Okay, so Sunday's first ever Food Network Awards? Tony Bourdain thought it was a trainwreck, and so did you guys, but apparently people watched it anyway. Like, a lot of people watched it—according to Nielsen, about 4.6 million of them did. They were "the second most-watched program in the network's history. In addition, the program placed in the top 10 rated shows on the network, on both a household and P2+ rating basis. Finally, among the 18-49year old demographic, the show tied as the highest-rated telecast this year among adults 18-49 and women 18-49." I guess I'll be waking up on a Monday morning next year waiting to read Bourdain's new rant on the Food Networks Awards 2008.... More

Micheline Maynard has a long piece in the NYT today about the mini-empire of Ina Garten, a.k.a. the Barefoot Contessa. It's interesting that she was actually reluctant to do a show herself after her first cookbook took off, because of stressful experiences filming segments for her friend Martha Stewart's show. What changed her mind? "A friend sent her a copy of "Nigella Bites," the television show that starred Nigella Lawson, the popular British cookbook writer and journalist. Ms. Garten said she liked the show, in which Ms. Lawson selected a topic, explained her menu in simple terms and often invited family or friends to sample the results." The Barefoot Contessa show ended up being produced by Rachel Purnell, the same... More

Yesterday we linked to Michael Ruhlman's response to Anthony Bourdain's Food Network rant, today we point you both to the return of serve from New York Magazine's Josh Ozersky in defense of Rachael Ray: "We don’t think this mandarin hauteur has any intellectual basis. Aside from the fact that it is unbecoming for a privileged and educated man to sneer at his own countrypeople, even by the standards of practical gastronomy his complaint doesn’t hold water. Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee are culinary lightweights, as they would be the first to admit, but they’re a product of — and engine for — people’s love for food. (...) For an amateur, taking tips from Rachael Ray is no less legitimate than... More

Michael Ruhlman discusses the online fuss generated by Anthony Bourdain's thoughts on the Food Network's hosts: "And the passion itself—over shows you don’t even have to watch. You’ve got to listen to George Bush; you don’t have to listen to Rachael. My god people care about this stuff. But will the food network listen? Not likely. They work according to their own methods, whatever those are. They’ve made their decisions based on something, and that something has resulted in the peculiar offerings addressed in Tony’s post. Clearly they know that the way to America’s vast girth is through mediocrity." (Who's your most/least favorite food personality on Food Channel? is still a hot topic in Serious Eats: Talk, go add your... More

Anthony Bourdain shares his thoughts on the Newer, Younger, More Male-Oriented, More Dumb-Ass Food Network over at Ruhlman's, a few choice bits excerpted here: On Mario Batali: "Oh, Mario! Oh great one! They shut down Molto Mario--only the smartest and best of the stand-up cooking shows." On Rachael Ray: "We KNOW she can’t cook. She shrewdly tells us so. So...what is she selling us? Really? She’s selling us satisfaction, the smug reassurance that mediocrity is quite enough." On Sandra Lee: "Pure evil." (His "IRON CHEF AMERICA match-ups I’d REALLY like to see" are pretty amazing, I'd watch them even on Pay Per View!) We've had a related question over in Talk for a few weeks, if you haven't chimed in... More

This just in: Food Network Personality or Porn Star?... More