# what are your favorite foodie shows? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 2, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666 "2011-07-02T22:57:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [July 5, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/21 "2011-07-05T02:11:08Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > The original _Iron Chef_, Never managed to enjoy the US version, Exact opposite for me. The original is Japanese, and therefore of zero interest to me in any way. I don’t even watch Morimoto on the American version. But Flay, Cora and Symon are great, and always cook food I’d want to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/22 "2011-07-05T09:31:47Z")
A view from downunder (we’re pretty addicted to the Lifestyle Food channel): Anything with Heston Blumenthal - In Search of Perfection and Heston’s Feasts. Nigella (the early Nigella Bites in particular). The Cook and The Chef - shame they decided not to do another series. Masterchef Australia (stupidly addictive). The River Cottage series. Ace of Cakes. Cheese Slices. Anything with Peta Mathias, but only really available in NZ so haven’t seen any in a while. Anthony Bourdain - but mainly for the travel, he’s actually kind of annoying. Bill’s Tasty Weekends. Donna Hay’s new series - Fast, Fresh, Simple. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/23 "2011-07-05T10:54:48Z")
Anything with Heston Blumenthal. He is the perfect mix of mad scientist, naughty schoolboy and wonder chef. I think his shows are among the very best things on TV let alone best cooking shows. Bourdain because he’s not boring and often funny. Two Aussie offerings from **Girl From Mars** have been faves - _The Cook and The Chef_, we were looking up his Rendang recipe at work today on the show’s [website](http://www.abc.net.au/tv/cookandchef/txt/s2194058.htm). I have enjoyed _Masterchef_ until recently. The current group don’t appeal much at all, and several still seem mediocre cooks, and it is starting to seem horribly contrived. ---
**Author:** ![Roseanne\_Valerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e95f7d/32.png) [@Roseanne\_Valerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roseanne_Valerie)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/24 "2011-07-05T12:15:51Z")
> [@Teufelblitz](#): > > Chopped - I like this show because it contains similar elements to Iron Chef. Excellent chefs cooking under pressure. \*\*Hate the host, though. > \*\* MTE. Ted Allen is a particularly odious person. I’m so glad he’s no longer associated with my favorite foodie show of all, Top Chef. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/25 "2011-07-05T12:44:21Z")
Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives Chopped Iron Chef America Man vs. Food Bizarre Foods Throwdown I HATE all of the baking/cake shows. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/26 "2011-07-05T13:09:29Z")
I’m completely addicted to Chopped. One thing I love is precisely what others here do not: the chefs are not master chefs. They are more or less everyday working chefs of varying levels of local fame and esteem; some are “mere” personal chefs, others head chefs at large restaurants in New York. And I love that, sometimes, the personal chef wins. I also crack up at the basket ingredients (an emu egg is my favorite), and have learned quite a bit about cooking watching the chefs try to figure out what to do with the items. I’ve watched Iron Chef (I prefer the original, as the campy dubbing adds to the entertainment), and it’s okay. Man vs. Food is entertaining, though I find myself both hungry and revulsed watching it. Restaurant: Impossible is also good, but I find the host a bit over the top in creating drama and urgency. He comes off more of a prick than I think he is (when he appeared on Chopped–he didn’t win–he was very humble, and also very skilled). I don’t like any of the baking shows or any of the other competition shows (Top Chef, Hell’s Kitchen, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/27 "2011-07-05T13:46:53Z")
Good Eats and No Reservations are hands down my favorites. I like the host of Man Vs. Food but I’m not at all a fan of the eating challenges. The parts where he’s just showing local restaurants is great though, I wish he were hosting Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives instead of Guy Fieri. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/28 "2011-07-05T13:56:22Z")
I enjoy Top Chef and Master Chef. I like Chopped also, but not so much when they have ingredients that are so far from what I’d ever use, that it’s silly. I also really like Chucks day off. It’s become a favorite, but I can’t catch it on too often now that I’m back to work. Chuck actually beat Flay on Iron Chef America. I’d enjoy seeing more of him in Prime Time. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/29 "2011-07-05T16:26:34Z")
**No Reservations** , by far. **The F Word** (but nothing else from Ramsay). Man vs. Food Peru’s own **Aventura Culinaria**. \*\*Jamie Oliver \*\*shows if only because it’s funny to hear him talk. Although long gone, \*\*The Urban Peasant \*\*with James Barber. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/30 "2011-07-05T17:55:05Z")
> [@Terraplane](#): > > Good Eats and No Reservations are hands down my favorites. I like the host of Man Vs. Food but I’m not at all a fan of the eating challenges. The parts where he’s just showing local restaurants is great though, I wish he were hosting Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives instead of Guy Fieri. I like Guy, but if Adam took over “DD&D” I’d still watch. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/31 "2011-07-05T18:27:40Z")
Since I am not really much of a cook I love watching the shows that highlight places I should go to eat, specifically _D,D&D, The Best Thing I Ever Had_, and _Throwdown with Bobby Flaw_. I also like _Good Eats_ because of Alton Brown. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/32 "2011-07-05T20:39:30Z")
> [@brittekland](#): > > I like the show, particularly the product test segments, but I get the vibe that [the host dude](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Kimball) **runs a bit of dictatorship** (Emphasis added) in that America’s Test Kitchen’s ‘house on the prairie’; he’s the founder, editor-in-chief of Cook’s Illustrated which is a parent company of American’s Test Kitchen. This seems, to me, especially apparent when they are doing blind taste tests that the guys who ran the test seem meek and sucking up the him. This is my understanding of the Cooks’ Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen working environment as well. Nothing first hand, mind, but gossip from a few different people. His persona reminds me more of a sterotypically stern, obsessively perfectionist Yankee than anything else. Here’s an [in-depth profile of him](http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2009/08/02/perfection_inc/?page=1) from the Boston Globe. From that profile: > [@](#): > > This belief that there is a demonstrably right way to do everything, and his quest to learn what it is, fueled Kimball’s rise to the top of a multimillion-dollar publishing empire. It has also earned him a reputation as a man who “likes smart people and has no patience for whiners or complainers” (according to Pam Anderson, USA Weekend’s food columnist and a onetime Cook’s Illustrated employee), “the worst manager imaginable” (per Mark Bittman, the New York Times best-selling cookbook author and another former employee), and “intense and brutally honest” (from Bishop). Kimball has been known to make test-kitchen chefs and writers cry with his scathing criticisms. Kimball himself admits “I’m a terrible manager. I don’t do it. That’s why I hire the very best people, who don’t need to be managed. If I have someone who needs to be managed, I let them go.” Doesn’t bug me much, as he’s never been a jerk to me (I’ve never met him or dealt with him, other than buying his magazines and books), and his companies’ recipes are about the most bulletproof in all of cooking. I have a feeling that most successful business people have a touch of the dictator to them. [David Rosengarten](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rosengarten)’s, _Taste_, was an excellent show, back in the early days of the Food Network. I appreciated his passion and how in depth he’d delve into each episode’s subject. Much love for Alton, of course. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/33 "2011-07-06T00:11:57Z")
_Good Eats_ and _Top Chef_. StG ---
**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:** [July 6, 2011, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/34 "2011-07-06T00:19:04Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Since I am not really much of a cook I love watching the shows that highlight places I should go to eat, specifically _D,D&D, The Best Thing I Ever Had_, and _ **Throwdown with Bobby Flaw** _. I also like _Good Eats_ because of Alton Brown. Methinks this isn’t a typo. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/35 "2011-07-06T00:31:11Z")
Nothing to add other then a bit of post bragging that a good friend of mine is going to be featured on Man Vs Food (Nation) soon. They spent 8 hours filming at his restaurant about 2 weeks ago and I think it’s supposed to air in either July or August. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/36 "2011-07-06T00:40:41Z")
I like Dinner: Impossible. I marvel at all the work going into cooking in quantity AND getting it all done in the time allotted. (I have a feeling some of the food they turn out might not be quite cooked all the way through.) I didn’t care for the replacement chef who took over for a while when Robert got booted for being a big fat liar, but the food network wised up and brought him back quick enough. Good Eats goes without saying, I was hooked from the first episode. And I will be different here and mention Unwrapped, because I just like to mindlessly watch thousands of candies rushing along a conveyor belt to be wrapped. I like the smaller companies that make stuff and am always pleased when I run across one of their products by accident. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/37 "2011-07-06T00:43:21Z")
Does anyone remember a PBS show hosted by an uncle and his nephew (they were actually close in age to each other, the uncle was probably only 5 years older than his nephew, and they were both in their mid 40’s; these were not young guys) who specialized in a fusion of Italian and Cajun cuisine, heavy on shellfish and seafood? I think they were from Houston, having grown up in an Italian-American family living on the Gulf Coast—It seems that they owned a restaurant together, and I used to really enjoy their program… Ring any bells with anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/38 "2011-07-06T01:59:28Z")
I just remembered another of my all-time favorites: The Frugal Gourmet. Jeff Smith was the Mr. Rogers of the TV food world. I remember something called the Urban Gourmet too, but only saw a few episodes. The guy was good, because he relied on things you’d most likely have on hand, rather than outlandish spices. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/39 "2011-07-06T03:05:28Z")
You besmirch the name of Mr. Rogers, sir! ---
**Author:** ![brittekland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/40 "2011-07-06T04:37:41Z")
I remember thinking there was something odd about Jeff Smith’s eager young assistance’s rapid eye movements and manufactured smiles. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666.md?page=3)