A Piece of My Mind: What Does
the Food Network Have To Do With Writing?
Bennet Pomerantz
Food is our common ground, a universal experience.
~ James Beard
You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just
good food from fresh ingredients.
~ Julia Child
Lately I have been watching the Food Network a lot. Those of you who do
not have cable or do not watch this network, it is a network devoted to food
and creating meals from raw materials. From Paula Dean’s southern style
cooking to Rachel Ray’s thirty minute meals . . . From Bobby Flay’s Throwdown show to Guy’s
Diners, Drive-ins and Dives . . . From Food
Detectives, Will Work for Food and Chopped to Unwrapped and
Iron Chef
America . . . It is a network you can savor with relish and maybe a good
spicy mustard.
I seem lately to be addicted to watching it. Each show is a showcase of
on-air talent and styles of recipe prep. The shows are part style of the
chef and part cooking.
So what does cooking in general have to do with writing? A LOT. A good
writer is a chef on paper or computer. He can take simple ground beef (a
blank screen) and weave it into a classy gourmet dinner (a well crafted
short story or novella ) in a short time.
For an example, In Iron Chef America, two chefs battle head to head with
a secret ingredient to make five dishes. The battle is timed for an hour and
judged. Well, ever been a daylong writer’s workshop, the instructor says
“The subject is 'school days'. You have 30 minutes to create a short story
narrative hook.” After the 30 minutes, many are asked to read their pieces
and is judged by the guest writer panel or the audience of other writers.
Sometimes the group may announce an overall winner. It sounds like Iron
Chef America to me!
You need to understand that these chefs take the same ingredients and
make totally different dishes. How many similar ideas in a good writer’s
hand can come up with intriguing storylines? Think of this, the films Wyatt Earp (Kevin Costner) and
Tombstone (Kurt Russell) both dealt with the
subject of Wyatt Earp. Both films were diverse as they dealt with a similar
subject matter
There are writers who assume they, like Rachel Ray and Paula Dean,
are just cooks trying to do a basic job. Then there are the classically
trained chefs who have many cooking school honors like the writers who write
and showcase they have many degrees and awards behind their name. Does that
mean the food or the writing is better? It is a matter of taste.
In Unwrapped or Food Detectives, there is a journalistic desire to get to
the bottom of unanswered food questions like “How does Heinz make its 57
sauce?” or “ Can I really eat something off the floor if I pick it up in
less than five seconds?” (Believe me, a piece of friendly advice, that Food
Detective show was NOT pretty–Don’t watch that after you eaten!). See there
are journalists even in food!
Ted Allen hosts the show Chopped. The show is similar to Iron Chef. There
are four chefs are given baskets of odd ingredients (like mac & cheese,
cola, bacon . . . and yes I am NOT kidding) and told to make three gourmet
delights. Well I don’t know about you, but I do that every time I write any
kind of a column. I take odd pieces and form them to make an interesting
idea of an essay. If it isn’t liked, I’m Chopped!
Every been to a writer’s jam? I been in a few. What that is, if you don’t
know, is a group of writers writing a story for charity. Each writer creates
a chapter. Each writer competes to see who can write the better chapter. It
seems like the Bobby Flay’s show Throwdown. Bobby takes on a chef who has a
signature dish. In a jam, most writers know it’s for a good cause. However,
they sometimes try to compete against other writer’s chapters
With all this time about writing and food, I am
getting hungry.
Before I get up for the computer, let me peek at what’s on the Food
Network now. AHHH, Rachel Ray is on. I will make my food later. Maybe as I
watch, I can think of what creative dish I can write for next month’s
column!
Until next time, Reach for the Stars
****
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