Food Fights

Last night I watch NBC's latest reality show, Chopping Block,followed by the Food Channel's Throwdown With Bobby Flay. Both were entertaining but , really, cooking is an art not a competition between chefs or even ordinary people. Since when did cooks have to become gladiators with whisk? What's happened to the simple cooking show where it was part entertainment , part education?

I tried to get into Chopping Block, thinking it was like a foodista's version of Project Runway except the contestants were just vicious and some were just plain incompetent. It did not make for must see TV. it showed people at their worst which made them produce lousy main courses and desserts. This bloodsport may appeal to some , not to myself. Maybe that's the reason I was never too keen on Gordon Ramsay's show. Cooking is science requiring skill and patience along with creativity. It doesn't need the added pressure of bullying.

Thenthere's the Bobby Flay show. In it he dupes restaurant owners and plain folk alike into challenges. the worst part is that he tries to out do them and then persuade their friends and family into liking his version? Whatever happened to just visiting them and getting hints and tips. Why can't he be like Guy Fienga and extol even the greasiest spoon? It's horrible seeing the cooks' faces fall after their near and dear go mad for one of Flay's creations. Then when the food crtitics are brought in, it gets' even worse.

Leave the food fights to our school's cafeterias.Don't turn cooking into a bloodsport. let's leave that for everyday life.