Julia (left) and Marjorie Barretto
After Piolo Pascual and Matteo Guidicelli, it was Julia Barretto’s turn last month to go on the “culinary adventure” route on Lifestyle’s “The Crawl.”
With her mother, Marjorie, in tow, she tasted the sights and cuisine of South Korea—the first time that a female celebrity had been tapped to do the show. So, how did Julia do?
Alas, she merely did what was expected, gushing over the sights, bites and other delights she and her mom experienced. It was all so pat and standard that we soon felt like doing our own crawling—to our couch for a comfortable snooze.
If Julia and her mater will be tapped for a repeat performance, they should realize that push-button gushing is not what this sort of foodie show is supposed to be about. Watching similar programs produced elsewhere, we realize that “adventure” is the key word in the program type’s description.
Other plus points devoutly to be encouraged should include surprise, enthusiasm, fun—and the delightful ability to entertainingly ad-lib reactions to the ongoing culinary adventure to make it an even more “delish” viewing experience.
Never mind playing it safe and doing the “expected” things. “Food-crawling” more than hints at venturesome foodies going from restaurant to restaurant, eating what the locals do.
They love the experience so much that the “crawlers” do it over and over again, until they’re stuffed to the gills!
Instead, Julia and Marjorie relatively daintily did some tasting, and learned how to cook some Korean dishes themselves.
Scripted spiels
They also did some scripted spiels or tentative ad-libs that didn’t add much to the “fun flavor” of the empathetic experience for viewers, because they safely stuck to expected descriptions and encomiums, with the word “authentic” being repeated so often that it ended up as the entire program’s “signature” slogan.
The Barrettos should have reminded themselves that they were there not for the Korean Tourism folks, but for Lifestyle’s viewers, who deserved a more delightful viewing experience.
The occasional series’ shift to female cohosts is a good move, but next time around, perhaps it should tap a pair of comediennes to do the hosting and crawling honors?
Having gone food-tripping with them in the past, we’d love to see Mitch Valdes and Tessie Tomas cohost a telecast of “The Crawl” sometime soon. What a food and laugh fest that should turn out to be!
Other “tasty” tandems could delightfully pair Eugene Domingo and Giselle Sanchez, Carmi Martin and Isabel Rivas, Beverly Salviejo and Gigi Posadas, and Moi Bien and Donna Cariaga!
The food’s good, but droll and “irreverent” ad-libs would definitely make it taste—even better!