The Galloping Gourmet

I just love Graham Kerr. Always have.  I have fond memories of watching The Galloping Gourmet TV show as a kid in the late 60s and early 70s.  My mom would always have either Graham Kerr or Julia Child on while she was at the ironing board with a pile of my dad's work shirts, but Graham Kerr was my favorite.  I have a thing for guys with a wacky sense of humor.  We would would marvel as Kerr would whip up a culinary, wine-soaked masterpiece! This guy always had a glass of wine in hand! If he wasn't drinking it, he was cooking with it. You could tell he loved is wine!

Years later, I would watch Kerr's more healthful cooking show on my local PBS station, where he demonstrated his "minimax" philosophy of low fat/high flavor cooking.  This new method of food preparation minimised ("Mini-") fat and cholesterol, while it maximised ("-max") aroma, colour, texture and taste....minus the wine. The show wasn't bad, and Kerr was still humorous, but something was lacking.  For some reason I miss the slightly drunken Kerr. Is that wrong of me? Lets face it, he was more fun and silly when he was drinking wine. I can recall one episode where he practically fell off his stool drunk, or perhaps it was all part of his shtick, but whatever it was, his minimax shows were only mildly funny, and not nearly as zany as the original Galloping Gourmet. I can understand Mr. Kerr wanting to be healthy and giving up the alcohol though, but I do miss his old antics from the Galloping Gourmet.