From Scratch

Season 3 of Top Chef begins tonight and two episodes of the latest round of The Next Food Network Star are under our belts, and I’m scratching my head, at least figuratively, over the challenges that enable winners to advance in these competitions.

Food Network first. It was apparent immediately that many of this year’s challenges are going to be along the lines of Top Chef, ie: compete for a magazine cover, cater a wedding on short notice, create a wedding cake in 90 minutes. All well and good, and it’s enjoyable to watch, but why on earth are the powers that be doing this? The skills and talents to be a success, let alone a “star”, in front of a camera are vastly different from those needed to be a successful chef or restaurant owner.

Case in point, the wedding cake. Name someone who is more overexposed than the giggling, Gidget-diseased Rachael Ray; can anyone really imagine her producing a wedding cake in 90 minutes, even if armed with cake mix? Of course not. But that does not negate her ability to rack up ratings, which is what Food Network is all about. If it were about cooking, last year’s winner would not be hosting yet another travelogue, taking us to America’s greasy spoons.

And Top Chef, which created this niche genre. It has better, more demanding challenges, but as Slate noted in January, they have little to do with the real demands of the profession. Indeed, the Season 2 winner, Ilan Hall (I still have to look up his name, he is that forgettable) has told Epicurious he spent some of his $100,000 winnings on a TV, a very large one, and has replaced a lost knife.

Oh, a restaurant? No. Hall says, “I’m not experienced enough. I’ve been cooking long enough to be a sous chef, but I’m not ready to run my own kitchen.”

Then what the hell was he doing in that competition and how or why did he win? At least Harold “I’m a cook” Dieterle, the Season 1 winner, has opened a restaurant, Perilla, in New York. (See Harold’s restaurant is open.)

So enjoy the shows. Enjoy the infusion of Ted Allen’s off-the-cuff remarks about cute guys. Enjoy the angst of turning junk food into something palatable. Enjoy the deadline pressure. But don’t expect any culinary epiphany.

It’s just television.

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Tags: commentary, reality tv