South Park Lampoons Food Network and Foodies as Cartman Impersonates Gordon Ramsay

Last night's South Park was a hilarious send-up of the Food Network and celebrity chefs, and few avoided being hit by the satiric splatter.

Here's the setup: Stan's dad Randy has a dirty little secret -- he stays up late and watches food TV, despite the protestations of his family. We see him watching crazed representations of Guy Fieri, Paula Deen, and Alton Brown. Actually, these chefs are already such characterizations that the South Park artists don't really veer much from what they actually look like. (Well, OK, Paula Deen is a little fatter.) As Randy basks on the couch in the glow of the TV tube, we see his hand moving furiously under the blanket and realize he's jacking off.

Back in the daylight, he goes through all the moves of being an uber-foodie, using all the lingo, and preparing elaborate dishes in the kitchen with weird ingredients, which his family doesn't even like. Eventually, he takes over as chef at the kids' school, and the children have to figure out a way to get rid of him. Randy creates a cooking show called Cafeteria Fraiche -- and a mispronounced "fraiche" becomes the tagline for foodie pretensions.