The Good Rabbi's Blog

Note: Some of the images linked to below are somewhat suggestive (although quite tame). As such, please exercise caution if reading in an office. These links are marked with an NSFW notation.

When people find out that I’m a professional chef, they usually react by asking me one of two questions: What is your favourite restaurant in D.C.? or Who is your favourite chef on the Food Network? It’s somewhat irritating, but it’s something I’ve gotten used to. Recently, I was talking with some people about the state of television in general, so I thought I’d air my thoughts about the Food Network, and some of the “celebrity chefs” that make the rounds there.

Overall, the Food Network is a huge disappointment these days. It seems that the entire channel has jumped the shark. The last network to do this so spectacularly was MTV. Remember when the M actually stood for “music?” Now there’s nothing but ridiculous game and dating shows, and they’ve really backed away from their core mission. At its heart, the Food Network seems to be doing the same thing. Now, let me dispense with one thing right away: my objections to the current Food Network programming have nothing to do with my being a professional chef. I’m not objecting because the programming is “beneath my level.” I’m objecting because I believe the Food Network is straying from what originally made it great: education.

The real reason that people watch the food Network in the first place is to learn something. Whether that something is how to make a soufflé, or what the differences and merits are of different kinds of charcoal, the goal is the same – learning something that you didn’t know before, that will be useful to you in some way. There were lots of times when I’d have the Food Network on in the background as I worked from home, as I used to do before I became a chef. Now I wouldn’t even consider it.

There seems to have been a real tectonic shift of late and some of the “old dinosaurs” of the network (Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, etc.) are being phased out in favour of younger, “fresher” people that, while physically attractive, have a troubling lack of experience working with food. Again, this is not a huge invective about how Rachael Ray can’t cook (that will come later), as much as it shows a real shift in focus network-wide that I find troubling. Instead of a focus on food, there is a preponderance of reality shows meant to pick various food personalities, Iron Chefs, etc. I mean, for Christ’s sake, Al Roker has a show on the Food Network. AL ROKER! He’s not even a food eater these days; he’s just a weatherman, and a bad one at that. As for Rachael Ray, she needs to concentrate on learning how to cook; not just running several shows, magazines, and men’s magazine photo shoots (see here, here, and here – NSFW). I really do hope that they get their act together and get back to what made them big in the first place, even if they do have to hire some new celebrity chefs to do it. It's worth noting, however, that there are aspects of their current stock (and old guard) that have not been explored. For example, Mario Batali regularly does segments for PBS where he explores his other great passion: Spain & Spanish food (weird, huh? Did you know he also has a line of grilling cookbooks, especially one that caters to NASCAR fans?). To me, this is a whole untapped area of expertise...