# I am hopelessly addicted to the Food Network **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 6, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015 "2005-10-06T05:49:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/21 "2005-10-06T19:33:34Z")
I’m also a _Food Network_ junkie, but I’ve found that it might be the most polarizing network I watch. I either love or loathe their personalities. I watch _Good Eats_ religiously, and I love shows with Bobby Flay, Tyler Florence, Mario Batali, and the series _Unwrapped_ and _Iron Chef_. I despise anything with Rachel Ray, Michael Chiarello, Paula Dean, and Sara Moulton. I also want to kill that douche who does the _Surreal Gourmet_. I don’t know why it is but there’s nothing better than a great cooking show, and nothing worse than a bad one. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/22 "2005-10-06T19:38:21Z")
_Good Eats 30-Minute Meals Unwrapped $40 A Day Iron Chef: America_ I’d marry Rachel Ray in a second. I think my wife would let me, too. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Corii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Corii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corii)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/23 "2005-10-06T19:51:57Z")
That’s the only channel I’ll actually sit down to watch! Whoever the fellow is who does \Unwrapped\ annoys the heck out of me though. He has these pauses… when he speaks… that make me think… he went to the William Shatner… School of Orating. The show itself is pretty fascinating, but his style is so distracting! ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/24 "2005-10-06T19:55:12Z")
I adore Alton Brown, Mario Batali, and the couple who won the network’s “next Food Network star” competition. Rachael Ray is too damned perky. I can handle her 30-Minute Meals show (though the whole “EVOO _giggle_ - that’s extra virgin olive oil” at least once a show is beginning to grate on me), but her $40 a Day show is way too much of her stuffing her face and simulating orgasm over how absolutely delicious every morsel is. (I’m a straight chick; this doesn’t turn my crank.) Giada de Laurentiis - she’s good but I find her too-large head very distracting. I hate Sandra Lee (“Semi-Homemade Cooking,” IIRC). That woman shouldn’t be allowed near a kitchen, with the crimes she commits against food. And the woman who does the “Barefoot Contessa” shows also irritates me to no end. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/25 "2005-10-06T20:34:51Z")
Good Eats and Iron Chef (both versions) are high-priority TiVo season passes for me. Alton Brown is just amazing. I also watched some of Dave Lieberman’s Good Deal, which was passable, but mostly focused on reintroducing kitchen basics to inexperienced cooks; it’s a show to start with and graduate from. Also, I used to think Emeril was a tool, but I changed my mind. Actually, it’s his audience that is made up of tools, and he’s just playing to them. **Emeril:** And now… we add… _\_ …GARLIC! **Audience:** _\_ **Me:** _\_ ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/26 "2005-10-06T20:49:35Z")
Alton Brown is the only reason I turn on Food Network any more (I used to enjoy some of Mario’s shows, but I haven’t seen him on anything but Iron Chef America any more, and I can take or leave that). I love AB - he can have my baby. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/27 "2005-10-06T21:01:47Z")
> [@Psycho Pirate](#): > > No love for my favorite Paula Deen and her show, _Paula’s Home Cooking_? Southen style comfort food at it’s finest. Plenty of butter and mayonnaise to go around, too. Yummy. At my house, we call her Crazy Lady Who Melts Butter. I mean it in the nicest possible way and I enjoy her show, but you could make a drinking game out of every use of butter and heavy cream. **BBVL** : I didn’t know about Anthony Bourdain’s other show. So he’s slamming those guys, huh? I can see Food Network being a little touchy about that. I just assumed his show was on so late because it’s the only food show where I ever heard the host drop the F-bomb, even if it was bleeped out. Food Network’s decidedly family-friendly, even when they do a show on geoducks. 😃 **Corii** : The host of _Unwrapped_ is Marc Summers, who hosted Nickelodeon’s _Double Dare_ back in the '80s. He’s amazingly low-key for the former host of a raucous children’s game show. ---
**Author:** ![Corii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Corii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corii)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/28 "2005-10-06T21:47:54Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > **Emeril:** And now… we add… _\_ …GARLIC! I think you mean GAHHHHHHLICK. cbawlmer: That’s hilarious, I thought I recognized him from somewhere! I liked the one where they explored diners across the US, but I don’t think that was _Unwrapped_, he has another show doesn’t he? Anyway I’m a Jersey girl at heart so the diners were very nostalgic for me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/29 "2005-10-06T22:13:09Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Also, I used to think Emeril was a tool, but I changed my mind. Actually, it’s his audience that is made up of tools, and he’s just playing to them. They act like that even when he’s not trying to play to them. I watched it yesterday. He was tossing a salad and had too much dressing in the bowl. Emeril: See, this is too wet…even when we add the broccoli. [adds the broccoli. Shows the camera the salad is still too wet] [adds more lettuce] The crowd went wild when he added that lettuce. They were laughing and clapping. Later in the show, he was trying to get some powdered spices out of a bowl and having a hard time, so he said to explain why he was having trouble, “It’s humid in here”. The crowd couldn’t stop applauding. I just don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/30 "2005-10-06T22:21:13Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > Later in the show, he was trying to get some powdered spices out of a bowl and having a hard time, so he said to explain why he was having trouble, “It’s humid in here”. The crowd couldn’t stop applauding. I just don’t get it. Maybe it’s just really easy to be happy when you’re smelling good food cooking. I think they’re a little cuckoo too, but Emeril’s not a real low-key kinda guy and he’s obviously **super** excited about his food. I met Bobby Flay summer before last when he did a cooking demonstration to promote one of his books. The steak and pork he grilled were among the best things I’ve ever eaten, and he was very personable and nice to the folks who attended, especially the kids. I brought my young brother and sister (then aged 11 and 10) who are big fans of his shows and they were thrilled with the whole experience. I’ve heard he has a reputation for being difficult and egotistical, but I think that’s really common among ambitious, hard-working perfectionist types. He was definitely on his best behavior the day we met him. Alton Brown did a demonstration in Austin a couple of months ago and I really wanted to go, but I couldn’t get away. I was so disappointed! ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/31 "2005-10-06T22:22:29Z")
Food Network made me the happy cook that I am today, particularly Alton Brown. Even if you don’t like his recipes, you still learn enough to fix problems you may have had with your own. I’d really like to find Rachel Ray annoying, but I can’t. She’s just so damn cute in a kinda hot way. Can’t forget about Iron Chef. I like both of them, but American has Alton Brown as the host and Mario Batali. It’s almost a match for the Chairmans puffy sleeves. ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/32 "2005-10-06T22:31:27Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > They act like that even when he’s not trying to play to them. I watched it yesterday. He was tossing a salad and had too much dressing in the bowl. > > Emeril: See, this is too wet…even when we add the broccoli. > > [adds the broccoli. Shows the camera the salad is still too wet] > > [adds more lettuce] > > The crowd went wild when he added that lettuce. They were laughing and clapping. > > Later in the show, he was trying to get some powdered spices out of a bowl and having a hard time, so he said to explain why he was having trouble, “It’s humid in here”. The crowd couldn’t stop applauding. I just don’t get it. It’s all the liquor they give’em before the show. ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/33 "2005-10-07T00:50:36Z")
Over the summer I had a lot of free time at night - a couple of my best friends were working nights and I wasn’t - so I spent an uncharacteristic amount of time in front of the TV. An extremely significant portion of that was spent watching Emeril and Iron Chef, I must admit. So much more entertaining than almost all of my other choices, and practical/educational, too! I find Rachel Ray annoying, but only because she’s exactly like my mother in her speech and mannerisms. Other than that, I can totally see the hotness. And she can cook! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/34 "2005-10-07T01:41:36Z")
[What?](http://www.rtl.nl/components/huistuinkeuken/britsekeuken/slide_nigella9.jpg) [No one](http://img.iskon.hr/kl/2003/04/16/0002019v.jpg) [has](http://www.showbizireland.com/images/stars/nigella-lawson-1.jpg) [mentioned](http://www.cookbookswelove.com/images_cookbooks/lawson_n_feast_475h.jpg) [the luscious](http://www.aboutbrookdale.org/images/nigella1.jpg) [Nigella Lawson?](http://www.nigella.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/35 "2005-10-07T01:44:59Z")
I wasn’t trying for Haiku, there. I also love Alton Brown, but we get Food Network Canada, and I haven’t seen a new show from him in a while. I like Michael Smith, too. Remember Two Fat Ladies? ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/36 "2005-10-07T03:01:43Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > [What?](http://www.rtl.nl/components/huistuinkeuken/britsekeuken/slide_nigella9.jpg) > > [No one](http://img.iskon.hr/kl/2003/04/16/0002019v.jpg) [has](http://www.showbizireland.com/images/stars/nigella-lawson-1.jpg) [mentioned](http://www.cookbookswelove.com/images_cookbooks/lawson_n_feast_475h.jpg) > [the luscious](http://www.aboutbrookdale.org/images/nigella1.jpg) > [Nigella Lawson?](http://www.nigella.com/) Nigella sure is luscious, but she has never, as far as I know, been on Food Network. I think she was on the Style Channel, or one of those other channels, and she has written a bunch of best-selling cookbooks (helped in part by her gorgeous cover photos), but I’ve never actually seen her in action on TV. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/37 "2005-10-07T03:12:42Z")
> [@Psycho Pirate](#): > > No love for my favorite Paula Deen and her show, _Paula’s Home Cooking_? Southen style comfort food at it’s finest. Plenty of butter and mayonnaise to go around, too. Yummy. I love Paula Dean. Seriously. I want her to be my grandma. I want her to be grandma that lives in the garage and cooks for me all the live long day. Granted, I’d weigh 300 lbs and have a heart attack at 25, but OH BOY would it be worth it. 😃 Rachel Ray is so. friggin’. annoying. I cannot stand her at all. And the worst part: Oprah has arranged for Rachel to get a one hour, day time talk show. AN HOUR! The woman drives most crazy after 30 minutes! ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/38 "2005-10-07T04:03:37Z")
> [@Corii](#): > > I think you mean GAHHHHHHLICK. > > cbawlmer: That’s hilarious, I thought I recognized him from somewhere! I liked the one where they explored diners across the US, but I don’t think that was _Unwrapped_, he has another show doesn’t he? Anyway I’m a Jersey girl at heart so the diners were very nostalgic for me. 🙂 Marc Summers hosts _Unwrapped_. He used to host _Double Dare_ on Nickelodeon waaaaay back in the day. I always half expect Harvey to make a guest appearance to talk about bagels or Huffy bikes or something. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015/39 "2005-10-07T04:21:14Z")
I love the food competitions. The only problem I have is that I don’t always understand why someone wins or loses. I would like to see them delve a little more into the mechanics of why something was good or bad rather than just tell us who won. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-hopelessly-addicted-to-the-food-network/325015.md?page=1)