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From Scratch: Inside The Food Network (2013)

by Allen Salkin(Favorite Author)

3.12 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0399159320 (ISBN13: 9780399159329)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Putnam Adult

review 1: This book was BARELY okay. As a Food Network junkie, when I see a title that includes, "Inside the Food Network" and pictures of some of the network's most popular chefs, I am expecting a book mostly about behind the scenes vignettes about the chefs, their food choices, the chefs work behind the scenes to prepare for shows, the faceless cooks/chefs working unseen for hour upon hour in the kitchens, the interplay between the people involved with the network, etc. Essentially, I was wanting MORE information about what I love about The Food Network. . .Food Network Magazine on steroids.Instead it was page after page of administrative details about negotiations for cable channel access, lawsuits and legal requirements regarding market access, back-biting corporate nastiness ... morebetween executives who were career building and utterly uninterested in food, bits about who owned how much of a share of what. Oh, and Martha Stewart is the devil, but that's old news!What little there was about the chefs was fairly negative.It would seem that the point of the book is, "Hey, food fans! The people you love on Food Network are foul-mouthed, greedy, vodka-pounding egomaniacs and dolts who don't even LIKE each other, but fake a "family" atmosphere because the company who bought them is based in the hokey ol' South, which we all know is full of idiots who still want family friendly programming."Why did I hear repeatedly about Sandra Lee's stupid Kwanzaa cake and how she can't cook and precious little about her work ethic, rags-to-riches story of inspiration, etc? There were pages devoted to Robert Irvine looking like Bluto and being a liar. Where were the CHAPTERS about all the philanthropic work he does, his inspiring self-discipline, etc? And goodness knows I love Paula Deen, so don't even get me started there. Alton Brown is the Bill Nye the Science Guy of food (only lovable), yet he barely gets a nod in the book. The only chef who doesn't come off poorly in the book is Bobby Flay, and he barely squeaks by.The book wasn't what I wanted, or expected, and I suppose that is no fault of the author's.
review 2: As a lot of readers said, thought this would be more about the personalities, which a good little chunk of it is. Behind the scenes means with the executives and show producers, which is good because they are the ones who turned these chefs into celebrities and made them who they are, with the exception of a few who made their own way.It is really fascinating to learn how it all got started, I will say, and most of the book is worth the read.However, I gave the low rating because the end of the book seemed extremely rushed to me, with a lot of random, unfinished thoughts and actually riddled with grammatical errors. Obviously there is no end because Food Network is still on the air, a lot of the stars are, too, but he rushes through a lot of now-pertinent information about the network, like their multiple websites. He never mentions the switch from foodtv.com, just says they have four other sites now in a random one-off spot. And that's just one little example. Small stuff that adds up. Maybe he got rushed to meet a deadline, but poor editing, in my opinion! less

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