How Much Does The Food Network Tell Us About America?
Lifestyle journalism often suffers from ambiguities in the ordinary language use of universal quantifiers. “Everyone reads The New York Times,” is the kind of thing you might say in casual conversation. But of course it’s not actually the case that all people read The New York Times. In fact, rather few people read it. It’s just that in certain social classes, NYT readership is so nearly universal that it feels as if everyone does it. Which is about how I feel about Top Chef on Bravo and the Food Network in general.
Meanwhile, Michael Pollan’s work is always interesting but at times lacking in a certain hard, quantitative rigor. And his latest, a big NYT Magazine article that “everyone” is talking about on how food became a spectator sport is a good example. He goes on and on at quite some length with a detailed exegesis of Food Network programming as if it were the greatest cultural force on the planet. I think this seems plausible to NYT Magazine readers because it fits in with their/our social universe. An essay that tried to explain changes in law enforcement doctrine almost exclusively through references to The Mentalist would, by contrast, strike people as bizarre. But according to Nielsen in the week of July 27 The Mentalist had 160% the viewers of any Food Network program.
And that’s during the summer, when the Food Network’s not competing with a-list first-run programming.
38 Responses to “How Much Does The Food Network Tell Us About America?”
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Matt YglesiasContact Me
Donate
August 6th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Cable tribalism? And I say that having watched two episodes of Bobby Flay’s throwdown last night.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:07 am
I tend to agree with the assessment of Michael Pollan’s work here, I enjoyed reading it, but found it to take an overly sentimental, anecdotal view of the days of cooking of yore. Here are my counter anecdotes: Even in Julia Child’s own book she describes growing up with a cook who made her family’s meals, (ok, it still qualifies as home-cooked but she specifically states it was mostly ‘gray roasts and buttery potatoes) while my grandparents, at the other end of the income spectrum, frequently ate cake because it was cheap but filling. Frank McCourt describes eating tea and bread.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:20 am
The fact that food shows have become watercooler fodder for anyone at all amazes me (and I am solidly in that category).
I credit it to a combination of the original Iron Chef and its brilliant dubbing in the U.S., plus the mere fact that these shows take the base but gripping aspects of reality television and wrap them in a culturally-acceptable sugar coating.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Matt that’s just stupid… he’s not talking about the Food Network as the World’s Most Powerful Cultural Force. The hard stats, which he cites, show people spend a lot less time in the kitchen and that it’s strongly related to increasing obesity. He doesn’t claim that Food Network programming is causing this… just that it’s interesting that plenty of people still watch competitive cooking while not actually doing much of their own.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:27 am
Actually, network TV programming is not so much tied to the “new” season in the autumn anymore. Yes ,there’s a lot of new programming in September, etc, but it’s not like it used to be. HBO exploded all that year ago. New programming comes in waves all year around these days.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:28 am
In this context, “everyone” means “every rich white, college-educated coastal-dweller.” You guys are a very influential demographic.
The general viewership for a show like “The Mentalist,” by contrast, tends to be less-educated, more geographically diverse and older (though I don’t have the data, I would assume it’s almost equally white, however). While it’s more people, they are much less relevant to any cultural conversation than a smaller group of coastal elites.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:45 am
I love the phrase “coastal elites”. You know, the elites in the heartland look a lot like the elites on the coast. We even get the NY Times delivered **gasp**! The bigger picture is that most mainstream cable and network programming has moved away from the dramas and sitcoms that once attracted large numbers of these elites, which has left them wandering around the cable universe occasionally coalescing around particular shows like Mad Men, No Reservations, and Good Eats. TV programming, like life in general, has become more stratified based on class and level of education.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:56 am
how many people actually watch FoodNetwork? I don’t (was Gordon Ramsey on that network? I did watch him a few times), and I cook quite a bit, not always ambitiously. Where is that Katy Perry lady? “I cooked a meal and I liked it! Sure hope my family will eat it!”
August 6th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Braden, it’s hard to deny that the Americal ruling class (I’m not going to call them elite. They aren’t the best of us. They are just an aristocracy full of the same inbred corruption as every other aristocracy) live on the coasts.
Once you understand the degree to which Democratic politicians traditionally represent the north-eastern elite (+ California’s elite), while the Republicans represent the southern aristocracy, you can understand the term and why it’s used. When people say the ‘Coastal elite’ They are attempting to get Americans riled up against a very corrupt group of people without pissing off their own corrupt paymasters.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Good grief. Nowhere does Michael Pollan state that “everyone” watches cooking shows. His goes on and on about food television programming because that happens to be the freaking subject of his column. And it’s misleading to compare the ratings of any one particular Food TV program to a single program on network television. Especially since Hell’s Kitchen (Fox) was the #2 show AND the #5 show among viewers 18-49 last week. So yeah, it does appear that the people Pollan is talking about watch tv food shows.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Hell’s Kitchen is a reality TV show. It isn’t a cooking show. cooking shows teach you how to cook. Hell’s Kitchen is just a jack-ass yelling at a bunch of morons.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:09 am
how many people actually watch FoodNetwork?
The finale of The Next Food Network Star got something like 5.5 million viewers. That isn’t broadcast territory, but it is pretty good for a cable show.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:10 am
I don’t even know what channel the Food Network is on my teevee.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Jon and Kate Plus 8 did not crack the top 20 cable shows last week, but the Next Food TV Star was #6. So I guess all those checkout tabloids are just geared to us coastal elites.
soullite–there are no cooking shows on Food TV anymore, at least not on prime time. They are *all* reality shows. Hell’s Kitchen is a reality show spun off from the TV food phenomenon.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:21 am
A lot of people watch exercise programs and infomercials too, but they never exercise.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Braden, it’s hard to deny that the Americal ruling class . . . live on the coasts.
Actually, it is easy to deny because it just isn’t true. Lots of the American “ruling class” is scattered in places like Texas, Illinois (anything about those two states that rings a bell?), and so on. Basically, anywhere there is lots of money being made, you will find some members of our “ruling class”, and there is lots of money being made all over the United States.
Once you understand the degree to which Democratic politicians traditionally represent the north-eastern elite (+ California’s elite), while the Republicans represent the southern aristocracy . . .
Again, this is just wrong: the elites in the Midwest, the West, and so on have plenty of representation among the elected officials of both parties. What is distinctive about the Northeast and the South is just that these days they are the regions most dominated by one of the two parties. But that doesn’t mean those are the only regions that count within the parties, and indeed in some ways the more “swing” regions can have a disproportionate say in party matters.
All that said, it is true that if current trends continue, the Republicans might actually become a Southern regional party. But at the same time, and to the frustration of some, that actually means that the Democratic elites outside the Northeast and California are going to be collectively gaining more influence in their party.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:27 am
If the NY Times is read by coastal elites, and the Food TV network is watched by coastal elites, then what’s the problem with a opinion column in the NY Times about people who watch the Food TV network?
August 6th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Having grown up watching cooking shows on PBS I just cannot get into cooking shows that have commercials, a live audience, or a studio band.
I did like that Nigela show though, but my enjoyment had absolutely nothing to do with her cooking.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Food TV is like any other cable niche channel. It starts out with some quality shows but quickly appeals to the lowest common denominator. Remember when TLC was The Learning Channel, or Bravo was an arts channel? If today’s Food TV tells us anything it’s that relatively few people actually are interested in a real cooking show.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:44 am
I cook a lot and never ever watch a cooking show of any sort.
I’d also like to make the point that “the Mentalist” is a terrible show. The guy at the center of the show is such a super genius that he solves nearly every case by threatening to kill someone to get that person to confess. God bless America.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Re-reading the article, Pollans’s not blaming Food Network – they didn’t cause the situation – but he’s making the point that there is a 24 hour network about food that only rarely teaches anyone how to cook.
As such, Alton Brown is a national treasure – the true heir to Julia Child.
August 6th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Alton Brown is great. I’m not much of a cook but he has inspired me to try some new things in the kitchen.
August 6th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Halfdan and Fasteddie have it right. Check old Mario stuff when you could follow what he was doing. Love Alton Brown; he teaches you how to cook and we’ve learned a lot from him.
Both my husband and I cook and we compete, which isn’t always good. Finally, now in our 60s, we decided to cook separately: each for each. He eats out a bit and brings stuff home as another meal. But he cooks his own pizza — not from his own dough (in a slab from a nearby, local pizza place) but otherwise — scratch. He doesn’t like my dough. Hmmm. I make my own no-knead bread; he buys his breads at Panera.
The only thing I don’t cook from scratch: naked wings from a nearby place I can trust and roasted chicken from Costco. I can’t face the mess of chicken anymore (starting in 2009).
August 6th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
If you think about it, the idea that America’s so-called “coastal elite” sits on its leather sofas sipping Chardonnay and watching Rachael Ray make dinner-in-a-minute is even more absurd than the notion that it’s heartland proletariat is collectively drooling into a bag of Cheetos and howling at Everybody Loves Raymond reruns.
I would’ve imagined that the typical Food Porn viewers would be stereotyped as overworked, overweight, largely white parents, considering the stuff that fills their ad slots (quick, convenient processed foods, family entertainments, big cars, insurance, weight-loss strategies). It may not be as diverse and large of a group as crime-drama viewers, but a hugely influential when it comes to the nation’s eating habits. Which incidentally is exactly what Pollan’s article is about.
August 6th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Speaking of the Food Network, have you all seen FoodNetworkHumor.com yet? SO FUNNY. It’s like Saturday Night Live for the Food Network.
August 6th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Braden Says:
August 6th, 2009 at 9:45 am
I love the phrase “coastal elites”. You know, the elites in the heartland look a lot like the elites on the coast. We even get the NY Times delivered **gasp**! The bigger picture is that most mainstream cable and network programming has moved away from the dramas and sitcoms that once attracted large numbers of these elites, which has left them wandering around the cable universe occasionally coalescing around particular shows like Mad Men, No Reservations, and Good Eats. TV programming, like life in general, has become more stratified based on class and level of education.
============================================================
A fly-over person doth protest too much!
Agree there is lots more “stratification” in TV programming now that there are more than 3 choices. The limited choices of the old big three networks were a homogenizing force on American culture
August 6th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
The Mentalist is a pretty darn good show. Though, it’s true that I may be less educated than some here.
August 6th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
@AB in Berlin
I think you might be a little off in your demographic profile. I’d say the “food porn” offering appeals to upwardly mobile 30-somethings that are often fit and do enjoy cooking. Think something like the “Barefoot Contessa” or the various Bobby Flay shows. The increasing popularity of the “food blog” also attests to the appeal of these food-oriented themes. The Travel Channel’s prime time offerings are also now almost all about travel and food, with Zimmern and Bourdain leading the way. Just look at Julie and Julia as the classic example (it just achieved the sought-after blog/book/movie triumvirate).
Although you might be right about the overweight part… You can never go wrong stereotyping Americans as overweight.
August 6th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
AB in Berlin Says:
August 6th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
If you think about it, the idea that America’s so-called “coastal elite” sits on its leather sofas sipping Chardonnay and watching Rachael Ray make dinner-in-a-minute is even more absurd than the notion that it’s heartland proletariat is collectively drooling into a bag of Cheetos and howling at Everybody Loves Raymond reruns.
I would’ve imagined that the typical Food Porn viewers would be stereotyped as overworked, overweight, largely white parents, considering the stuff that fills their ad slots (quick, convenient processed foods, family entertainments, big cars, insurance, weight-loss strategies). It may not be as diverse and large of a group as crime-drama viewers, but a hugely influential when it comes to the nation’s eating habits. Which incidentally is exactly what Pollan’s article is about.
============================================================
Don’t guess at it. Their demographic information is available
http://www.quantcast.com/foodnetwork.com
audience is 86% white, 53% have college or grad school, 59% make more than $60K a year, and only 25% are between 18 and 34 years old. Not your young hipster crowd.
August 6th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Meanwhile, Michael Pollan’s work is always interesting but at times lacking in a certain hard, quantitative rigor.
Seriously? Pot, I’d like to introduce you to kettle.
August 6th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
audience is 86% white, 53% have college or grad school, 59% make more than $60K a year, and only 25% are between 18 and 34 years old. Not your young hipster crowd.
I’d guess the national population fitting the first three characteristics (86% white, 53% college+, 59% $60K+) is substantially less than 25% 18-34.
August 6th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
The only issue I had with Pollan is he omitted Alton Brown, whose gravy episode I record and watch twice every year before Thanksgiving (just to reassure myself–I don’t make gravy often). Alton Brown explains how cooking works, what it does with the food, and his lessons are not limited to the food item he’s preparing at the time.
But most other cooking shows are a waste of time–they don’t teach and the hosts are frequently obnoxious. We tend to watch Top Chef, and I really like Top Chef Masters, but those aren’t cooking shows; they’re competition shows.
I like to cook, most of the time. I learned from watching my grandmother and reading cookbooks that explain the science behind the process. I know that what I make is going to be better than almost anything I can buy from most restaurants, and that can be motivating. And it’s hard to avoid cooking or at least food preparation when there are so many fresh vegetables this time of year. I guess that means I am, despite being pretty far inland in Georgia, a coastal elite.
August 6th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
As a Spartan, I abhor the weak and decadent Food Network. I shun it, as I would shun the effete and flabby Athenian.
When searching for culinary ideas, I look to the Spartan Channel. Thanks to their programming, my diet improves. I now have mastered 44 slightly variant recipes for Spartan gruel.
My abs are twelve. My naked body is my armor. To count my kills, count stars in the night sky.
August 6th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Max424 just invented a running joke for Saturday Night Live, and an above-average one. I would seriously watch that on Hulu.
August 6th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
I did like that Nigela show though, but my enjoyment had absolutely nothing to do with her cooking.
Heh.
See also: De Laurentiis, G.
August 6th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
@Max424 That was awesome.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
As a Spartan, I abhor the weak and decadent Food Network.
Make the helots watch it, then.
August 7th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
[...] a culinary metaphor from my father, Michael Pollan makes too much stew from one oyster, which Matt Yglesias points out far more succinctly that I am about to [...]