The Food Network & Competition

Food Network Fan · 03-05-2008, 02:34 PM

The Food Network & Competition

Posted on March 5, 2008 by guerrillafood
I sort of made a promise to myself when I started this blog that I’d stay away from food-tv discussions as much as possible. But I just have to throw my .00002 cents in on this one.When I lived in Germany from 1999-2004, I heard vague rumors of an entirely food-based television network in the US called the “Food Network”. The concept excited me to no end. When I got home I was thrilled! There it was; all-day, every-day… Cooking! Sara Moulton, Mario Batali, Ina Garten, Alton Brown, Giada Di Laurentiis, Martha Stewart… all doing what I remembered from PBS’s: Great Chef’s, Justin Wilson, Martin Yan, Jacque Pepin and Julia Child from when I was a kid. Except they were doing it with style, big sets, and glossy graphics. Then the shows became less and less about cooking, and more and more about competition and personalities.
Enter the show: The Iron Chef! Seemingly overnight, it turned food preparation into a competition. The Japanese figured out a equation that was custom tailored for Americans… television, male competition, mellow-drama, and mountains of food. Now the Food Network has the following shows in it’s line up…

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Captain Basil · 03-05-2008, 03:13 PM

I have no interest in the competition shows. Iron Chef is okay once in a while and I like to see Flay get his ass handed to him on Throwdown. Most of the time I want to see people cook something that I want to try. That new Ultimate Recipe thing is horrid.

Food Network Fan · 03-05-2008, 03:39 PM

I tried to get into the Ultimate Recipe show ... I wanted to like it. It's just that it's almost painful to watch. People who are scared to death ... probably never been on TV in their life, and they have their hopes up because they were selected to go there then get blown out of the water. I guess that's how it is with most "reality shows" but it seems like this one has people who seem totally out of place where they are. It just doesn't have a good feel to it. I am not sure if it's just the fact that they seem nervous or what it is, but it's makes me uncomfortable watching it.