food Wife' shish-kabobs gourmet diehards while highlighting a very real problem between Homer and Marge." He concluded that the episode is "a definite swing for the fences, and I think it hits its mark completely." The scenes at the video game convention were praised by Anthony Severino of Game Revolution
Game Revolution
Game Revolution or GR is a gaming website created in 1996. Based in Berkeley, California, the site includes reviews, previews, a gaming download area, cheats, and a merchandise store, as well as webcomics, screenshots, and videos...
as well. He commented that the writers "nailed it. Everything from the massive displays, long lines, and even the look of the Los Angeles Convention Center
Los Angeles Convention Center
The Los Angeles Convention Center is a convention center in the southwest portion of downtown Los Angeles. The LACC hosts annual events such as the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show and Anime Expo, and is best known to video games fans as host to E3...
was spot on. The best was how they portrayed people with 'VIP passes', you know those things that we journalists get, as douches who think they're better than the regulars."
In his review of "The Food Wife", HitFix
HitFix
HitFix, or the HitFix.com is an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information and providing reviews and critiques of film, music and television...
's Alan Sepinwall commended it for "stay[ing] true to the characters. Of course the kids would consider Homer to be the fun dad on those occasions when he's actually making an effort, and of course Marge would feel jealous of this. And if she goes too far in trying to keep this as her special thing, she also recognizes it immediately, feels guilty throughout the meal and then heads off to save the day, complete with a great homage to the climax of Ratatouille." Sepinwall also praised the episode for being "packed with great jokes", such as Heidecker and Wareheim's rap song and the scenes at the video game convention where the screen turns into a first-person shooter game. Similarly, Haydens Childs of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
praised the episode as "funny and well-observed", giving it a B+ grade, and cited the rap song as the highlight of the episode. He also praised Bourdain, Batali, and Ramsay, and stated that he wished Bourdain would have gotten a bigger part in the episode. Childs further wrote that "The best thing about this episode is that it doesn’t try to stuff any outlandish plot mechanics or out-of-character character moments down the viewers’ throats. It sticks to the basics: the family dynamic combined with gentle mocking of a still-current fad. I say 'still-current' because although it is probably true that food blogging is a bit past its expiration date in some cities, I don’t think that it has been overdone everywhere."
Response from food critics
Reception of "The Food Wife" from food critics has been mixed. Before the episode aired, Robert SietsemaRobert Sietsema
Robert Sietsema has been the food critic for the Village Voice since 1993. He is a member of the Organ Meat Society and contributor to Gourmet magazine.-Biography:...
of The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
disapproved of it for being outdated. He commented that "this show should have been done, say, two or three years ago, when food blogging was hot. By now, many food bloggers of our acquaintance have out-migrated to paying gigs, and the concept of the food blog has been co-opted by every major media outlet, rendering real food blogs – the old-fashioned kind, where someone stood alone in their kitchen cooking things, or wandered the hinterlands seeking out unique deliciousness – nearly obsolete." Sietsema also criticized the scenes showcasing molecular gastronomy because he thought they were out of date, since molecular gastronomy is, "by now, long past its prime". Chris Shott, a food critic for Washington City Paper
Washington City Paper
The Washington City Paper is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Founded in 1981, and published for its first year under the masthead 1981, taking the City Paper name in volume 2, by Russ Smith, it shared ownership with the Chicago Reader from 1982...
s Young & Hungry column and blog, wrote negatively about the character that owns El Chemistri and is a parody of José Andrés. He commented that "For one thing, the character seems far more subdued than the kooky, wild-eyed power drill-wielding cook we saw on Conan recently. The satire here, involving a deconstructed Caesar salad of foams, gels and airs, is more a riff on molecular gastronomy in general than a send-up of Andrés' over-the-top personality."
Self-prescribed foodie Katharine Shilcutt of the Houston Press
Houston Press
The Houston Press is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in Downtown Houston....
Eating Our Words food blog criticized the episode for giving what she thought was an inaccurate depiction of foodies, as people that are "tacky, snotty, slightly racist, hoarders of food experiences that you gather like rare gems and patronizingly hold over other people's heads." Shilcutt added that she found it upsetting that what she believes to be the moral of the episode is that "Educated, passionate people are elitists. It reduces all the hard work that people put into creating good, honest food into a joke, and not a terribly funny one. There was no balance in the episode between smug, arrogant, obnoxious foodies and those who have a genuine, guileless interest in food and all its important permutations in our lives."
Other food critics have written positively about "The Food Wife". Lesley Balla of LA Weeklys Squid Ink blog listed her ten favorite quotes from the episode, placing the entire rap song about foodies and food blogging at the top. She commented that "Plenty of insider jokes at foodies' expense season the episode. So was it as funny to a non-food-world person as it was to someone who could identify each culinary personality in Marge's dream [...]? Safe to say, yes; it is still The Simpsons, after all. For foodists, the whole episode is entirely quotable — we're sure it will be in the food blogosphere for years to come." Laine Doss, a food blogger for the Miami New Times
Miami New Times
The Miami New Times is a free weekly newspaper published in Miami and distributed every Thursday. It primarily serves the Miami area and is headquartered near Miami's Design District.-Overview:...
and New Times Broward-Palm Beach
New Times Broward-Palm Beach
New Times Broward-Palm Beach is an alternative weekly newspaper; it is part of the Village Voice Media chain. The paper split off from the Miami New Times in 1997, under the auspices of then editor-in-chief Tom Walsh. Walsh was succeeded by Chuck Strouse, who was replaced in 2005 with Tony Ortega...
, commented that she "loved Lisa Simpson's list of cutest vegetarians [that appears on the blog], which included Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
, Russell Brand
Russell Brand
Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinians...
, and Edward Cullen
Edward Cullen
Edward Cullen is one of the main characters of the Twilight book series and film.Edward Cullen is also the name of:*Ed Cullen , features writer for the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate...
." Doss, as well as Elizabeth Gunnison of Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
s Eat Like a Man blog, also commended the rap song.