confessions of a food tv junkie

These days, there are a huge number of food shows to choose from on cable TV. My top five would have to be: Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares and Last Restaurant Standing on BBC, Dr. Oz’s The Truth About Food, America’s Test Kitchen, and vintage Julia Child. A new show on TLC, Flip That Restaurant shows promise, (although I have to admit to being a total renovation junkie and a recovering addict of the show’s predecessor, Flip That House). No Reservations and Bizarre Foods on Travel are worth tuning in if you like food taken to the extreme. They’re both a bit too dude for me, but I have to admit to giggling with glee watching Bourdain sweat bullets before attempting to eat his first fugu. Now that’s great television.

Food rarely makes it out of reality as a feature for fiction, although Fox’s Kitchen Confidential, (another Bourdain-based product), showed great potential. Unfortunately, it was yanked prematurely from the network’s lineup. It’s my hope that the entire season will eventually be released on DVD.

I tend not to tune in to the Food Network very often, however, catching John Besh turn trout into chocolate truffles on The Next Iron Chef – and apparently make it taste good – was an inspired moment of food TV. Stuffing chocolate with protein and Omega 3’s – Besh, you are a legend! Other Food Network shows I’ll occasionally surf include Ace of Cakes and The Next Food Network Star. Having survived my share of media training, I feel their pain.

And then there’s Top Chef. I can’t say that I’m a huge fan, but I do like what the show’s doing for the image of cooking. Somehow seeing the sweat, success and utter failures of some pretty hot chefs seems to be making cooking much more accessible to the masses. And yes, I admit it, Top Chef Chicago is on my Tivo list.

And as for the negative connotations of the phrase couch potato, remember, potatos were the food of life to the Irish!