Ya Say Ya Wanna a (BBQ) Revolution
Over the weekend, the New York Times' T Magazine featured a great story (found here) on the evolution of cooking in America post-Julia Childs.
Thanks to her pioneering culinary offerings, food television has blossomed into a tremendous business with tens of millions of individuals tuning in daily to such shows as Hells Kitchen, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and Top Chef while spending billions of dollars on sponsor products and related licensed merchandise.
But, interestingly enough, since her debut in 1963, the amount of time actually spent cooking at home has been cut in half according to author Michael Pollan's research. We watch the food being made on TV but we're not actually making it ourselves! So what does that have to do with us at A BBQ Nation? Plenty.
Pollan goes on to point out that, "..the one kind of home cooking that is actually on the rise today(according to [food marketing researcher] Harry Balzer) is outdoor grilling. Chunks of animal flesh seared over an open fire: grilling is cooking at its most fundamental and explicit, the transformation of the raw into the cooked right before our eyes. It makes a certain sense that the grill would be gaining adherents at the very moment when cooking meals and eating them together is fading from the culture."
So there you have it. Outdoor cooking is heating up and hopefully the time will come that someone in TV land -- be it Food Network, Bravo, Travel Channel, SpikeTV or another -- will recognize the need for programming that truly reflects the heritage and culinary depth that exists within the world of grilling and barbecue.
Always ones to do our part, yours truly took part last week in an open casting call for the next season of Next Food Network Star.
With nearly 350 people in attendance and a few thousand more expected to apply across the country, the chances are slim to none that I will make the cut. But at least the dialog was started, opening their minds to the infinite possibilities that exist when you start taking a look inside the people, recipes and cultures that truly make us A BBQ Nation.
- SmokeInDaEye.com, Home of Bigger, Badder, Bolder BBQ(c)
Thanks to her pioneering culinary offerings, food television has blossomed into a tremendous business with tens of millions of individuals tuning in daily to such shows as Hells Kitchen, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and Top Chef while spending billions of dollars on sponsor products and related licensed merchandise.
But, interestingly enough, since her debut in 1963, the amount of time actually spent cooking at home has been cut in half according to author Michael Pollan's research. We watch the food being made on TV but we're not actually making it ourselves! So what does that have to do with us at A BBQ Nation? Plenty.
Pollan goes on to point out that, "..the one kind of home cooking that is actually on the rise today(according to [food marketing researcher] Harry Balzer) is outdoor grilling. Chunks of animal flesh seared over an open fire: grilling is cooking at its most fundamental and explicit, the transformation of the raw into the cooked right before our eyes. It makes a certain sense that the grill would be gaining adherents at the very moment when cooking meals and eating them together is fading from the culture."
So there you have it. Outdoor cooking is heating up and hopefully the time will come that someone in TV land -- be it Food Network, Bravo, Travel Channel, SpikeTV or another -- will recognize the need for programming that truly reflects the heritage and culinary depth that exists within the world of grilling and barbecue.
Always ones to do our part, yours truly took part last week in an open casting call for the next season of Next Food Network Star.
With nearly 350 people in attendance and a few thousand more expected to apply across the country, the chances are slim to none that I will make the cut. But at least the dialog was started, opening their minds to the infinite possibilities that exist when you start taking a look inside the people, recipes and cultures that truly make us A BBQ Nation.
- SmokeInDaEye.com, Home of Bigger, Badder, Bolder BBQ(c)
Posted by Smoke In Da Eye at 8/5/2009 1:55 PM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: bravo next food network star bbq travel channel barbecue food network top chef grilling hell's kitchen spike
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: bravo next food network star bbq travel channel barbecue food network top chef grilling hell's kitchen spike
Well we're pulling for you. Even if you don't make it, how great would it be for them to at least add a true BBQ challenge on one of the episodes. I'd love to watch some of the trained executive chefs and such hit that wall.
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