Top Chef and The Next Food Network Star...

We are a few episodes into the new season of each of these shows now. I have to say I am pretty disappointed so far. If these are the best chefs they could find I really wonder about who did not make the cut. Seriously, how did some of these chefs make it on the shows? Has the talent pool thinned out that much over the years? Or do real chefs want nothing to do with either show now?

The Next Food Network Star is the worst this season. Some of them seem to be able to cook, but I don't think I could sit through a whole show of any of them. Either they have no on camera personality or are way over the top to the point of being annoying. Who wants that? And Giada is supposed to be their mentor? She sure does not seem to be helping at all. A mentor should be offering constructive comments and ways to improve. Snide remarks and put downs just don't cut it.

I know I will most likely stick it out until the end of both seasons. Especially Top Chef since they are the better cooks. I just hope that I am not disappointed that I did.

Veggie quiz

This is such a sad commentary on our eating habits. Yes, the kids are only 6 but they don't even know what a tomato or potato looks like?

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Food on the Street...

The wife and I watched No Reservations last night. As usual Tony sampled street food in his travels. Which always makes me wonder why we don't have street food around here. A hot dog cart does not count. Is it a product of our food culture? It seems every place Tony visits around the world has it. What makes us different?

I will qualify my post by saying I have not been to the larger cities in the U.S., such as New York or LA, so they may have more options I do not know about. But all the cities I have been to do not have the street food options I see on No Reservations. Instead they all have countless fast food places selling nondescript tasteless meals. Does the food industry have anything to do with this? Are there laws in place preventing street food from being sold?

Having freshly prepared food should not be so hard to find. Especially at a reasonable price. Instead we have prepackaged and heavily processed food everywhere. And we are the worse for it...

Food Lobbyists vs. School-age children

The health of our nation's kids is at stake and do we want to leave it in the hands of food lobbyists?

Foodborne Infections

Read an interesting article online in the New England Journal of Medicine about Foodborne infections. This part of the article really jumped out at me

Once again, we must ask ourselves how foodborne disease can develop in 76 million residents of one of the world's most technically advanced countries each year, causing 350,000 hospitalizations and 5000 deaths and adding $7 billion to our health care costs, despite intensive regulation of food production and distribution.

The recent recall of peanut butter makes me wonder just how safe our food system is in this country. Recalls of different food products happen all the time. Is it that hard to produce safe food in this country? How is the average person supposed to know what foods to purchase that won't make them sick or worse? Would routine irradiation of food help? Only buying organic? Local? As our population continues to grow the pressure to produce enough food will only make this issue more important.

Anthony Bourdain in Tokyo...

We watched No Reservations tonight. Anthony Bourdain was in Tokyo. This was one of my favorite episodes of the series so far. The Japanese are a strange lot and Tony really showed a different side to them in this episode. First off can I say how pleased I was that Masaharu Morimoto was allowed to talk without subtitles. Yes, his accent while speaking English, is not the easiest to decipher, but it is understandable. Food Network you should take notice here! The food looked phenomenal. And the traditions behind the preparation. I just cannot comprehend it. There is no way in our cookie cutter world we live in that anyone would be willing to undergo the training necessary to prepare food like the Japanese. Tony went to a sushi place where the chef has been doing it for 50 years! He is a 3 star michelin chef. I could not help but wonder how things will be in another 20 years when all the old chefs are gone. Will there still be the traditions? Yes, they are much more serious than us but will the younger generation be willing to apprentice and then train that long? I wonder. In the West I can't see it happening. Which is a shame. Chain restaurants are the worst thing that could have happened to restaurants in this country. People need to seek out individual chefs and restaurants. That is where the soul of cooking still resides. Damn, now I am hungry again...

Next Food Network Star...

Spoilers will follow....


Tonight was the finale where they picked the winner. Lisa, Adam and Aaron were the finalists. I think all three have the talent to do a show. They all did a good job in the final challenge and in my opinion it came down to what the judges and network were looking for in their next food network personality. I was surprised by who the winner was. For overall food knowledge and personality I think Lisa was the best. I really thought she was going to win. Adam did a really good job in his pilot, but I wonder if he has the range of cooking to do a show week after week. Aaron is a likable guy who makes good food. So who won? Aaron. And he starts his new job tomorrow with the first episode airing in a week.

The wife was not happy about who won and is not sure if she wants to watch his new show. I plan on trying it. As I said he is a likable guy and I want to see what he can do. He always made good food during the course of the competition, but needed to work on his on air personality. I think the last two weeks he showed he can do that. As a guy I think I will be able to relate better to him than the Lisa. Her food just did not jump out at me as something I wanted to make. I wonder if that had anything to do with the judges decision. Also, she reminded me a bit in her point of view of last season's winner Amy Finley whose show was the Gourmet Next Door. That show lasted a total of only 6 episodes.

One thing more about the finale. It bothered me that no one tasted the contestant's food in this episode except the chef's themselves. So the whole judging was based on just how they appeared on camera and the appearance that they knew what they were doing. Yes, that is what happens on most of the cooking shows. But the whole season how the food tasted was a big part of who made the finals. I just wish that could have been at least a small part of the final judging.

Wasting Food...

Today's New York Times had an eye opening article about how much food we waste. An estimated 27% of the food available for consumption is wasted by Americans! I have to admit I am guilty of this way more than I should. Poor planning on my part and I would guess a lot of other people is a big reason. How food is packaged does not help. It is only my wife and I and we do not always need such large sizes of things. Especially when a recipe only calls for a small amount. The problem then is what to do with the rest? Better planning would definitely help by picking recipes that use some of the same ingredients. I also have to learn how to cut some recipes down. Too often the recipe will serve 4-6 people and with just my wife and I even planning on eating it over two days we still will have leftover food. One thing we don't do and probably should is plan out our meals a week at a time. Especially since we both work full time that would make things easier on us by knowing in advance what food items we need. Right now we only plan out meals a couple days at a time which means multiple trips to the grocery store. I don't really mind that because that way we can buy the freshest ingredients. Somehow we need to combine buying the freshest best ingredients we can with better recipe planning so we use up all of what we buy. That would be a win-win situation because it would mean less waste ending up in landfills and less expense by using up what we have instead of always needing to buy more. Now I just need to do it...

Mac 'n' Cheese

Even with the rise in eating healthier and people looking to go more organic the truth comes out. 2007 saw a 10% rise in the sale of Kraft's Macaroni and Cheese. I guess we talk a good game but when push comes to shove convenience wins out...

If it has bacon it has to be good...

Why didn't I think of this Superbowl snack? I love his picture of what parts of the pig are delicious and what are not.

Food and Dreams...

So maybe I am not crazy. Food or drink can influence your dreams at least according to one professor. I know for me personally when I eat certain foods I will experience stranger dreams than normal. At least the ones I remember that is. Now I can rest easy that I am not crazy. At least I hope that I can. I did have a snack tonight. Plus a few beers...