As a thorough foodie, one of my favourite things to watch – on the few times I do watch TV, is the Food Network. Apart from delicious recipes and fun-to-watch characters, some interesting shows portray the human spirit, as well as beautiful cooking. Here are some of my favourite shows native to the Food Network.

Chopped

Image from IMdb

Chopped is a reality competition-based show where four chefs battle three times to get to the final round, where the winner takes home $10,000. There are mandatory mystery ingredients in baskets and each chef has to use these ingredients to create dishes for the judges. The show is hosted by Ted Allen, with Alex Guarnaschelli, Scott Conant and Chris Santos & Chef Marcus Samuelsson as regular judges. The first round is the appetiser round, after which a contestant is chopped. The next round is the entree, after which the chef with the least impressive dish is also chopped. The next and final round is the dessert round, with that episode’s winner emerging from this round.

Food Network premiered the first season in 2009, and the show is still going on till date, with several versions and international adaptations. My favourite version of Chopped has to be Chopped Junior which has children as contestants. It is often heartwarming to see kids create beautiful dishes in out of mystery ingredients and do so in a few minutes. 

Ed note: Met Chef Marcus Samuelsson when he came to Lagos in 2016 and  he won Chopped All Stars 2012: Judges Remix. He was awarded the grand prize of $50,000 for his charity, the Careers Through Culinary Arts Program.

Pioneer Woman

Image from The Pioneer Woman

Ree Drummond, a famous food blogger and cookbook author is the host of this show, and one of the reasons I love it so much is because of her bright smile. She never stops smiling, as she’s cooking and chopping and baking. She is an absolute delight to watch. The show, Pioneer Woman focuses on Drummond cooking her own recipes for her family who live and work on a ranch in Oklahoma. 

Beat Bobby Flay

Image from Amazon

Premiered in 2013, Beat Bobby Flay is another show on Food Network that is competition-based. Chefs battle against each other to get a chance to compete with Iron Chef Bobby Flay. There are two rounds with two chefs competing against each other. The winner is decided by two judges – who vary per episode. The winner then declares their go-to dish, competes against Bobby Flay, by trying to beat him at it. It is a fun show to watch, especially the few times the contestant actually do beat Bobby Flay. lol! Its final episode was aired in June 2020, after seven years on air. 

Kid’s Baking Championship

Image from MultiVu

Children are always fun to watch, but children baking and excited about it? Euphoric. Food Network premiered this show in 2015. The idea was to have a group of children under 12 years of age compete in a series of challenges to win the title of  Kids Baking Champion as well as other prizes. My favourite part of this show is watching the kids get excited about each challenge, creating their baked goods and also helping each other out. 

Guy’s Groceries Games 

Image from Amazon

Also known as the ‘triple G games’, Guy’s Groceries Games is hosted by Guy Fieri, a restauranter and a host of shows on Food Network. Triple G games are held in a vast supermarket where the contestants are given a clue to solve or a dish to prepare and then a few minutes to shop for ingredients in the supermarket. The meals are judged by different people each episode and the winner has to answer a food trivia at the end of the show to determine how much they will win. The prize money is usually capped at $20,000. Guy Fieri has an unassuming, light way about him, and likes to have fun with his contestants. His energy is contagious.

Do you watch the Food Network? What are some of your favourite shows on the channel? Share with us! 

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