(note: this essay was written in April 2000 and the programming on Food TV has changed. By the time this essay goes on the web, some of the shows may have been cancelled and revived 3 or 4 times at the whims of TV executives. Consequently, it's going up as-is and Eric can just write updates when he feels like it).
When you think about eating what is the most important thing you think about? Perhaps, where your food is grown or raised, or who grows it? How is it processed? What's added to it to preserve shelf life? What kinds of pesticides are used to grow it? Is it safe? Should I be concerned? Is it HEALTHY?
NO!!! These things are not important to you at all (well, except maybe for the last one). What's most important is TASTE. Yes, taste. Your pleasure is what's important and nowhere is this taken more seriously than at the Food Network. Eating is a very pleasurable activity and at The Food Network it is celebrated in all its glory. The cultured person like you knows that eating is more than just stuffing your face. The world of taste offers pleasures ranging from the delicate subtlety of truffle oil, to the profound spicy kick of jerk chicken.
A true connoisseur knows not only the art of eating, but also the art of cooking. Housewives, maybe you're one yourself, have passed down the craft of cooking through generations of women. But "true artistic creations" can only come from a professional, a professional trained in the intricate methods and procedures of pleasuring oneself and others through food. The Chefs at the Food Network know how to give pleasure. Watch them and learn a thing or two about how to turn your kitchen into a pleasure palace. Maybe you don't cook, but surely you eat, so just watch and see the beautiful creations come to life, because, as the saying goes, its fun to watch.
Join Sara Moulton on "Cooking Live Primetime with Sara Moulton", a call-in cooking show. What a hot idea! In the 60's Sara used to put flowers in her hair and wear no shoes, but she's all grown up now. She's a working mom, maybe just like you, and she works for Gourmet magazine. On her show she sometimes has ordinary women, maybe like yourself, cook along with her from their homes over the telephone. Imagine cooking along with Sara at home, smelling the sensual aromas, frying, braising, ooh, and baking, and Sara is right there on the phone. Call now. Sometimes she has a professional Chef on the show, or maybe two, and they all cook together. She even has guests who eat and talk and watch (just like you). Sara cooks in real time, so you don't miss a minute of the hot action. Best of all, Sara shares her concerns about planning family meals. Call in with questions, tips, recipe ideas, or just to say "hi". Call now, she's waiting.
Pick an ingredient, or some obscure dish. Chances are, David Rosengarten knows all about it. "Taste" features David talking and cooking his way through many sumptuous delights. No cuisine is too arcane for David. He can make Peking Duck and corned beef on rye, and, of course, he knows French food, the Greatest Food The World Has Ever Seen. Did you say wine? David knows his wine! Not just French wine mind you, but Spanish wine, American wine, Australian wine, Japanese sake, you name it. He may not be a Chef, but David is a man who knows food's deepest pleasures. Watch as he shares them with you. At the end of the program when David samples his efforts, look out! The sheer pleasure of eating explodes off the screen. David makes "Taste" a sensual delight.
I'll bet some of you don't enjoy the delicious delights of animal flesh. Well don't worry. "Pick of the Day" with Curtis Aikens is a vegetarian cooking show. Curtis is a big black man, but he won't hurt you. He's not that kind of vegetarian. He's even consulted for Mickey D's (that's McDonald's for those who don't speak "the lingo"). Curtis just wants to hug you and make you eat more vegetables. They're good for you, and they can taste great. Curtis will show you how. Wait, you do eat meat? That's okay, Curtis isn't mad at you. He just wants you to know meatless meals can be delicious too. Watch Curtis whip up tasty treats using only vegetables, fruits and grains. It's simply amazing.
Wait, you actually have to cook for your family? Well Michelle Urvator will show you how to cook "the Monday to Friday way". With some planning and a little effort you can prepare delicious meals for your family everyday of the week. Oh wait, this show is no longer airing, sorry about that. However the sponsors have plenty of ideas for quick and easy meals, like Fritos scoops, great with Pepsi, mmmmm.
So, I spent the last couple of months watching the Food Network in the morning. I wanted to look at how food and cooking were portrayed, especially in regard to gender. Judging by the sponsors, it seems the Food Network is targeting middle class viewers, and in the mornings when I was watching, mostly women. At first glance it would seem that the Food Network is gender neutral in regards to cooking. This is deceptive. Although there are lots of men cooking, there is a difference in the way the men talk about food. The basic difference is that woman voice concerns about cooking for the family. Everyday concerns about what to feed the picky kids or questions like "can I freeze this?" or shortcuts to lessen preparation time were addressed by Sara Moulton and Michelle Urvator, but not by David Rosengarten. On the whole, the men did not concern themselves with these aspects of cooking. It seems to indicate that although it's okay for men to be cooking, they are hobbyists and dilettantes, but it is still the woman's responsibility to feed the family on a daily basis. This is re-enforced by the commercials showing busy women feeding their families with convenient processed foods.
There are some exceptions to this gender divide. Most notably, Curtis Aikens expresses family concerns, and often brings his children on the show. On the other hand, Martha Stewart is completely unconcerned with family and is rather like the male cooks in that she is not concerned with shortcuts, uses hard to find "authentic" ingredients, and cooks for entertaining.* But Martha and Curtis are exceptions. In general, the male cooks, like Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay, cook for entertaining (and entertainment) purposes. Women like Sara Moulton and the now cancelled Michelle Urvator are much more likely to express concerns about the everyday task of putting food on the table.
The Food Network has been running reruns of two older "classic" cooking shows. These two shows, one with a man, the other with a woman, exhibit the same differences as the modern shows. The woman is, of course, Julia Child, who takes viewers step by step through recipes that they might actually prepare. The other is Graham Kerr the "Galloping Gourmet" who is more entertainment oriented. The old Graham Kerr drank on the set and sloshed his way through "exotic" preparations (mostly European), that on the whole, looked godawful on camera (this was before the advent of the food stylist). Kerr is definitely the precursor to Emeril and a host of other male chef-entertainers, as well as hosts like Rosengarten, the dilettantes and hobbyists.
One would expect the Food Network to be a continuation of the domestic science oriented cooking show pioneered by Evelyn Birkby. Instead it has mutated into a sort of food pornography channel. Concerns about food are downplayed, be it global food distribution and hunger, or pesticides, or even health ("pork fat rules!!!" - Emeril). Instead taste is celebrated above all else. But you can't taste television, you can only watch. This makes the Food Network the height of voyeurism. Both porn and food ostensibly concerned with pleasure, yet both are presented through a medium where the central aspect of the pleasure cannot be directly experienced, so visual stimulation is the substitute, as well as a prompt for the mind to recall memories of pleasure.
Warren Belasco's book Appetite for Change detailed how the food industry defanged the Countercultural food movement. If the Food Network becomes the main indicator of the way people think about food, then the health aspects of the Countercultural ideology that survived will soon disappear, too. The Food Network represents the way the food industry would like us to think about food. It's fun to watch while eating ice cream, or Lean Cuisine.
When I say "the health aspect" I actually mean the desire (especially for women) to be thin. With the notable exception of "The Two Fat Ladies", all the women on the Food Network are thin, and the non-cooking host women, Cathy Ballou, Jill Cordes, Jacqui Malouf, and Sissy Biggers, are all super-thin. There are plenty of commercials for diet programs and plans and low-calorie processed foods during and between shows. Health is not a concern, but thinness is still very important. But, if you enjoy food through the Food Network, it's calorie (and taste) free. Now middle class Americans can eat dietary supplements while watching Emeril cook pork ribs on the Food Network. Isn't that great!
-eric
*I think Martha Stewart is expressing the penultimate female cooking ambition: to assuage their low self-esteem by pleasing and impressing others. It's what her whole empire is about - seeking approval. She is the queen of preying on women's lack of self-confidence and desire to be seen as successful because they have the time to construct truly stupid crap to serve as table decorations and prepare pretty bland dinners. That just says "my interior life is pretty dull so love me for pleasing you rather than doing something useful in society." Martha also scares me. Please don't sue me, Martha.
-the editor