• Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
Mark Bittman twittered: “A post I should’ve written long ago.” He then provided a link to his blog post at the New York Times regarding what you see on cooking shows versus real life cooking. In the piece Bittman talks of an incident during the taping of The Next Food Network Star where he witnessed a contestant putting a piece of meat on a too hot grill that was instantly charred. The cameras were stopped, an assistant found a replacement meat and cooked it properly, and then the contestant came back on with a big ta-da! more…
It looks like Andrew Zimmern may have some competition of the eating weird things variety starting this fall. The Food Network has announced they’ve reached a deal that would see an eight-episode order of Extreme Cuisine With Jeff Corwin. The show will follow the anthropologist as he travels around the world tasting the local cuisine and learning about the local customs of the native people. 
I don’t know about you but Food Network Challenge has always been a background show for me. I’ll watch as pastry chefs try to build fairy tale scenes out of chocolate while folding the laundry. But I guess the Food Network just wants me to be invested, because now they’re launching Food Network Challenge: Last Cake Standing, a four week “all-star” challenge. 
Anyone who has conducted an interview, especially over the phone, knows what a blessing and a curse these conversations can be. Such was the case when I spoke with Food Network’s Adam Gertler about his new show, Will Work For Food. We were both on a time constraint, which meant I couldn’t get into the Syracuse food scene as much as I wanted. Plus I sat in my car in the parking lot of the restaurant conducting the interview via my cell phone’s speakerphone. 
If you’ve been watching Food Network lately – sometimes it feels more like enduring – you’ve probably seen ads for the Ted Allen helmed new competition Chopped. The show features top chefs – ha, get it? – competing each week to produce food based on ingredients provided. Allen left his position on Bravo’s Top Chef in order to take part in the endeavor, and looking at the list of recently released competitors there’s a damn good chance Chopped may be good. 
Food Network and celebrity chef fans will be happy to hear the Food Network studios and test kitchens will no longer be closed off. Starting this Wednesday, December 17 general public tours will begin. Starting at 45 minutes for $20 you’ll be able to see your favorite stars in their “homes.” As well as get to see all of the hard working cooks behind the scenes who actually make a lot of the food you see on shows like Good Eats. 
Jump into your Way Back machine and land in the month of February. Remember the show Dinner Impossible on Food Network? Remember how Chef Robert Irvine was relieved of his impossible duties after it was revealed he inflated his resume? OK, that’s what happened if you weren’t already aware. At least now you know why Chef Michael Symon has been appearing in the most recent episodes. 
I swear that I have not declared today Ted Allen day, nor do I have a fixation on the fellow. It just so happens that he posted an update on his blog over the weekend and at the same time I decide to sit down and write a quick piece on his leaving Top Chef I come across the blog post detailing upcoming items on his agenda. Besides enigmatic statements about some funny show he’s working on, Allen has confirmed that Food Network is picking up his new show Food Detectives for a second 13 episode season. 
Alton Brown, host of Food Network’s Good Eats, returns to the world of traveling cuisine for his new show Feasting on Waves. The show is a follow up to his popular, and far more entertaining than most of the traveling shows on Food Network, Feasting on Asphalt. This time around the doctor of the kitchen will explore the many islands of the Caribbean to discover the best spots to eat. 
