Top food stories of 2005: #4 Food TV turns away from foodies

by Sarah Gilbert, Posted Dec 29th 2005 @ 9:00PM

It's that time of year, the time to look back on the stories that made 2005 great. Our countdown began with God and moves on to - what else? - TV.

It all began in 1998. My obsession with the Food Network. I was hanging out in New York awaiting the beginning of business school. I'd quit my job and, other than boning up on the calculus, I had absolutely nothing to do. I scheduled my life around Too Hot Tamales, Ready Set Cook! and Cooking Live with Sara Moulton. In those days, the Food Network was all about cooking, especially cooking at home. I mean, Cooking Live - Sara would list the ingredients the day before so you could be prepared to cook along with her. People called in and they were actually in front of their stoves, yes, cooking live.

It was gradual, but the channel has changed over the past seven years. A couple of major things happened this year that indicate a turn away from the original core audience - people who liked to cook - to a new and (for whatever it's worth) bigger audience. People who eat.

The Food Network, it seems, is divesting itself of the foodies and embracing food, of the edible and eye candy variety. And this is such a shame. Some of the big changes that spell doom for the home chef:

The ubiquitous Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade (as one commenter wondered, isn't that the same thing as half-baked?) specials, for Halloween and Christmas. They're more about decapitating food than cooking it. And with zero culinary training, classical or otherwise, Sandra Lee is the poster child for the turn against chefs.
The removal of Sara Moulton. Getting rid of Cooking Live left an empty hole in my TV schedule. Getting rid of Sara altogether is a travesty.
Alton Brown hits the road for yet another food-while-travelling show. Is the network "trying to convert some of his Good Eats fans to the new network format"? Consider us un-converted. We love Alton Brown's Good Eats and, as much as we love him, don't need to see him on a motorcycle.
Christopher Kimball, the brainy chef behind Cook's Illustrated, developed his America's Test Kitchen show for PBS.

A couple of other interesting Food TV-related items:

Bob Sassone's favorite Food Network shows got us chatting about what he hit and missed.
Bob interviewed Ted Allen from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy about his new cookbook in October.
Rachael Ray was profiled in the New York Times that same day.
I caught a Whole Foods spokesman calling his groceries "not...WAY more expensive" on Food TV this fall.
Stefania Butler talks about learning to cook from Jacques Pepin.
Nick Vagnoni found us a deal on Julia Child DVDs.
Deidre Woollard looks at a new Food Network show, Sugar Rush.
I let the Food TV chefs join us for Grilled Cheese Day.
Finally, Nicole Weston points to a blogger who was fired for writing about Rachael Ray's visit to his place of employment.

Filed Under: Television/Film, Raves & Reviews, Trends
Tags: 2005, 2005 top news, 2005 top stories, best food stories of 2005, best of 2005, best of the year, food network, food tv, FoodNetwork, FoodTv, sandra lee, SandraLee, semi-homemade, television, top food articles, top food news, top food news of 2005, top food stories, top food stories of 2005, TopFoodStories, tv, tv food, tv squad, TvFood, TvSquad

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-30-2005 @1:35AM Mike said... I'm not bothered by the addition of a little food-related travel. I've always thought that one of the best things about travel was the opportunity to try new foods, or the same old foods with another local twist. I'm more inspired to cook something different by new foods from other places than new food from a TV soundstage.

Alton Brown seems open and easy going enough to appreciate good road food, so I'm optimistic. If I was voting on someone to host a show that is based on America's highways though it would be Jane & Michael Stern. I've used their Roadfood and Goodfood books for 20 years in planning meals on U.S. trips.

The food show to travel one can go bad. I've seen a total of one Rachel Ray $40 a day shows. I'm not a fan of hers, but I love Santa Fe so I watched that episode. She may have got bargains, but she ate virtually no indigineous food! No green chile stew, carne adovada or sopapillas. The one dish she did have with green chile she attributed the color to tomatillos.
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12-30-2005 @6:43AM Carol Gaus said... I don't enjoy the Food network much anymore. I think it should be retitled,"The Eating Channel" I want to to cook at home not watch other people eat or see judges eat. My favorite had been "Pick of the day". CJ
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12-30-2005 @1:16PM Daniel Burns said... Ugh. You're right. The Food Network is *SO* disappointing now. I cannot stand the way everyone seems to talk to the audience as if they were children. Rachel Ray does this. Marc Summers does this. Al Roker... and it goes on and on.

And the primetime slots seem to be filled with these lame shows about where Coke is bottled or the history of the M&M. Yawn. AdTV.

I am watching a lot less FoodTV these days and a lot more PBS.
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12-30-2005 @5:17PM rainey said... Maybe it's time for foodies to set up something public like a webpage to entreat FoodNetwork and their celebrity chefs who have restaurants to make authentic food once again a priority over commercial tie-ins, selling crap and celebrating the banal. I'm thinking the chefs who are also restaurant owners may be the first to pay attention and may influence the network more than we can.

Enough of the national obsession with mediocrity and the lowest common denominator!
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