Paula Deen In The News: Butter, Donut Burgers and Diabetes Drug Endorsement Deals

Here at Allegations we love us some Sandra Lee, but how has Paula Deen escaped our withering gaze for so long?  Last week, I observed that, in regard to chefs “climbing in bed with corporate partners,” “if they have a viable brand, they should make the most out of it while they still can.”  Well, Paula Deen, bless her heart, she sure doesn’t need my advice.  Let’s check the ol’ Google News Feed and see what she’s been up to recently:

• On HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” tells host Nancy O’Dell “When you hear the name Paula Deen, I don’t want you to think of the word ‘butter.’ I want you to think of the word ‘hope.’”

• Launches a new line of flavored butters which, according to her press release, “let cooks bring a wonderful fresh butter taste to various dishes while just adding butter to the end of the cooking process.” Flavors include Southern Grilling Butter, Lemon Dill Butter, European Style Butter, Sweet Citrus Zest Butter and Garden Herb Butter.  According to Paula, “My Sweet Citrus Zest butter is hard to practice in moderation.”

• Will soon have a museum celebrating her contributions to the world, like flavored butter and that recipe for a hamburger on a donut (or not, see below).  The museum will reportedly be opened in her childhood home in Albany, GA, although the home itself will be moved, presumably to a more marketable and tourist-friendly area.

• Claimed on Leno that she had “accidentally” invented the donut hamburger, called  the “Lady’s Brunch Burger,” on an episode of Paula’s Home Cooking in 2008 when she had decided on a whim to substitute donuts instead of hamburger buns.

• Thrown under the bus by her son Jamie in an interview with The Daily Meal, where he reported that:

You know what’s funny is that’s not her recipe. That was a Minor League Baseball thing, and my mom did like a spoof on it. That’s the only thing that really bothered me was they gave us credit for that recipe but it wasn’t even our recipe. The Minor League Baseball team did one of those things, you make the craziest things you can think of. So they made a cheeseburger on a donut. And it was on the national news cycle for about five minutes and somebody from our production team put it together. I have never tasted or seen my mom ever make a Krispy Kreme cheeseburger in my life.

• Released a cookbook called “The New Testament.”

• And, of course, hid her type 2 Diabetes diagnosis for three years until she had a massive endorsement deal in place for diabetes drug Victoza, all the while trading off her “Queen of Rich Food” persona/brand.

Writing about Paula Deen makes me feel kind of icky, like I need to shower afterward.  Plus there is nothing that I can say that hasn’t already been said by a hundred other commentators.  Sandra Lee is much more fun to write about.  Team Sandra all the way!