Kitchen Wasteland

By Dave Faries Wed., Jun. 10 2009 at 10:37 AM

Categories: (Un)sound Bites

Just how many food shows do we need hanging out in and around Dallas, distracting our chefs and disrupting meals?

Oxygen will be shooting the Naughty Kitchen at Central 214 for the next few months. The contest winner with the hair was back in the area--this time in Cowtown. A mom from Keller is vying for another Fieri-type show as the Food Network continues to seek out inexpensive talent. People still remember locals who appeared on Iron Chef America episodes. And Fort Worth chef Tim Love takes part in another edition of Top Chef...although this time it's not just Top Chef, but Top Chef Masters.

Which, of course, implies that previous series were a complete waste of your time.

As far as I can tell, though, all such programs are a waste, part of a devolution from education to edutainment to Barnum-esque mind cleansers. In other words, Julia Childs caused viewers to widen their horizons. Caprial Pence (some of us miss you, Caprial) taught people to understand how techniques and flavors layer. Emeril added pointless verbal effects. Iron Chef America proves Kent Rathbun could wrestle a moose.

Yeah, yeah. Overstatement. There are still some shows providing both interest and entertainment. Guess it would just be fun to have a day without mention of a TV crew in some Dallas restaurant.