# Have you ever seen a Food Network personality try something they didn't like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-food-network-personality-try-something-they-didnt-like/513589 "2009-10-12T21:38:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-food-network-personality-try-something-they-didnt-like/513589/21 "2009-10-13T19:29:53Z")
A few weeks ago, I was watching\* “The Next Food Network Star”\*\*, in which three judges were evaluating dishes made by the contestants. One of the judges was honest about not liking one of the dishes…and then pointed out that she’d found a long hair in her dish (the chef in question did, indeed, have long hair). - Technically, my wife was watching, I was just in the same room as the television at the time. \*\* I think this was the show…at any rate, it’s a show in which several contestants cook their way through different challenges. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-food-network-personality-try-something-they-didnt-like/513589/22 "2009-10-13T19:53:25Z")
That was Chopped - I’m addicted to all the cooking challenge shows, except for baking and candy. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-food-network-personality-try-something-they-didnt-like/513589/23 "2009-10-13T20:07:08Z")
I seem to recall Alton Brown not doing a Rachel Ray orgasm every time in his Feasting on Asphalt series, but I can’t recall anything in particular… ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-food-network-personality-try-something-they-didnt-like/513589/24 "2009-10-14T02:44:49Z")
> [@LH75](#): > > We have a local restaurant that features fried carp. The place packs the people in and sometimes there is a line out the door. Fieri featured this place on Diners and was pretty complimentary until they wanted home to try the pickled carp. He did eat it, but was honest about his dislike. > > I have eaten there, and the fried carp is nasty. Freshwater fish is not uneatable but is seemingly harder to get right. I cannot get around how many lionized carp and perch and catfish places I have seen that are just awful or (more mildly) non-events, consisting of vaguely fish-like stuff in a half inch of breadcrumb and frying oil batter. Asians seem to get river/lake fish a bit better though I have some mud-befouled, oily “banquet fish” at high-end Chinese restaurants too. ---
**Author:** ![MN\_Maenad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@MN\_Maenad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MN_Maenad)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-food-network-personality-try-something-they-didnt-like/513589/25 "2009-10-14T21:27:01Z")
> [@GythaOgg](#): > > He also commented negatively on several items he tried during his ‘Feasting On Asphalt’ road food shows. When AB did the River Run, he just had to try lutefisk in MN. No one in the crew had anything complimentary to say, IIRC. Can’t blame 'em. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-food-network-personality-try-something-they-didnt-like/513589/26 "2009-10-15T00:28:54Z")
> [@MN\_Maenad](#): > > When AB did the River Run, he just had to try lutefisk in MN. No one in the crew had anything complimentary to say, IIRC. > > Can’t blame 'em. Yuck. I gotta agree . For something pretty normal, like fish, its pretty damn nasty. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-food-network-personality-try-something-they-didnt-like/513589/27 "2009-10-15T01:01:21Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > I seem to recall Alton Brown not doing a Rachel Ray orgasm every time in his Feasting on Asphalt series, but I can’t recall anything in particular… The funny thing about Feasting on Asphalt was that he just didn’t seem to find a lot of memorable food. The whole trip went by, with planned and unplanned stops, and the best food (in his own words) was an authentic Indian curry at a motel. I’d guess the close second would be the meat loaf he made himself in the little mini-oven the truckers helped him find. Time and time again, he put on a happy face but just seemed like he was waiting to find a real gem. I think he reflected what I feel about small town food: yes, in a blue moon, you will find a pretty good meal. Sometimes the food will be decent. But, unfortunately, big cities tend to have really good food and small towns tend to have shitty food, because there’s no competition and people have lower expectations. Believe me, I love the romantic notion that in every new town there’s a great culinary experience. It’s a wonderful idea. In reality, I’ve traveled through a lot of the Midwest and you can’t find a lot of local places anymore (it’s chain city) and the ones you can find are often just dreadful. The hubs are where the good food is – more immigrant communities, more sophisticated palates, more just plain diversity of food so the bad stuff can be safely and easily ignored. ---
**Author:** ![Reelie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Reelie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reelie)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-food-network-personality-try-something-they-didnt-like/513589/28 "2009-10-17T19:34:36Z")
It wasn’t on the Food Network but I saw Joan Rivers twice in a row spit out food into her hand in a cooking segment on a show. Not that you can really trust her judgement about anything. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-food-network-personality-try-something-they-didnt-like/513589/29 "2009-10-17T19:47:15Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I gotta agree . For something pretty normal, like fish, its pretty damn nasty. I personally don’t get the all the flak lutefisk gets. It’s just bland, gelatinous/mushy fish. I guess the texture can be offputting, but the flavor is mild. Then again, so says the person who’s eaten pickled turkey gizzards at a bar in Wisconsin (and enjoyed them), so perhaps my taste buds are totally warped. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-food-network-personality-try-something-they-didnt-like/513589/30 "2009-10-18T03:07:35Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I’ve always wondered about the judges on Iron Chef / Chopped / Whatever Cooking Competition Show Of The Week. There has to be stuff that these guys whip up that makes the skin on their pallette crawl. > > _Discolsure: I’m hardly a foody. I can’t handle any recipe that does not include the following instruction: “Pour in contents of flavor packet,” but I’ve recently developed an odd addiction to Iron Chef._ > > On last night’s episode (or maybe Sunday’s, can’t remember), Kenny Maine (I think that’s how it’s spelled) of ESPN fame was an Iron Chef judge and he said something along the lines of, “If you don’t mind, I’m going to skip the poached egg.” He caught shit for it from the other judges, but I was thinking, “It’s about time.” Sometimes the stuff they serve up makes me think that they’re punking the judges, just to see if someone will actually chew on and swallow braised octopus balls over a sparrow intestine infused pollenta. > > Thanks to Kenny. Jeffrey Steingarten is never happy with the food. Okay, sometimes he is. But he’s so damn cranky about it all. But he seems to be the exception rather than the rule. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-food-network-personality-try-something-they-didnt-like/513589.md?page=1)