Food Network and Foodies: Loved and Hated?

Last week I brought about the topic of how blogs are becoming more popular when choosing to view food entertainment. Due to the increasing popularity of Food Network and many other networks’ food oriented programming, the food industry is moving in a new direction. Food entertainment is beginning to show face all over bookstores, magazines, television, blogs, and commercials but some people are having a hard time with the idea. This week I chose to comb the blogosphere in hopes of finding some information on my topic of choice, the new dislike for foodies becoming a topic of entertainment and the effects of food network on advertising. The first blog I came across, The Daily Beast (see top left), written in the style of satire by, was created to address issues of interest to the editors. The post, “Foodies Make Me Sick,” discussed one writer’s hatred for people referring to themselves as foodies. Comedian Jessi Klein (VH-1, CNN, Comedy Central) wrote the original post, which made everything she disliked magnified in a humorous way. It did however raise an interesting question about the use of the term foodie in every day culture. After looking on another food-oriented blog, I realized that it did anger some foodies, which made for some interesting controversy. The next post I stumbled upon a post from one of my favorite blogs, Food Network Addict (see right). This post entitled, “Alton Brown New Face Of Welch’s, Can’t Compete With Cute Kids,” discusses how Food Network star Alton Brown has become the new face of Welch’s Grape Juice and that the traditional cute kid is gone for the next year. I chose to comment on each of the posts in hopes to get a response about the popularity of food entertainment and its effects in the advertising world. My comments can be found on each of the blogs as well as below.



“Foodies Make Me Sick”-My Comments:


First off, I would like to thank you for taking the time to write this article. After reading the article I realized that some people probably do feel like foodies are just a bunch of snobs with nothing else to do. Comedians tend to make a big deal out of little things, which is great, but this still raised the point about foodies. You opened your article with, “The other day I passed a fancy new restaurant in the West Village from whose windows camera bulbs were popping with lightning intensity. I assumed there was a fancy-pants magazine photo shoot in progress and peeked to see who was posing. A model? An actress? SJP? Wrong. It was a chicken dish, bathed in professional lights, the center of attention for a team of attendants who were hovering off to the side, waiting to attend to the chicken’s every whim. A surreptitious little piece of tinfoil was propping up the chicken into a sexier, more angled pose, the poultry equivalent of a girl on the cover of Maxim,” which I found hilarious. Obviously you realized this is a food photography shoot, which can be tough due to the nature of cooking.

Just as comedy, music, acting is a craft, so is the art of food design as well as cooking. Due to the increasing popularity of food as entertainment on television, movies, and in magazines do you feel that comedians are going to continue to use foodies in their acts? Do you feel like the term foodie is being thrown around too much and that it is turning negative? I am a foodie, but not of the obnoxious foodie persuasion. I did not feel offended at all by your post, in fact I think that sort of foodie needs to gain a new appreciation for what food really is and not just the status. Do you feel like being a foodie is a fad? I think given your job is entertainment, it would be interesting to see your thoughts on what might happen to food entertainment if it is considered a fad.


“Alton Brown New Face Of Welch’s, Can’t Compete With Cute Kids”- My Comments:

I would like to thank you so much for this post as well as your blog. Your blog is one of my favorite daily sites to visit. It is interesting to see how Food Network personalities are becoming spokespeople for so many food companies. It is great to see how advertising is taking to the popularity of food television. Already we have seen Paula Deen as the face of Smithfield Foods. You stated, “With the cute kids gone and Alton in, will you buy more grape juice?” This is an interesting question especially when looking at advertising recently. Alton Brown is respected and expected to know all things scientific. When thinking about Welch’s, I always tend to think of the cute little kids.

Do you think by making this change, it might take away the nostalgia of the grape juice? Will this be a positive choice in advertising for this company? I feel like it is a huge possibly that by choosing Alton, such an exciting Food Network personality, the grape juice may be put on the back burner. The association to watch Alton’s shows may take precedent over buying the grape juice. I feel that this is a huge step forward for food entertainment and am very excited about it. I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter, of course in your very fun and light way. You seem to understand what the personalities are doing and the direction in which they are headed.

The Blogosphere: The New Food Entertainment?

After writing on many different subjects ranging from video games to smart choices when eating, I felt it necessary to discuss food entertainment in a different light. There are numerous television stations that air shows having to do with cooking as well as many reality shows deciding who the next best chef will be. It is true that food television is becoming more popular by the minute and ratings will continue to soar as long as the programming stays entertaining. Food entertainment programming is starting to become a topic of concern in many food blogs. People are expressing their feelings about dumbed down programming and just plain repetitive shows. However, due to the growing success of food television and use of the web, a new form of food entertainment has been born. Welcome to what could possibly be the next best food entertainment, the blogosphere.

Food Network started off with shows on cooking and has continued to air programming with a wider range of topics. Shows such as Unwrapped and Good Eats delve into the creating, packaging, history and science aspects of food. Although these shows are highly informative and entertaining, viewers wanted more. With shows such as Iron Chef and Top Chef becoming such a phenomenon in the food world, Food Network decided to create The Next Food Network Star. This show is great for two reasons; one it is a reality show about food, and two it is designed so that the winner gets a test season. What a great idea! A show that creates new shows, or is it?

Popular food blog, Serious Eats, posted a question about how The Next Food Network Star has not produced a “star” besides Guy Fieri. Food blog, From Scratch (see above left) has commented on the same thing, as well as how the shows are dumbed down. On the other hand, the show Ace of Cakes tends to have a bit of dark humor and is much more entertaining than watching Sandra Lee and her Semi-Homemade recipes. People absolutely love Ace of Cakes . How would this become a huge problem for food networks? Finding appropriate programming. The viewers are starting to lean more towards entertainment and traditional reality shows than just instructional food shows. Are these issues leaving an opportunity for something new in the food entertainment world that is not necessarily television? I believe so.

From the moment that this blog was started there has been extensive research on a range of topics. Even when searching for information on serious topics there will always be a blog that makes for a “wow, did they really just write that?” comment. This is probably the most entertaining part of researching on the web. Up to this point, the best blog I have come across is Cake Wrecks. This blog is a constant stream of humor about when professional and amateur cakes go wrong. The writer and creator of Cake Wrecks, Jen uses witty comments along with stories from readers to create one of the most entertaining sites in the food world. Already voted Best Humor Blog by the Blogger’s Choice Awards, this site keeps getting better by the minute. Another site that I have mentioned before is Food Network Addict. For Food Network Nerds like myself, this is the place to find out the new Food Network gossip as well as additions to the network. The site is filled with plenty of humor specifically aimed towards the Food Network chefs and hosts, occasionally with drawings and captions of inappropriate nature. One other element to mention is that this writer gets great interviews from the hosts as well as decent advertising spots. He is definitely doing a great job with this blog.

What this comes down to is the fact that many people are becoming either inspired or frustrated with the programming and are turning it into amazing blog sites. Already, Food Network has picked up food blog, The Amateur Gourmet, and turned it into a web series. The probability they will try and turn more blogs into shows is pretty high. If they are smart they will try to get these blogs to sign on as either web shows or actual shows. There is a catch, if the blog creators are smart, they will just try and generate traffic and make money off of ad sales. Bottom line is that as programming becomes more and more generic, the off the wall blogs are going to generate more traffic. They are easier to access as well as easier to produce and maintain. They really are becoming a new and exciting venue for food entertainment.

Battle For Nutrition: Are "Smart Choices" Really The Right Ones?

Last week I brought about the topic of how food television plays a role in weight gain to light. I find it interesting that people are suggesting that television is part of the reason they are becoming obese or unhealthy in general. After reading many articles, I felt it was necessary to search and find out about what choices should be made in the supermarket. This week I chose to comb the blogosphere in hopes of finding discussions on making healthy choices for both adults and children. Luckily this subject matter could not have come at a better time. Over the past week tons of articles are being written about a new program that is being adopted by many companies that hold a lot of shelf space in our supermarkets. Another subject that is taking over many blogs is regarding the consumption of sodium in the diets of children.

The first blog I came across, The Fooducate Blog, is published in order to enlighten people on practical advice for buying healthy food. The post that I find, entitled, “Smart Choices Food Labeling-A Step In The Right Direction” was written in response to the “Smart Choices Program (see photo above left).” The program being adopted by companies such as PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, ConAgra Foods, General Mills, Kellogg Company, Kraft Foods, Unilever, and Wal-Mart (possibly Nestle as well), is intended to help consumers make the right choices when grocery shopping by creating a recognizable label that represents the product meets the Smart Choices standards. In this post he offers background on the nutrition acts that have been adopted as well as the FDA and USDA’s part in regulating food items. The second blog I found is entitled, “Shaping Youth,” published by Amy Jussel, is a forum discussing media and marketing’s influence on children. In the post “Kidney Stones In Kindergarten? Put Down The Sports Drink Kiddo!” she discusses how the marketing machines have created campaigns to promote drinking sports drinks yet there is less exercise happening on the playgrounds. I chose to comment on these posts in hopes I might get a response on how food marketing plays a part in the new regulations and if they will help people making the right decisions for themselves as well as their children. I offered up my comments on each blog. They can be found by clicking on the links as well as below.


“Smart Choices Food Labeling-A Step In The Right Direction”- My Response

I would like to thank you for taking time to write on this subject matter as well as your blog. I find this subject matter very educational and highly interesting. It makes me feel great to know that there are people that take the advancement of nutrition seriously. One great element to your posts is the brief history behind past regulations. Many other posts did not have this information which can make it difficult to see how new regulations are a step in the right direction. I agree with your comment, “Consumers embraced the nutrition information that became available, and began making more educated purchase decisions. However, many became confused with the information overflow. Cryptic ingredient names and Daily Value calculations presented new challenges to shoppers. If the FDA hoped through nutrition labels to encourage a healthier consumer, quite the opposite transpired in the past two decades, as obesity rates and diet related illnesses have shot up.” It is true that at that time the regulation was a good idea but I believe there were factors missing. The consumers were not educated in just that, the daily intake. I believe this same situation is about to present itself again regarding the Smart Choices Program. The comment, “So recently, manufacturers stepped up individually to the challenge, and began offering their consumers healthy choices within their product families. Several manufacturers launched marketing campaigns promoting their “better for you” brands,” makes an interesting observation.

Do you feel that due to the fact it is not a project regulated by the FDA that it is in fact a well thought out marketing campaign? I agree with your comment on how people might be ignoring other elements to what is considered healthy. It is possible people are being educated on portion control, which insinuates fat and calorie content but are forgetting the other elements to what is being considered healthy? Will these questions become an argument against the intentions of the Smart Choices program?

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post as it brought these specific questions to mind, specifically aimed towards the real intentions behind this program. It would be great to see a following post, possibly regarding this matter.


“Kidney Stones In Kindergarten? Put Down The Sports Drink Kiddo!”- My Response

Thank you for taking the time to create and maintain this blog. It makes me glad to know that people like you take the time to educate others. This subject matter is one of the most controversial to hit the blogosphere, as it should be. It is interesting that your main focus is dealing with kidney stones. After reading many articles about kidney stones in children it is obvious to see that the issue of sodium content in foods needs to be addressed. Your comment, “To be fair, moderate amounts of sodium are NEEDED to balance water and minerals and help muscles and nerves work properly, but when fast foods, snack foods, and highly processed foods (canned, frozen, boxed, or bagged) become kids’ major intake instead of fresh, whole foods, sodium is bound to bump up to high levels WITHOUT adding a hydration fluid packed with same into the marketing mix,” does seem like it would be rocket science. If that is the case, why do you feel that parents are continuing to serve many of these foods as a major source? Recently, the Smart Choices Program was introduced to the public. For those not familiar, it is a program that is being adopted by many leading food companies, however, not regulated by the FDA (see photo on right for standard FDA label). The statistics on the smartchoices.com website state the sodium intake requirement is less than 480mg per serving.

For example if a child’s lunch were to include a smart choices portion controlled bag of chips that contains 380mg, plus a turkey and cheese sandwich, an apple and a juice box, do you feel this would be a decent lunch in terms of sodium content? Given there are at least three meals a day? Given the facts you presented about incorporating balance into a diet as well as what the daily sodium a child requires is, do you feel this non-FDA approved program is a real well developed food regulation or a well positioned marketing campaign?

I enjoyed reading this post and believe that due to your vast knowledge, you might have some great insight into these major food regulating and/or marketing questions.

Food Television: A Recipe for Entertainment and Weight Gain?

What could be better than eating and watching television at the same time? Watching television that revolves around food and eating! Food Network along with other select television networks have figured out the recipe for success; give people entertainment while feeding their appetite for food. As mentioned in an earlier post, the Nielsen rating statistics have shown that The Next Food Network Star brought in very high ratings. People are really taking to food oriented programming with open arms. Although the ratings are positive, food television oriented networks have been facing a bit of scrutiny about their programming, specifically Food Network. For those not familiar it is a station that caters to food lovers. Shows are aimed towards specific audiences that really enjoy the cuisine, the host and sometimes both. Chefs and cooks include: Ina Garten, Bobby Flay, Paula Deen, Rachael Ray, Tyler Florence, Guy Fieri, Giada De Laurentis, Ellie Kreiger, Alton Brown, Sandra Lee and many others. The types of cuisine include everything under the sun; American, Italian, South West, Asian and much more.

What could be giving Food Network a bad reputation with some people? Articles from the Richmond Times and well known food blog, Noshtopia have raised the question, “Does watching Food Network making people obese?” Bonnie Taub-Dix, spokesperson for the American Diatetic Association said, “watching the wrong cooking shows can lead to unintentional overeating”. At this time in America health is becoming a serious issue, specifically when it comes to what people are eating. According to U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, obesity kills more people in America per year than AIDS, cancer, and all accidents combined.

Since the launch of Food Network, people are getting many of their ideas about meals from their favorite shows. Food Network’s cook Paula Deen prepared a menu of French toast, a cheese sauce, hash brown casserole and a hot mocha float for dessert. Although that may sound like the best thing in the world, the calorie total was 2,881. That is more than what a normal intake for an entire day would be. The claim about this type of menu with these high fat and calorie recipes is that since these are the recipes they air, it is the show’s fault that its viewers are becoming obese. Food Networks test kitchen director, Kathy Alford, disagrees with the accusations that programs like this are making people obese stating, “People are looking at this as entertainment, and it is giving people a large group of things to choose from. It's a starting point for people to make their own decisions. We know people will be turned on by one recipe on a show, and not do all the recipes.”

If the decision is made to sit down to watch a show on Southern Style cooking, the obvious ingredient will be a lot of butter, which translates to a lot of fat. One would think it is common sense that eating this style of cuisine every day, even every other day, would not be healthy. Even Southern style cook, Paula Deen was quoted saying, “ I don’t eat my own cooking everyday! My lord, I’d be wider than a table if I ate biscuits and gravy every day.”

Does this put a responsibility on what should be programmed? One way to look at it would be to say, “no.” People have a responsibility to use portion control and pay attention to what they eat. It is a personal choice to focus on the shows that have high fat and calorie recipes while putting shows with hosts like Ellie Krieger (a dietician who aims for healthy living and eating) on the back burner. Another way to look at the programming is to focus on the recipes but understand that many substitutions can be made. For example, if one of the hosts makes fried chicken is it just as easy to look up a low calorie fried chicken using corn flakes and baking rather than using flour and deep-frying. Cooking, in the end, is about creativity anyway. On the other hand, nutrition is so important that many food companies are beginning to take an oath for healthier living. What does this have to do with food television programming? Everything. These networks run on paid advertising. If these advertisers are headed toward healthy living, will they force Food Network to healthier programming by threatening to pull their advertising slots? It is very possible. If this is the case it could stir up the argument that food television could be making people obese.

Although advertising tends to drive a lot of television programming due to product placement, sponsorship and basic commercials, it is highly unlikely Paula Deen and the rest of the Food Network family will be going anywhere. The bottom line is that people are responsible for their own actions. If a recipe makes a McDonald’s Big Mac meal look like a salad, it might not be the best thing to eat on a regular basis. The bottom line is that there is a lot to learn from chefs and the true responsibility is in the entertainment of the food loving community. As long as the right choices are made everyone will be able to enjoy Paula Deen adding another stick of butter.

The Search for the Right Ingredients: Best Foodie Sites

Due to the focus of The Right Ingredients, finding web resources can be a bit difficult. Most foodie sites tend to discuss recipes and restaurants while leaving out other issues that are still food related. Finding sites that discuss what is happening in food entertainment are few and far between. Luckily searching for sites that discuss food education tend to come around more often due to the health and nutrition movement happening all over the country. After an extensive weeklong exploration of the web, I was able to gather twenty Internet based sites that tend to have information relevant to the focus of The Right Ingredients. This post will be an observation and honest appraisal of each of the twenty sites acquired and will be based upon the Webby Awards and IMSA criteria for blogs. These guidelines are used in order to help separate the sites with facts from sites with just opinions. For more information, these two criteria sites are linked. All of the sites discussed can be found in the linkroll as well.

The first is the most influential site, the one that started the food craze, Food Network. The Food Network site (see below) is based upon the Scripps television network station and contains a plethora of information from recipes (from the newly acquired Recipezaar.com) to each show, to bios on all of the chefs and hosts of the show. They have recently redesigned the site and it flows beautifully. One flaw that could be improved is the color design of the main page; items tend to get lost amongst the white background. An item that could be added is a newsreel including things happening in the food world. Food Network happens to have two sister sites, Food Network Canada and FLN or Fine Living Network. FLN is a very well laid out site, very inviting in the color scheme. This site contains information on food, wine and entertainment aspects of food as well as housing Iron Chef Japan. Food Network Canada tends to have different information than the US site, but stays along the same lines. Next is Bon Appetit Magazine’s site, a great site with a lot of pertinent information. The magazine itself is not just about recipes but delves into what is happening in the food world. The site is well put together and does not need to improve on anything at the moment. Another site along the same lines is Gourmet Magazine's site. This site has a layout that is exactly what I tend to look for, an area for food politics, food blogs, etc. It definitely has a recipe area but again offers up more than just great dishes. A site that is found is association with these sites is Epicurious.com. This site houses many cooking articles and foodie related items. It is a great place to find new and exciting food information. The final television site that is important in the food world is Bravo TV. This isn’t necessarily a good source of information for the food world however it contains the show Top Chef; a show that has become one of the most viewed shows on television.

When searching for blogs specifically, a few were found that made their way to the top of the list. Food Buzz is very helpful site in conducting a search. Food Buzz is a food publisher site that basically certifies good foodie blogs, recipes and sites. The site has great colors, easy to read, just needs better organization and structural work. Some of the following blogs are Food Buzz certified and some aren’t, still, I find they are all quite helpful. One blog, Food Network Addict might be viewed as a gossip column to most but in reality is a source of news in the food world. Somehow this site manages to get information on what is happening in food television before anyone else. The site needs a bit of a revamping, it still looks amateur and the writing states facts but definitely has a bit of sarcasm thrown in. Next is Food Network Musings, another site that discusses what is happening in food television, food world and with the occasional recipes. This site reads a bit more like a newspaper column than most and has a very distinct layout. One thing I would change is where the linkroll and site information is placed. It happens to be on the left side, which draws my attention before any of the articles. Nonetheless, it is a great site. The next, Food Network Blog, not a very noteworthy site, however it helped me find something very specific which is why it is included. The site needs to be updated both structurally as well as content. Next, Super Chef Blog, (see right) is a great example of a food blog, a site for all things food. It is very well structured with incredible content to go along with it. So far, this is probably the best food blog site that I have come across. The only thing that could be added would be a border to each section to make it a bit more compartmentalized. The last of the mega blogs is The Amateur Gourmet. The creator of this blog has written a book as well as continues to post recipes, reviews and just foodie related topics on his site. The site is well thought out and visually pleasing. It tends to be a huge discussion area in the food world as comments are constantly being posted to the site.

There are three sites that are great sources of information as well, The New York Times, The LA Times and CNET. The two newspaper sites are laid out like newspapers would be, with food and wine sections. They are very informative and have easy ways of searching. CNET is a technical website, somewhat broad, however when it comes to video games and recent technologies it is one of the first sites to post. Occasionally my blog enters a techie type area, and this is where I end up. The last set of sites found mostly deal with government, food regulations, food marketing and children’s health. These sites aren’t necessarily the most visually appealing but their content is top notch, specifically because they set the national standards. When needing to research facts and figures, these are the best places to find them: The Federal Trade Commission, Nutrition.gov, Food Marketing Institute and one blog that deals with this subject nature, What’s In Store.

In all the time spent searching these were definitely the best sites, it is very exciting to see how Food Related Entertainment and Education have become a main course in the lives of people throughout the world.

Nutrition and Marketing: What Is Right For Children?

Last week I brought the current topic of video gaming for foodies to the table. I am absolutely fascinated with the way food has grown into such a huge market for entertainment. Video games are just one avenue through which food is becoming a main course for people of all ages. While sitting and thinking about the food video games, an associated topic came to mind. There have always been discussions about how kids playing video games and watching television prevents exercising and eating well. I started to wonder how marketing makes a difference when it comes to what kids are eating. This week I chose to comb through the blogosphere in hopes of finding a lot on my topic of choice, food and food marketing to kids (see picture to the left). This happens to be a somewhat controversial topic in the blogosphere. The first blog I came across “What’s In Store”, published by Dr. Susan Finn, a nutrition professional who has spent a large amount of her career trying to build productive partnerships to make better choices when it comes to nutrition. The post that I found entitled “Food Marketing to Children and Adolescents”, discussed how in October 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) conducted a survey on food marketing to youth and called on the companies to “adopt and adhere to meaningful, nutrition-based standards for marketing their products to children under 12.” In this blog she offers the information and research from the FTC as well as acknowledges that 13 of the largest food and beverage companies have adopted the initiative but that it is going to take much more. The second blog I found was entitled, “Restaurant Kids’ Meals Pack Adult Sized Calories”, published by CalorieLab.com’s Robert S. Wieder in the Calorie Counter News Section. This post discusses the nutritional information from chain restaurants, how it compares to the daily caloric intake standards for children and what they are doing to improve the situation (see picture to the right). I chose to comment on these posts in hopes that I might get a response about how long it will take to get restaurants and marketing techniques more effective regulations when it comes to youth nutrition. I offered up my comments on each blog. They can be found by clicking on the links as well as below.

“What’s In Store” – My Response:

I would like to thank you for taking the time to write a post on this subject matter, as well as your blog. I find it very interesting and highly educational. It makes me feel good to know that there are people in the world that devote their time to such a worthy cause. I am glad that you included links to a marketing workshops agenda. I came across the statement, “Some food companies have also modified their packaging to encourage portion control and make nutritious foods more convenient for parents and more appealing to children.” I found this to be true specifically from walking around markets and observing the products. Yes, it is a step in the right direction. The problem I find with this marketing technique is even though the packaging is portion controlled; companies still haven’t tackled the fact that many people will continue to eat more than one package. The truth is if you ask people about their daily caloric intake, most have no idea. Every product is required to have a nutrition label but most of the time people tend to look at the fat content and assume that if it is low in fat, it is okay. Do you think it would be a smart idea for marketing as a whole to involve the daily nutritional information? For example, if companies sell 100-calorie packs of cookies, require a marketing campaign with other companies to show how their products can fulfill the requirements for daily percentage values and caloric intake? Are there campaigns to have that sort of marketing and advertising aimed at adults with children, implemented on a national level?

I absolutely enjoyed reading your blog, specifically this post. However, I would’ve liked to read more about your personal opinions regarding the subject matter. The fact that you are a nutritional professional would bring a different angle to the marketing story. I am positive that you can provide innovative thoughts on the best way to reach the public regarding this very important matter.


“Restaurant Kids’ Meals Pack Adult Sized Calories” – My response:

Thank so much for providing information on this subject. The comment “American Kids get their one third of their caloric intake from restaurant meals” was incredibly thought provoking. After spending a lot of time recently in restaurants on a very strict diet (based solely on calories) it is easy to see how people, especially children are becoming obese. It is shocking to see at most of the restaurants the average caloric value was over twice what it should be for one main meal. If that number stayed consistent for 2-3 meals per day, does that mean kids will be consuming approximately 3,000 calories? Do you feel like it has a lot to do with marketing? That it might be a problem if restaurants are advertising their establishments as a prime source of nutrition and daily intake for kids? It is mentioned that the restaurant association is putting the blame on parents stating that nutrition starts at home and that kids are not getting an adequate amount of exercise. Even if a child is exercising every day, consuming 830 calories for meal is definitely not considered healthy. I feel that Subway has taken a step in the right direction offering apples, milk and yogurt to children as well as adults for meals. The problem is if a child gets a sub loaded with cheese and mayo, it will exceed their intake for that meal. What additional steps are being taken with restaurants that are at least publishing their foods caloric values?

I am highly disappointed in restaurants for their lack of concern when it comes to nutrition for children. Your article is a great way to create awareness on these highly important topics. I would love to see correspondence from some of these establishments with explanations of how they feel their products are healthy as well as more of your opinion as a journalist on this matter.

Serve It Up, Interactive Style: Video Gaming for Foodies

In the early 1980’s arcade games were in full force and, believe it or not, games related to food were the hottest items on the menu. The game that started it all may not have seemed like a food game, but after taking a closer look, it is easy to see that Pac-Man was a hungry little guy. The chomping Pac-Man would run around trying to eat everything in site: ghosts, pellets and fruit. This may not be something that seems too appetizing, but still food related. Not long after Pac-Man, came the arcade game Burgertime, creating burgers with tiny creepy walking pickles and fried eggs. Burgertime may not necessarily be the most exciting and complex of video games but it was fun nonetheless. Fast forward to 2003 and Diner Dash, where the object of the game is to wait on tables, from PC satisfies the hunger for food video games that were neglected for the most part through the 1990’s. Still, nothing specifically about the process of cooking was created, until 2006 when Nintendo released a game for its DS system called Cooking Mama. With Cooking Mama, chopping, stirring, boiling and sautéing are simulated thanks to the touch screen of the DS. Yet even with the Nintendo DS there were still ingredients missing, but thanks to Nintendo another game system that has gone above and beyond was released on the market in 2006. Enter the Nintendo Wii, a system that enables the player to physically play a game by simulating movements in order to accomplish tasks. After speaking to former food critic and professional chef, Marsha Carden, I was led to question whether or not these games might be missing the most important ingredient, by which I mean taste.

Food Entertainment has become more of a need than a supplement in a number of lives across the country. People are taking pride in cooking and making the right choices when choosing foods for daily meals. According to Nielsen statistics, The Next Food Network Star was in the top ten most viewed programs in July 2008. What does this say about the market? They are hungry for something besides typical dramas or comedies when it comes to television programming. It seems to be the same for the video game market as well. Nintendo has been working diligently to get new food games to the public and so far they are succeeding. Besides the Cooking Mama series Nintendo has released Order Up, a game about buying a diner and winning the title of a competition that will put the it on the map. This seems to be what gamers are calling “charming and fun” but lack the components of a two or more player competition many find to be necessary. Another interesting addition to the cooking video game market is Nintendo’s Cooking Guide: Can’t Decide What To Eat? This is more of an instructional interactive cookbook that gives you the ability to search from about two hundred recipes through different search techniques such as by time, main ingredient and difficulty.

In October 2008, Nintendo along with Black Lantern Studios will be releasing the video game version of the highly rated television show, Iron Chef America, to be called Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine. This game will feature real voices and movements from Masaharu Morimoto, Cat Cora, Mario Batali, Alton Brown and the Chairman (Mark Dacasco). Not only will players be able to compete with the Iron Chefs, they will also be able to play as an Iron Chef, which is something many foodies dream of while they are sitting at work. From the screenshots shown on the Iron Chef America game site, it looks as though the player will be able to perform many cooking techniques that are very necessary in the preparation of food in Iron Chef America’s Kitchen Stadium. Not only are the choices in foods and secret ingredients going to impress the player but the graphics are phenomenal. As far as cooking video games go, it looks as though Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine is going to “reign supreme.”


The introduction of interactive cooking is revolutionary in the video game market. People of all ages who wish to cook are now able to get in a virtual kitchen without the worry of handling real kitchen utensils and equipment. Virtual cooking games are a way of reaching a whole new generation by creating an appreciation that may have been overlooked in the past. Culinary gaming is definitely a step forward in the world of cooking. When preparing a meal, the cook’s main concern usually is not whether they have the proper chop or the most creative plating technique but rather if their guests will like what they are eating or not. Obviously taste and smell are still the two senses that the video game designers have not been able to incorporate into games. Even without these two key ingredients, the majority of the reviews are still positive. Reviews, however, come from amateur cooks or gamers who simply enjoy the novelty. A certified chef might argue that without the two key ingredients of taste and smell, these games are an incomplete reflection of the true art of cooking.

Although cooking style games are spicing up the video game market this is still a relatively new technology, so this means there aren’t yet a lot of documented opinions. My thought is that while the general public will most likely adore the games, foodies, chefs and food connoisseurs will be left with a bad taste in their mouths. Coming from the perspective of a foodie, I tend to agree with the chefs and food connoisseurs. The best part of cooking is the taste and the smell of the food. However, I do see how this is a great step forward for the gaming community and will hopefully inspire a new generation of cooks and chefs.