You know, I agree, especially about Alton not being the cause as much as it is the viewers looking for am excuse to feel holier-than-thou about something.

You're dead right that people took his work way too far and assumed that because he was breaking things down into the underlying food science and methodology that the exact preparations he used were default the best, period.

He wasn't prone to that himself, though he did go hard against myths.

He's a terrific food educator. One of the best in television history imo. But you're also dead right about the entertainment side screwing things up. His on screen persona, combined with the structure of good eats as a show made it too easy for food snobs to glom onto the wrong parts