The Friday Link for 9/11/15

The Food Network: once a gleaming pillar of gastronomic excellence, now a pathetic network geared to over-eating, mediocre family restaurants and zero-value cooking competitions.  As a food guy, a person who watches cooking shows to learn how to cook, I don't watch it anymore.  The best chefs have all left, or been fired, and in their place are glorified line cooks whose culinary ability seems to have been burned away, like the tastebuds in one's mouth after eating a lava hot piece of pizza.

Ina Garten is the last hold out of quality cooks from their once juggernaut lineup.  Even Alton Brown, the brilliant host of Good Eats, is nothing more than a tragically misused version of Wink Martindale anymore.  I remember when Giada de Laurentiis was the weakest chef on the network, looking like a doe eyed intern compared to the rest of the line up.  Today, she's one of their top talents, but more likely to host a talent show then wow me with a recipe.

Ten years ago, the Food Network went with style rather than substance, and have become a hollow shell of what they initially represented, but they're not the only ones.  Bravo used to air operas, Discover Channel used to have science and societal based programming, and the History Channel used to air historical programming.  Heck even the Weather Channel rarely has weather on anymore.  It's cheaper and easier to put on reality crap or a cheap competition show than it is to do real programming.

But nothing on the Food Network makes me sadder than watching Sandra Lee.  I know she is struggling with cancer.  This post is not about that, and I hope she recovers soon.

This post is about what Sandra Lee represents to cooking; a sad, pathetic attempt at making the term 'chef' apply to any idiot who pours a can of hormel chili on a bag of Fritos.  Her use of 70% pre-packaged food in her "recipes" is such a joke.  Her entire career is some sort of attempt a validating lack luster and incompetence.  "I made a Duncan Hines cake!"  Well that's great, but that doesn't make you a chef.  It means you followed the instructions and baked a box cake, so don't act like you just made beef wellington.

I also don't like how she validates daytime drinking.  I don't care how flashy your drink looks, it's not healthy to encourage drinking like that.  I'm no prude, but how many people watch her and start having a drink at 11 AM?  She's got the blender going early!

Anthony Bourdain, an amazing chef, author and traveler, knew it was time to leave The Food Network when she came up to him at a network event, put her arm around him and implied they were equals in the kitchen.  His criticism of her and the Food Network for hiring her, are spot on.  Some of her segments have not only been hard to watch, but culturally obtuse and insulting (Search: Sandra Lee Kwanzaa Cake).

For a laugh, here is a montage of her crazy style from her show.  I do laugh when I see this, but I also cry a little for the Food Network that is long gone.