Judging by this blog, one could make the assumption that all we do is eat and it wouldn’t be that far from the truth. In all honesty though, some of us do have lives, children, etc. Unfortunately, I do not and end up watching a lot of TV. Ha!
Okay, maybe I do have a life (somewhat) but I don’t have kids, so I do have time to watch a lot of TV. And because I like to stay knowledgeable about the “industry”, a lot of these shows revolve around food. There’s a lot of food-related shows out there (challenge, documentary and educational styled shows) to watch and a lot of channels on which to watch them, so there’s certainly enough to keep you busy. I watch all kinds of them, but in order to keep this post as brief as possible, here are the ones that are set on my DVR so that I don’t miss them:
Challenge Shows
Dinner: Impossible (Food Network): I don’t know what it is about this show, but I’m addicted. Hosted by a goofy British bastard with a previously falsified resume (he actually lost the show for a time because of it) named Robert Irvine, this show puts Robert in situations where he has to come up with a banquet style meal against all obstacles. Some obstacles include lack of food on hand, lack of cooking equipment, lack of space, lack of time, etc. Basically, they unknowingly drop him into a seemingly insurmountable situation and somehow he usually triumphs and accomplishes the job of getting the meal prepared. It may just be the magic of television bending the rules in order to make him win more often than not, but even if they do bend the rules, what he does is pretty darn impressive. Robert’s a driven, yet engaging personality and I’ll admit that I’ve used a few of his techniques/solutions that he’s come up with on the show when I’ve been cooking in my own kitchen or out in a tailgate lot.
Man v. Food (Travel Channel): Hosted by Adam Richman, this show revolves around Adam traveling around and eating massive quantities of food in cities across America (thus the reason it is on the Travel Channel). It’s interesting to see some of the crazy food creations that are out there in America and watching the total goof Richman interact with these people is equally entertaining. What really makes this show and makes me love it is watching the eating challenges that he takes on at the end of each episode. Whether it’s spicy chicken wings, 150 oysters, a meter of bratwurst, etc., they are always awesome. Plus, being the big fan of eating challenges that I am, it is always fun to sit there and wonder if I could defeat some of the challenges. It’s almost interactive in that respect and if I had to speculate, I think I could complete nearly every single hot food challenge but probably only about 25% of the food quantity challenges.
Food Wars (Travel Channel): This one is relatively new as it has only been showing for about a month. Hosted by a very cute Camille Ford, the entire premise of this show is based on going to a particular city, picking out a notable food item from the city (chicken wings in Buffalo, Italian beef sandwiches in Chicago, cheesesteaks in Philadelphia, etc.) and then holding a competition between two of the most famous purveyors of that food item in the city. The contest includes local “super fans” from each restaurant and local “celebrities” who are blindfolded and then are given a taste of each food item. The premise of the show is not exactly the most brain busting of all time, but is interesting to see how passionate people are about these foods from their favorite particular place (also sometimes the demographics of the customers from the competing restaurants can be VERY entertaining). Plus, it’s nice to know about some of these places in case I ever find myself in one of these cities so that I can give the food a shot myself.
Hell’s Kitchen (FOX): At this point, everyone and their mother knows who Gordon Ramsay is and he’s the host/antagonist in this show. Matching up teams of aspiring chefs against each other with a grand prize being a job at a “prestigious” restaurant or a restaurant of their own, this one is competition-style reality television at its heart. It’s over-dramatized, melodramatic and fake (all things that I usually hate), yet I can’t stop watching. I will admit that in recent years, I find myself caring less about the competitors and the show and more about watching what Ramsay is going to do next. I love him that much.
Throwdown! with Bobby Flay (Food Network): I’ll admit that I don’t pay that close of attention to this one at all times, but I do like it. Ordinarily, I think Bobby Flay is a pompous ass (wibia is in love with him), but on this show he tones it down and actually acts somewhat like a real human being and that makes it watchable. The premise of this show is that Bobby goes across America and finds a person/people that specialize in a particular food item (cheesecake, fried chicken, apple pie, etc.) and then comes up with a recipe of his own to challenge them in a “throwdown” competition where a winner is declared. They always use taste as a judging parameter (obviously), but the other parameters sometimes vary from show to show to include such things as creativity, presentation, etc. It’s not the greatest television ever produced, but it is a fun way to learn about foods that I’ve never heard of and also to see the good, honest, friendly people that make these foods.
Educational Shows
Good Eats (Food Network): Hosted by Alton Brown, this show is more of a learning show for me than it is anything else. Granted, Alton is very entertaining and dare I say very funny, but the primary reason I watch this show is to learn about the food trivia, gadgets and recipes. This show has given me a new appreciation of some foods and has also taught me different uses for foods that I already knew about and for some that I did not know about either. For that alone, this show is worth watching. There are other reasons though too and one of them is the fact that this show is just so darn cheesy that it is funny. The best part is that Alton doesn’t care about hiding it either and even plays up to the cheese factor and that just makes it even better.
Food Tech (History Channel): I’ll admit that this one is the newest show on my list and the only reason I started watching was because I heard they were going to be profiling my beloved Domino’s Pizza. I’ve only watched two episodes so far and while this is not the most overly entertaining show, it certainly is informational. Hosted by a TOTAL TOOL named Bobby Bognar, this show focuses on a particular food item/offering (pizza, ballpark food, Chinese takeout, etc.) and shows you how the foods get from the field/animal to the factory to your mouth. It’s not the most addicting show and I’m not going to make any specific plans to watch it on its first run, but it is a nice show to have on your DVR when you’ve got an hour to kill and there’s nothing else going on. This one is strikingly similar to Unwrapped on the Food Network.
Documentary Shows
Kitchen Nightmares (BBC America and FOX): There’s two different versions of this show that have been produced for British (the original) and American television, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll just group them into both. On this one, Gordon Ramsay (my boy!) goes around to failing restaurants and takes a week to diagnose their problem, analyze their operations and come up with a plan to turn the restaurant around. Often times, there’s a lot of drama (real and fake) and a lot of things you couldn’t care less about, but ultimately Ramsay’s overwhelmingly engaging personality carries this show. When you look past the constant blow-ups on Hell’s Kitchen (he obviously just overreacts to get ratings) and watch him on this show, you can see that he is a legitimately awesome guy that really does care about helping people. Plus, he’s a lot of fun too. He’s still driven and abrasive, but it just comes across differently on this show. That said, given the option between watching the British version and the American version, I would choose the British version every time. The American version is sensationalized and the British version is just more of a “real” product.
Other Shows (ones that I watch, but don’t necessarily re-arrange my life for or always set my DVR to record)
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
Ultimate Recipe Showdown
Giada de Laurentiis (I know she’s only one person, but c’mon, I am a male…)
Unwrapped
The Best Thing I Ever Ate
As you can see, I watch way too much television as it is. Unfortunately, there’s many others (Food Network mostly) that I will watch if the mood suits me, but these are the ones that I naturally gravitate toward.
So, do you have any favorites that you like to watch and why do you like to watch them? Any favorite food show related television personalities out there (if anyone says Paula Deen, I’m deleting your comment. Ha!)? Let’s get a conversation going and maybe some of us can learn about some shows/personalities that we’ve never heard of and may find appealing. Comment away!
-IndianapolisEater
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