An Open Letter to Food Network

Dear Food Network,

I have watched your programming for more almost two decades now and I have finally reached my breaking point. For too long your "celebrity" chefs have gone out of their way to create dishes that are neither new nor exciting, instead relying on special ingredients to "enhance" flavor. But the fatal flaw in nearly all of the cooking shows you produce is your lack of consideration for the majority of your viewers, relying more on expensive and hard to find items to make the cooks feel special and seem more cultured than the rest of us.

First, I want to address how the Food Network kitchens do not concern themselves with the fact that there are people who watch their show who live in the Midwest, some in small, rural areas. When I watch a chef talk about the ingredients they use, I am impressed with how they can make them sound desirable. Yet there is no way that I can procure these items as some of them are just to exotic (pickled pineapple leaves? Really?). I often hear them tell me that the item can be found at most "megamarts." Well, Food Network, I'm here to tell you that it cannot. I have searched high and low for things like fresh lemongrass in my town and it just doesn't exist. Now, this usually only relates to those specialty items that go into whatever it is that the chef is making, but it usually those specialty items that make the dish sound appealing in the first place. Which leads me into my second point.

If, on the rare occasion, I can find that secret ingredient, I am usually let down that it costs some kind of exuberant amount of money--especially for the amount the dish calls for. This often leads to me buy the item, use a small amount, then let it rot in the fridge until I toss it out, because I'm not about to go looking for recipes that call for that ingredient to have every night of the week until I get my money's worth. It's called variety. Now, I know that you have all kinds of money to toss around, and that your test kitchens and studios are located above one of New York City's premiere markets where you can procure just about anything at any time. But I live in the middle of Farm Country, USA, and I can't just pop over to the store and get just a little bit of anything. Going to the store around here is a day-long event where all the weekly necessities are purchased in one stop.

I also think that you should be more responsible when it comes to balancing cost and diet. It seems to me that your shows that are devoted to eating healthy, again, fail to consider that many Americans cannot afford to eat natural, organic foods. For instance, I just watched a show where one of your cooks devoted the whole episode to healthy substitutes for common snack foods. I was more than a bit curious. However, when this person went to the grocery store to give me some simple ideas to cut fat and calories, I was shocked at her suggestions. Not because I didn't agree with the choices, or thought that they were giving me bad information, but rather because they seemed to assume that money was no object. A prime example of this came in the form of the suggested milk substitute. They offered up almond milk in exchange for skim milk. And while I agree that almond milk contains less fat per serving than skim milk, it also costs a lot more--at least around here. A gallon of milk costs between $2.75 and $3.50. A quart of almond milk checks in around $4.00. So a gallon of almond milk costs $16.00. At the end of the cook's segment, they proclaimed that, with a shopping cart full of healthy foods, they had saved me, the viewer, almost 2000 calories. Yes, but you just upped my weekly grocery bill by about $300! And that is just irresponsible! And yes, I could go on and on about how unfair it is that food manufacturers are responsible for the high cost of health foods, not you. I've seen it for myself in that two similar foods are placed next to each other; one is a healthy option--however when you look at the details, there is actually less of the healthy product in the packaging, and they are charging you a much higher price. Basically, more for less. I could also rant about how they complain that it costs them more to make the healthy stuff. But I won't.

One way that I have thought up to elevate some of this anger and disillusion is for the cooks in the test kitchens to be thoughtful to the plight of the 9.2% of Americans who are unemployed, and come up with alternate ingredients. If I can't find candied plums, what else can I use? Or let's say that my local megamart doesn't carry West African Tanta root. Is there an alternative? I have passed on so many recipes that actually sounded good because I know for a fact that I can't get the stuff to make it.

I think that it would be a real nice thing if you could somehow stop the over-use of these high-priced, hard to find ingredients. Not everyone can just stop by the Wal-Mart on their way home from work and pick up lobster stock--let alone afford the lobsters to make their own. So I'm begging you to please be considerate to your viewers who have no money and live in the middle of nowhere. We're not all stupid rednecks who think that gourmet cuisine comes from that there Fazoli's. Like you, I want to make great-tasting food at home for my family to enjoy.

It is up to you to start controlling your chefs by paying attention to what they make and what they use to make it. Take a second and think: Can farmer Bob get his hands on this ingredient? If not, what can we use that is readily available almost everywhere?

Thank you.

P.S. Oh, and one other thing: get rid of Bobby Flay. There are only so many different ways to prepare a cheesesteak or steak and eggs, and he has done them all ten times over--who cares if he created a new pepper sauce to go over it? The man lost so many of his throw-downs that he threatened to quit the show, until you stepped in and (I'm assuming) bought his victories. I mean, come on, the man used the words "crusty nut sludge" when describing the perfect chocolate chip cookie . . . then proceeded to put hot pepper powder in the cookie dough. Two words: cattle prod! 'Nuff said.