I love watching Food Network “in the kitchen” during the mornings on the weekend. More often than not, I’ll see something that inspires a dinner that night or sometime during the week. Watching these blocks of cooking programs, however, leaves one big question in my mind….
Where is all the Asian cuisine? Food Network has been doing a pretty good job diversifying themselves the past couple of years, adding Ingrid Hoffman and Daisy Martinez to fill out the great Latin and South American cooking, but they’re still missing out.
I love Asian food; whether it’s Chinese, Japanese (suuuuuuushi…), Thai (curry!), Indian (more curry!), Vietnamese (pho), or Korean (barbeque) it’s all good. Now, if I could put a list like that together in mere seconds, don’t you think a sustainable television show could be dedicated to cooking these things?
I understand that there are some concerns. A show dedicated to Asian cooking may not have the same mass appeal as a 30 Minute Meals or Everyday Italian. Also, many Asian dishes require specialty ingredients that many people may not have access to. However, it’s been my experience that most supermarkets these days are getting more diverse ingredients, or even featuring “international” sections.
At one time, Food Network did feature Ming Tsai (one of my favorite chefs — his restaurant, Blue Ginger, in suburban Boston, is amazing) in East Meets West, but it hasn’t been on the channel for some time. It was a great show, and I think that there is definitely space on the Food Network for a similar program.
Step up Food Network! It’s time to celebrate all the food of the world.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Feb 28, 2009 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
Thank you Bob for pointing out that Asian cooking is missing on Foot Network. My only other pet peeve is that the Food Network features mostly celebrity chefs making mere mortals like us feel we cannot accomplish the dishes. Even though I teach wok cooking, I have no formal culinary training and learned from my mom. I hasten to add that cooking Asian food doesn’t necessarily require lots of ingredients. I keep mine very basic. Just TSPC: tamari, sherry (medium drinking sherry), pepper (white), cornstarch. Gives you Asian twist without overwhelming and using fresh ingredients in your fridge to make one-dish meals. Something you can do quickly for weeknights.