Your stomach might churn, or you might think \u201ceww!\u201d when you watch Meghan Markle and her special guest Chrissy Teigen make dough for cheesy crackers in the second episode of the new season of \u201cWith Love, Meghan,\u201d the Duchess of Sussex\u2019s Netflix lifestyle and cooking show.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because Teigen gets her fingers into a glass bowl to hand-mix together flour, butter, cheddar cheese and Meghan\u2019s \u00a0homemade sourdough starter, and you can see the model\u2019s long, dagger-like fingernails, polished a bright red, slice and dig their way through the raw dough.<\/p>\n
You\u2019d like to think that Teigen would have at least scrubbed around those fingernails before she put her hands into the dough, in order to remove the dirt and bacteria that is known to accumulate under long nails. But no hand-washing or scrubbing is seen prior to the influencer\u2019s fingernails coming into contact with the raw dough, at around 11 minutes and 30 seconds into the episode. Meghan also gets her fingers into raw dough earlier in the episode, which also could be a bit of an \u201ceww\u201d moment. While Meghan\u2019s fingernails are shorter than Teigen\u2019s red daggers, they appear to be painted with a pale, clear polish.<\/p>\n
The thing is, if these two self-styled cooking mavens worked in a restaurant, they\u2019d likely be barred from getting their fingers anywhere near food, or \u201cfood-contact surfaces,\u201d \u00a0if they were wearing nail polish or had fingernails \u201cthat are not clean, smooth, or neatly trimmed.\u201d That\u2019s according to California\u2019s Health and Safety Code 113973,<\/a> which would presumably apply in Santa Barbara County, where Meghan\u2019s show is filmed in a kitchen that\u2019s not really hers.<\/p>\n Sure, the set for Meghan\u2019s faux kitchen is not a restaurant, so state hygiene standards probably don\u2019t apply. Still, those standards could be a model for lifestyle influencers like Meghan and Teigen, as they have themselves filmed cooking for the entertainment of the masses. The health and safety code also says that single-use, non-latex gloves must be worn by employees with nail polish, or with \u201csores, rashes, artificial nails, nail polish, rings, other than a plain ring, such as a wedding band, and uncleanable orthopedic support devices.\u201d<\/p>\n Alas, it\u2019s hard to imagine that either Teigen or Meghan would want to cover up their pricey manicures and bejeweled fingers with utilitarian food-service gloves.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also not likely that Teigen, Meghan or Meghan\u2019s Netflix producers would take advice from a self-described former pastry chef, who recently addressed the issue of having long fingernails i<\/a>n a professional setting on the r\/Baking sub-Reddit. The former pastry chef admonished a new bakery assistant who said she wanted to keep her long, fake, almond-shaped nails but was worried they would tear through any food-prep gloves she wore.<\/p>\n The former pastry chef told the new bakery assistant to \u201cplease ditch the nails.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe amount of bacteria and dirt that can be trapped under long nails is pretty gross and if (you\u2019re) handling raw dough like bread dough it will literally get up under there and pull that nastiness out into the item that someone else is going to eat,\u201d the former pastry chef wrote. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to be responsible for making a child, elderly person, or cancer patient very sick.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf I owned a bakery I would never allow long nails or nail polish, just like anyone with long hair has to wear it tied back and some type of cap\/hat,\u201d the former pastry chef concluded. Speaking of long hair not being tied back, tendrils of Meghan\u2019s long hair also dangles uncomfortably close to the counter as she prepares some raw sourdough for baking.<\/p>\n Aside from the fingernail issue, the new season of \u201cWith Love, Meghan\u201d was met with mixed reactions when it dropped Tuesday. People who liked the\u00a0debut season of \u201cWith Love, Meghan\u201d will probably \u201clove the second,\u201d said Tom Sykes, the European editor of the Daily Beast.<\/a> \u201cIf you hated the first, you\u2019ll find plenty to loathe in the sequel.\u201d .<\/p>\n According to the headline for Sykes\u2019 review, \u201cMeghan Markle\u2019s Show Returns for Another Season of Carefully Curated Inauthenticity.\u201d<\/p>\n Sykes, first off, points out that these Season 2 episodes were filmed at the same time as Season 1, which debuted in the spring. The episodes moreover were taped at a home and in a garden in Montecito that is not the mansion that Meghan shares with Prince Harry and their two young children, so that adds to the show\u2019s problem with \u201cauthenticity.\u201d<\/p>\n The arrival of Season 2 follows news that Netflix is not renewing its reported five-year, $100 million production deal with Meghan and Harry. The streaming service is staying in business with the couple. But instead of paying them upfront to essentially be on retainer, Netflix will hear pitches from the couple and will only pay if it chooses to produce their ideas.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the new episodes of Season \u201cveer between the banal and the baffling,\u201d according to Sykes. When it comes to \u201cbaffling,\u201d Meghan\u2019s episode with Teigen starts off with the former TV actor making some strange timing choices as she prepares treats for her guest\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n Meghan excitedly mixes up two glasses of Thai iced tea, no doubt in honor of Teigen\u2019s Thai heritage, but then sets the glasses aside on the counter for however many minutes. As the ice presumably melts in the glass, Meghan is then seen going through the fuss of toasting slices of her sourdough bread. To make a tartine, she takes some more time to grate lemon zest into a mix of ricotta cheese and honey to put on top of the toast.<\/p>\n A bit later on, while Teigen is digging those fingernails into the raw dough, she and Meghan talk about making dinner for their families. Teigen reveals that she likes to spend hours making dinner for her musician husband, John Legend, and their four children. \u201cComfort recipes,\u201d Teigen explains. \u201cThat take like four hours. I don\u2019t do fast recipes. I need to braise.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWow, that\u2019s so fascinating,\u201d Meghan replies.<\/p>\n