# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/41 "2011-07-06T05:13:32Z")
> [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](#): > > I just remembered another of my all-time favorites: The Frugal Gourmet. Jeff Smith was the Mr. Rogers of the TV food world. Mr. Rogers was a saint, Jeff Smith was a kiddy diddler. For me its No Reservations, the show, not my stance on child molestation ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/42 "2011-07-06T05:30:51Z")
There is a show going currently on Food Network called “Extreme Chef.” It manages to take every aspect of cooking competitions that I loathe and make the entire show about them. Cook outdoors on a windy beach? Check. Freeze all their ingredients in a block of ice? Check. Make a meal out of only the ingredients in unlabeled cans? Check. Cook meat on an engine block? Check. This show blows. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/43 "2011-07-06T06:46:13Z")
Jacques Pepin’s “Fast Food” shows what a proper chef can do with, basically three ingredients. At one point [HoJo’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Johnson's) hired him for recipes that were good but easily frozen. I do not believe they involved baked beans (for me dad) or blueberry sundaes (for me, but it never lived up to its billing). ---
**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, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/44 "2011-07-06T13:09:50Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > Mr. Rogers was a saint, Jeff Smith was a kiddy diddler. > > For me its No Reservations, the show, not my stance on child molestation I don’t believe any children were molested. Teenagers were the target there. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/45 "2011-07-07T01:15:52Z")
> [@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 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. So? It doesn’t change the fact that they ROCK. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/46 "2011-07-07T01:35:14Z")
> [@Invisible\_Chimp](#): > > America’s Test Kitchen > Chopped > Bizarre Foods > No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain > Good Eats > Nigella Lawson > Ultimate Recipe Showdown > Cooking For Real(w/Sunny Anderson) > > Radio: > The Splendid Table Add: BBQ U w/ Steve Raichlen ---
**Author:** ![brittekland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/47 "2011-07-07T03:41:23Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > So? It doesn’t change the fact that they ROCK. Perhaps the show would rock more if all the contributors don’t have to look at Chris Kimball every other minute for approval and there’s less shivering in their drawers going on? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![brittekland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/48 "2011-07-07T03:42:52Z")
> [@Invisible\_Chimp](#): > > Add: BBQ U w/ Steve Raichlen That guy’s a little weird, no? No harm done though. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/49 "2011-07-07T03:55:30Z")
David Rocco’s La Dolce Vita. I want to be him. I want to live in Florence. I want to hook up with Nina. French Food At Home. Nigella level food porn, but Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![Aestivalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Aestivalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aestivalis)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/50 "2011-07-07T04:42:11Z")
I can barely watch Food Network anymore, as there are too many niche shows and not enough actual cooking shows that are any good. That said, Robert Irvine shows (including the last season of Worst Cooks in America) are a guilty pleasure, just to see what he can pull off. He rarely takes the easy way out, and the level of cooking that he can do with what he has on-hand is impressive. Good Eats I enjoy, but I don’t follow them anymore after the first 10 seasons. F-Word is near the top of the list, because as Ramsey says, every episode there are three dishes that you can prepare at home. His 2-minute clips are honestly enough to follow, if you’re a competent home cook. No Reservations, precisely because Bourdain can wax poetic. Bizarre Foods, cause Zimmern is a trooper! Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares, preferably the UK episodes, because he shows that he really cares. America’s Test Kitchen - So Educational! Conviction Kitchen - proof that ex-cons can bitch less than Hell’s Kitchen contestants. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/51 "2011-07-07T04:49:14Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Check Please! [shameless brag]I was actually on that show a few years ago.[/brag] ---
**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 7, 2011, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/52 "2011-07-07T12:21:36Z")
> [@brittekland](#): > > Perhaps the show would rock more if all the contributors don’t have to look at Chris Kimball every other minute for approval and there’s less shivering in their drawers going on? 🙂 I concur. Plus, Mr. Kimball isn’t exactly the most telegenic person on the face of the earth. Oh, and are they still currently shamelessly aping Alton Brown and Good Eats with their atrociously animated food science segments? ---
**Author:** ![brittekland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/53 "2011-07-07T14:59:08Z")
> [@Roseanne\_Valerie](#): > > I concur. Plus, Mr. Kimball isn’t exactly the most telegenic person on the face of the earth. Oh, and are they still currently shamelessly aping Alton Brown and Good Eats with their atrociously animated food science segments? I used to watch Alton Brown/Good Eats often but, even though every episode was educational, the overly educational children’s show format eventually got old. This is a **totally personal view and probably illogical** but although Alton is scientific and something of a guru of food facts it never _ **seemed to me** _ the stuff he cooks would taste good. I don’t know whether it is the too science project-ish-ness of overly enthusiastic grade school science teacher on crack angle **or** the too single man living alone-ish feel (not that there’s anything wrong with that) + playing with the ingredients too much thing.. I haven’t figured out exactly why. I don’t mean to rain on Alton fan’s parade (I will probably get flamed since there seems to be so many fans here) but more I watched less I got drawn to watch more. I like him in Iron Chef. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666/54 "2011-07-07T21:48:19Z")
I’ve had hits and misses with Good Eats recipes. They aren’t The Very Best Versions of anything, AB is just showing (in addition to the science) a couple of ways to cook an eggplant, or making mac & cheese. The recipes presented are only basic samples of the millions out there, (and I can often get a sense of how a dish is going to taste before I make it). The fun is in watching the show, not to be guaranteed everything he makes is going to be the ultimate. No one’s mentioned Dinner & A Movie. Is that still on TBS? I used to love Paul and Annabelle, and I have the D&AM cookbook AND official apron! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-foodie-shows/587666.md?page=2)