Music: {allcanada} Food Network rings in 10 years

Friday, October 1, 2010

{allcanada} Food Network rings in 10 years

Chef Michael Smith was of two minds when he first heard about the arrival of something called the Food Network.

"I remember exactly what I thought," Smith said. "I remember thinking, 'Holy cow, that's cool, but it's crazy at the same time. What in the world are they going to come up with to fill 24 hours?' "

Well, on Saturday, Oct. 2 the Food Network celebrates its 10th anniversary in Canada. And Smith - the host of multiple shows through the past decade, such as Chef Abroad, Chef at Large, Chef at Home and The Inn Chef - is one of the main people who has helped to fill those 24 hours a day.

While there are digital channels for everything now, the Food Network slowly but surely has established itself as among the most stylish, slick and innovative.

"I don't know if you remember the Food Network in the early days, but there was a lot of boring programming on there," Smith admitted. "But then it all just sort of settled into a super cool groove.

"The biggest change has been the move away from what we call traditional cooking shows, the dump-and-stir stuff, to reality-driven programming. That can mean contests, or some of my shows, where you go somewhere and do something for real, instead of just hanging out in a locked-down kitchen set dumping stuff into a pot and stirring it."

To commemorate the 10th anniversary, the Food Network will be airing marathons of some of its most watched series throughout October and November.

Viewership for the Food Network essentially has tripled since its launch in 2000, and doubled in the past four years. And this in a world where many people are busier than ever and often don't have time for cooking.

"We have more types of food media, and more cookbooks published every year, than ever before," Smith said. "At the same time, fewer and fewer of us actually have time to cook. So how do you reconcile those two?

"Really, it's as simple as this. Gathering and preparing and sharing food is fundamentally in us as human beings. And when we don't have time to do that, we still crave it. So we get a vicarious thrill watching the Food Network."

But it's not just about gawking and salivating.

"The Food Network also helps to raise awareness, because there are serious challenges in our food system," Smith said. "We definitely need to do a better job supporting the farmers and fishermen around us. "We're not there yet, but at least the discourse is out there, and that is a good, powerful start."