another annoying Food Network trend

If you have been reading this blog for a while you know that I have long been unhappy with the predominance of competition shows on Food Network. Yes, I admit that I really enjoy Cooks vs.Cons, as does Terry. But overall my feeling is that competition shows crowd out actual cooking shows.

There is another trend that I don’t like. That is the rise of food travel shows. Sister network Cooking Channel heavily promotes Man Fire Food, in which the host travels the country in search of grill, barbecue, or anything else that uses an open flame, and Cheap Eats, in which Ali Kahn tries to eat in a city for a day spending only $35.

But Food Network proper is heading the same direction. Damaris Phillips of Southern at Heart fame has a new show, Super Southern Eats (which mysteriously disappeared after one episode), where she doesn’t cook but rather travels the South in search of good food. Another new show, with a host whose name I don’t recognize, premieres on my birthday where she casts about looking for interesting dishes. All of this is in the venerable tradition of Diners Drive-ins and Dives, but it also takes up time slots that could be devoted to cooking shows.

I would much rather that Damaris had kept the cameras at her beautiful house in Kentucky and shared with us the fine art of Southern cooking.

Ah, Linda Ellerbee, you had it right: “And so it goes.”