Via: washingtonpost.com
For the cooking-challenged, watching Food Network can be a terrifying and humiliating experience. All that slicing and dicing and chopping and souffle-ing crushes the soul of someone who at best can make a decent peanut butter sandwich and, at worst, once almost set a bowl of Jell-O on fire.
So, in keeping with every niche channel’s desire to reach a larger audience, Food Network seems to have a theme in mind for 2010: relatability. Riding high after jumping 26 percent in total viewers in 2009, the cable channel kicks off the new year with two shows pushing an “everyday American” theme on Sunday night. It begins with a two-hour “Iron Chef America” featuring White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford (and very special guest star Michelle Obama), followed by an attempt to draw in a non-foodie audience with a new series, “Worst Cooks in America.”
On “Iron Chef,” food superstars Comerford, Mario Batali, Bobby Flay and Emeril Lagasse meet in Washington for a trip to the White House. The first lady, whose domestic agenda includes promoting healthy eating, shows up in a theme-appropriate orange dress reminiscent of a crisp vegetable. She informs the chefs that the secret (and required) ingredient for the food competition — in which three judges decide whose dishes are most delicious — is anything in the White House garden.
