I sat down to watch a cake decorating show on Food Network, but it turned into a show about engineering.\u00a0Could\u00a0the bakers\/designers duplicate (in cake)\u00a0a favorite car?\u00a0\u00a0 On the next show,\u00a0they built\u00a0a replica of a DJ’s sound board.<\/p>\n
I like the cooking process so much I’ll watch, enthralled, while someone makes a sandwich, but I don’t want to watch cooks building structures out of food.<\/p>\n
Food Network was a comforting,\u00a0homey\u00a0background for me, one I could leave on in a room while I did other things. When a recipe caught my eye,\u00a0I’d \u00a0stop and\u00a0watch.\u00a0 I record every show I don’t want to miss and notice there are fewer now from Food Network.\u00a0 (However, I have in the process discovered Cooking Channel.)<\/p>\n
Some of the Food Network’s changes are interesting, but shows that\u00a0involve bizarre \u00a0foods or non-foods lose me immediately.<\/p>\n
The last time I sat down with a cup of coffee to visit with\u00a0Food Network in real time,\u00a0there were\u00a0competitions going on most of the day. I’m not a fan of shows where\u00a0cooks work against the clock, get critiqued and then eliminated.\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0shows where\u00a0 Food Network chooses their own “new stars?”\u00a0 I’d rather be\u00a0left out of those decisions.\u00a0\u00a0Cooking as a\u00a0sport\u00a0doesn’t grab\u00a0me, but I may be in the minority here.<\/p>\n
Food preparation is giving way to\u00a0food-as-adventure.\u00a0 I like shows where recipes are named and then prepared and then tasted and the host is personable, where a love of food and the cooking of same are stressed.<\/p>\n
Dear Food Network, here’s what I like best:\u00a0\u00a0Cooking.<\/p>\n