Hungry Girl Debuts With a "Mexican Fiesta" in Her Face

Cheery harbinger of culinary doom and destruction Lisa Lillien's new show Hungry Girl premiered on Saturday on the Cooking Channel. The title of the episode was "You Wanna Pizza Me?" which is a play on how aggressive Italians are and also on the verb, "to pizza" which means to "blatantly advocate the consumption of products that advertise on ones website without disclosing this relationship to television viewers." So, how was the show? Surprisingly, I kinda liked it!

As far as produce-o-phobic frozen-food brand-driven shows go, this one has much going for it. Not only did they have the decency to blur the names of the brands Hungry Girl promotes — but really, how many makers of Turkey Pepperoni (by Hormel) and Soy Chorizo by El Burrito are there? — but she also mocks fat people to their face (something often taboo because the fats have feelings too) and intermingles real science with fake science. [Blotting oil from pizza is no surefire way to reduce fat. Often times, one does not know what one is blotting. It could just be mostly moisture. However, ordering fresh ingredients like mushrooms and olives is obviously more healthy than ordering meat.]

But, in the final analysis, I will watch this show because she describes, with a complete lack of self-regard, the experience of eating egg substitute with cheese and salsa and mysterious Mexican spices emanating from soy chorizo, as "A Mexican fiesta in my face." This world is hurting for wordsmiths these days and Hungry Girl may just be the Robert Bolaño of the Cooking Channel: "And then the storm of shit begins."

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· All Lisa Lillien Coverage on Eater [-E-]