Bill Buford's Food Network Article in The New Yorker
Tuesday, October 03, 2006 | posted by Mike
Since we’re taking care of stuff I was too lazy to address sooner, dB of FoodCandy and Madeline of Everything Rachael Ray pointed out that I hadn’t addressed the recently posted article by writer Bill Buford (author of Heat) in The New Yorker all about the history and state of the Food Network.Buford claims to have spent seventy-two hours watching the Food Network (minus sleep time) in preparation of the article, which is more than one month’s safe allotment. The article gives the back story on how the Network was founded, how it started out and discovered a number of chefs who are still going strong on television and how they made the move away from “dump-and-stir” shows toward “food entertainment.” It also features a comment from the ubiquitous Bob Tuschman, which means the article clearly contains more actual “research” and “journalism” than we here at TVFF.com are able to muster.
Perhaps the most charming part of the article is the story of the discovery of Patron Saint of Food TV® Julia Child. It’s a great story and one that I had never heard, so the article is worth a read just for that. Later, Buford returns to the “A Star is Born” story line when he recounts Rachael Ray’s discovery. It’s a sign of the times, I guess, that Julia’s story leads to a legendary career on PBS and Rachael’s leads to a media empire.
Labels: Bob Tuschman
