Michael Symon Makes A Great Point About Food TV's Versatility
Most of us enjoy watching at least one food competition show. Whether it's "Chopped" or "BBQ Brawl," it's adrenaline-inducing fun to watch talented cooks navigate unexpected ingredients and see what they're able to come up with in a short amount of time.
Then, there are shows like "Supermarket Stakeout," where contestants compete to see who's the most budget-savvy when it comes to buying their grocery ingredients. Seeing them scramble or have a cooking mishap makes it even more entertaining. But not everyone is a fan of these types of series.
One Food Network viewer wrote to Michael Symon about their grievances, tweeting, "loved watching ICA, but that show kind of ended up leading the way to ruining the Food Network in my opinion. It's almost all generic competition shows now instead of educational cooking." However, the famous chef politely disagreed with the social media user's take on the network's lineup.
The restaurateur gives his opinion about Food Network shows
Michael Symon responded to the frustrated Twitter user, writing, "I think it has both to be honest .. lots of educational shows during daytime on weekends .. good competition shows also teach alot about cooking like beat bobby .. and traveling discovery shows also are educational & entertaining .. Something for everyone."
If you take a look at the Food Network's lineup of shows, he's not wrong. There are multiple shows that feature cooking instruction, including "The Pioneer Woman," "Girl Meets Farm," and "Duff: Ace of Taste." Most of Symon's followers also seemed to agree with his assessment of the channel.
One wrote, "I've learned a LOT about cooking from watching competition shows. I still love the educational shows, but not everyone can sit through stuff like that." The original poster said his opinion might be different based on what types of series they air in his specific country. He replied to Symon, "I agree, a healthy mix is good ... and to be fair we get food network Canada which is a different broadcast schedule than USA so I may be speaking from a somewhat different POV than you."