I think I was looking at the Food Network all wrong. I had expected it to be like a supermarket: One stop shopping. Years ago, it used to be that if my supermarket didn’t have it, then fuck it, I didn’t need it and I’m not gonna go outta my way to get it. I’ve discovered that it’s not that there isn’t better food-based programming out there, it’s that I’ve been searching in the wrong place. If you want fresher, more esoteric ingredients then you are gonna have to go out there and search for them, right? Same with cooking shows.

I’ve been watching more Discovery Health and Discovery Home lately. Not all their cooking shows are great, but at least they are refreshing. These two channels put heavy emphasis on shooting and editing their cooking shows in a heavily food porn-ish way - which is, more often then not, annoying. I guess they figure creative editing will hold viewers attention.

Kylie Kwong: An Australian who does Chinese cooking. Almost all her dishes are lot more complicated and expensive then Ming Tsai’s. Also, she doesn’t explain her ingredients and steps very well - I guess this forces you to buy her books. The show seems to be more about the visuals. I will probably never make any of her dishes, but it’s still fun to watch.

License to Grill: Think a friendlier, black Bobby Flay meets a straight Michael Chiarello. Rob Rainford’s outdoor kitchen setup is nicer than my indoor kitchen (he’s got a fridge outside). He’s all about dry rubs on meat and even made nachos in a cast iron pan on the grill. I don’t really care for this show because I don’t cook large cuts of meat on the grill. Maybe it’s because I’m a woman and grilling is man’s work.

Healthy Decadence: Hosted by Devin Alexender, who reminds me of a less offensive, less hilarious Sarah Silverman. She does fresh, tasty, healthy cooking. So she’s basically Ellie Krieger (who hosts Healthy Appetite on the Food Network), except more personable. Then in contrast, a program about “super-obese” people came and it grossed Matt out so he had to change the channel.

Take Home Chef: This show blows. Curtis Stone is an Australian, B-version amalgamation of Jamie Oliver and Tyler Florence, except with a crappy haircut and bad highlights. He assaults random women in the supermarket and asks them if they will take him home so he can teach them how to a gourmet meal for their husbands (real progressive). He does almost all the cooking himself and the actual cooking poriton of the show is about five minutes. Lame.

Cookin’ in Brooklyn: Chef and host Alan Harding is a Carroll Gardens legend (he owns Schnäck and the Gowanus Yacht Club to name only a couple), so obviously I’m gonna love his show. He does casual, comfort cooking from the viewpoint of a trained chef. Basically, he’ll show you how to the make the best meat loaf and tell you why it’s the best. From the Discovery Home website: “‘I love onions and potatoes as much as I love truffles and foie gras,’ says Harding. His motto is ‘cooking should be fun, not complicated’.” I think one of the reasons I like this this show is because it’s just plain fun. Alan seems like a solid dude that you can grab a beer with. My only complaint is the scripted stuff they make Alan say. Oh, and the super lame theme song.

The Travel Channel not only has Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, but also Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman. I usually detest culinary travel shows, but I’d rather watch this white dude being forced to try aged tiger penis and live grubs in Malaysia than watch Giada eat an omelet and a fruit tart in Seattle.

Also, Mark Bittman has a new cooking show on PBS (WLIW 21 here). I haven’t seen it, but the New York Times gave it a pretty good review.

There’s a bunch more shows I have yet to see, like Chef Marcus Samuelsson (of Aquavit fame) in Inner Chef, so I’ll keep you updated . I opened up my nappy-headed horizons and look at the bounty of new-to-me cooking shows I found.

Star wipe and I’m out!