One of my most memorable past times during my high school years was being able to relax on Saturday and Sunday mornings with my mother, our coffee cups in hand, and the Food Network on the television. There was always such a diverse range of shows that we could watch, each having a particular theme that followed a similar overall weekend theme, or featured food. My mother and I loved watching the shows because they were relaxing, we connected, and we were able to discover new recipes that nurtured our creativity- because we would then recreate these recipes and attempt our own concoctions.
Food Network Chefs
Since the beginning of my college career I have become so busy that the weekends I originally spent bonding over food recipes with my mother, became replaced by class homework and other activities that I was unaware of the changes that this food medium was experiencing until this past fall. As I began to once more watch the Food Network on the weekends I noticed a drastic shift in the kinds of shows that air, the food they feature, and the audiences I felt they were trying to connect with.
I would like to make the argument that the Food Network’s diversity has significantly declined over the past two to three years. I believe the change in the kinds of shows that air on the Food Network are correlative to the recipes that represent this corporation; in addition, the current shows are a reflection of the United States capitalistic culture. I will discuss the areas in which this has occurred and hypothesize as to reasons why this could have occurred.
A brief list of the shows I grew up with were:
- BBQ with Bobby Flays
- 30 Minute Meals Rachael Ray
- Nigella’s Cooking
- 5 Ingredient Fix
- Paula Deen
- Barefoot Contessa
- Everyday Italian – with Giada
- Mario
- Jamie at Home
- Aarti Party
This list is comprised of different nationalities, regions of the United States, and types of homestyle cooking- representative of many different sociocultural groups. The following shows are primarily aired at this point in time:
- Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives
- Top Chef
- Cupcake Wars
- Dinner: Impossible
- Iron Chef
- Pioneer Woman
- Trisha’s Southern Kitchen
Many of these shows portray the competitive culture and the nature of our society. The others are primarily based on southern ‘homestyle’ cooking. There are other shows that air during the weekend that do not follow this similar theme, however, they are few and far between. These competitive shows are very similar in nature to the ‘reality’ television genre that exists, which ultimately does a disservice to our countries culture, as well as the food culture we emanate. Rather than celebrating what it means to be a great chef in the traditional sense, we feature negativity in shows such as “Worst Cooks in America” rather than shows based upon the love for food and a passion for cooking, such as with Ree Drummond in the “Pioneer Woman.” At this moment in time it is simply a medium for competition and reality shows with a lost sense of what it means to be in the kitchen.
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