3.6.08

Food Network Keeps It Real...

I want to begin this post by stating that I have never actually watched this show, but only the ads for the show. It airs on Sunday mornings at 10:30, during which time I'm typically at church.


That's Sunny Anderson. Food Network's answer to criticism that they are the whitest network on basic cable. She's "cooking for real" according to the ads. I've been a fan of Food Network pretty much as soon as I got cable. Before that, I was a fan of the PBS cooking shows,
Galoping Gourmet, Yan Can Cook, Cooking with Caprial and The Urban Peasant. I know...I didn't even mention Jeff Smith that time...I'm kind of a cooking show nerd. No, after reading that list, I think it's time to fully admit that I am a cooking show nerd.

Anyway, back to Sunny. I'm sure she's a good cook and has something to offer the Sunday morning line up on Food Network, but I just can't get past the way she's been marketed. It's like they're saying, "hey look...here's a black woman with her own cooking show!" It's kind of ridiculous. All I can think when I watch the ads is of The Chappelle Show skit, When keeping it real goes wrong..." Makes me wish the mental illness clinics of South Africa were able to help him out a little more so he could spoof this show for me...

Earlier this year, The Food Network aired a show titled Down Home with The Neelys. This show features a black couple, but I never got the vibe from the marketing of this show that it was about making the network a little more street. Maybe it's because The Neely's had been featured on Food Network in a bunch of different shows...featured anytime there was a show about barbeque. I had heard of them before and was interested in a behind the scenes depiction of their food. In this show, the Neely's are cooking in their kitchen, family members come around and they tell the stories of how their recipes came to be. I hate barbeque, but I love that show...at some point, I'm totally making Mrs. Neely's mac and cheese...it looks amazing.

So...I think I'll skip church this week or go on Saturday night...I'm Catholic and can take advantage of that kind of thing and check out the new show...and then I'll see if the actual show is as offensive as the commercials and I'll get back to you...

Till then, let me recommend the Neely's. I dig them.

2 comments:

PHSChemGuy said...

Nice new format...you set with this or still playing around?

And throwing down the "I'm a Food Network nerd" is a little anticlimactic.

I miss Chapelle...Dave's run was brief but amazing.

calencoriel said...

I'm good with this for now...I liked the old format, but there were two things wrong with it: One, I always felt like I was visiting a grandma when I reading past posts and well...you know what two was.

whatever - learn how to spell/type before you throw down.

me too