Food Network Celebrates 20 Years

Food Network: 20 Years of Changing Food Culture

by Associated Press | October 18, 2013 at 10:37 AM | Food Network, TV News

By J.M. Hirsch

NEW YORK (AP) — Talk about an unlikely recipe for success — a cable network dedicated to food?

It may not seem even a little preposterous today, but when Food Network launched 20 years ago America was sitting at a very different dinner table. This was before we’d learned to fetishize cupcakes, before Instagram made our every mouthful a shared experience, before vegetables had cult followings.

And yet this backwater network launched, plunking cameras in front of chefs — many of them truly not ready for prime time — and hoping for the best.

The gamble paid off. Two decades on, the Food Network has morphed beyond a television channel that teaches us how to cook (more about that in a moment). It has become a lifestyle, a marketing behemoth turning chefs — and home cooks — into household names even with people who never cook...

http://xfinity.comcast.net/blogs/tv/2013/10/18/food-network-20-years-of-changing-food-culture/

Food Network Celebrates 20 Years

Airdate: 10/18/2013

Nowadays, theFood Network is a cultural phenomenon that has created superstar chefs, including Paula Deen, Rachael Ray, Emeril Lagasse, Mario Batali, and Bobby Flay.

But when the network began 20 years ago, it was a struggle.

Journalist Allen Salkin shared with INSIDE EDITION, “People thought cooking shows were for weekend mornings on PBS. They thought it was Martin Yan, the Frugal Gourmet, and Julia Child, and that was about it. Nobody believed it could work in Primetime.” ...

http://www.insideedition.com/entertainment/7200-food-network-celebrates-20-years