''Gourmet's Adventures With Ruth'' is a cooking program that is produced by

WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), branded on-air as GBH or GBH 2 since 2020, is the primary PBS member television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship property of the WGBH Educational Foundation, which also owns Boston's sec ...

and aired nationally on the

Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...

(PBS) in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The show follows former '' Gourmet'' magazine Editor in Chief Ruth Reichl around the USA and the rest of world, where in the company of various celebrities, the program instructs the viewer about different countries and regions and their cuisines.

Overview

The show is an extension of the Gourmet brand, following the closure of '' Gourmet'' magazine on October 5, 2009, after 68 years of publication. According to Mike Hale, it continues the magazine's "conjunction of a fastidious, locavore approach to food and a lush, almost sybaritic approach to its consumption."

Episodes

For the series premiere, Reichl and actress Frances McDormand traveled to Blackberry Farm, where they go fly-fishing, beekeeping, and cook Southern recipes. In other episodes, Reichl travels to

Marrakech, Morocco Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrak ...

for lessons on couscous and tagines with Lorraine Bracco and then to

Bath, England Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the ceremonial counties of England, county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 1 ...

, to learn the secrets of homemade bread with

Dianne Wiest Dianne Evelyn Wiest (; born March 28, 1948) is an American actress. She has won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress for 1986’s ''Hannah and Her Sisters'' and 1994’s ''Bullets over Broadway'' (both of which were directed by Woody ...

. Then she fishes in Seattle with

Tom Skerritt Thomas Roy Skerritt (born August 25, 1933) is an American actor who has appeared in over 40 films and more than 200 television episodes since 1962. He is known for his film roles in ''M*A*S*H'', ''Alien'', '' The Dead Zone'', ''Top Gun'', '' A R ...

and explores New York City's Indian community with

Jeffrey Wright Jeffrey Wright (born December 7, 1965) is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Belize in the Broadway production of ''Angels in America'', for which he would win a Tony Award, and its HBO miniseries adaptation, for which he would ...

Critical Reaction

Mike Hale in the New York Times said the program had a tendency to "artlessly meander", but felt that in its refusal to compromise the magazine's values it would appeal to the same core followers; other viewers might find it a "glossy anachronism" and prefer simpler, more modern cooks like Rachael Ray.

References

External links

*
Gourmet's Adventures With Ruth
' official website *
Gourmet's Adventures With Ruth
' at Gourmet.com {{WGBH PBS original programming Television series by WGBH 2000s American cooking television series 2009 American television series debuts 2009 American television series endings