Class Warfare: Ruth Reichl vs. Rachel Ray

[Food Network Fan]

Class Warfare: Ruth Reichl vs. Rachel Ray
By Reese Schonfeld
When I started the Food Network, I was sure we would do no harm. How could programs showing world class chefs concocting wonderful meals hurt anybody? How could learning about healthy eating or how to lose weight or where the best restaurants were, how could that hurt anybody? We hired Julia Child and bought all her old shows from PBS. We showed Jacques Pepin's PBS shows and did a documentary about him. Marion Cunningham, the west coast disciple of James Beard, and Barbara Kafka, his east coast disciple, both did shows for us. We found bold new chefs, like Emeril (who made it possible for American men to cook with no suspicions about sexual orientation), Mario Batalia and Bobby Flay, and turned them into TV stars and nationally recognized brand names. Ruth Reichl (wearing a wig to disguise herself from the New York restaurateurs whose restaurants she critiqued for The Times) did a week's cooking with Ms. Cunningham.


Read more at: Reese Schonfeld: Class Warfare: Ruth Reichl vs. Rachel Ray

[Food Network Fan]

Maybe the new "cooking channel" they will put out next year will take them back to what made them a success in the first place.

[Pluff Mudder]

I can't wait for the Cooking Channel! I notice in that article that FN purchased Julia's shows from PBS. I hope that is one of the things they are planning on airing on the new network.

[BerryBaby]

With Julia's popularity up right now, they'd be foolish not to.