History Creator / FoodNetwork

[[https://www.foodnetwork.com Food Network]] is a cable network whose main topic is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin food, food and more food]] -- where to find it, how to prepare it, as well the people who do all the work behind the scenes. Founded in 1993 by the Providence Journal Company as the "TV Food Network" (this name was dropped in 1996 for the present one), FN was bought by the E.W. Scripps Company as a result of a trade with the A.H. Belo Corporation, who bought the Providence Journal Co. in 1997 (the trade was for CBS affiliate KENS-TV in San Antonio), and is co-owned with a few other channels: Home and Garden Television (or HGTV, which focuses on home improvement and construction, and was launched in 1994, three years before Scripps bought FN), DIY Network (a channel for do-it-yourselfers, launched in 1999), Creator/CookingChannel (launched in 2002 as a general lifestyle channel called "Fine Living", it adopted its current name in May 2010), Great American Country (a country music channel inexplicably purchased by Scripps in 2004) and the Travel Channel (65% of which was bought from Cox Communications in 2009). In 2008, FN and its siblings were spun off into "Scripps Networks Interactive", which in turn was acquired by Discovery Communications (later renamed to Discovery, Inc. (or simply Discovery) shortly after the Discovery/SNI acquisition and is currently known as Creator/WarnerBrosDiscovery) in March 2018.

[[https://www.foodnetwork.com Food Network]] is a cable network whose main topic is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin food, food and more food]] -- where to find it, how to prepare it, as well the people who do all the work behind the scenes. Founded in 1993 by the Providence Journal Company as the "TV Food Network" (this name was dropped in 1996 for the present one), FN was bought by the E.W. Scripps Company as a result of a trade with the A.H. Belo Corporation, who bought the Providence Journal Co. in 1997 (the trade was for CBS affiliate KENS-TV in San Antonio), and is co-owned with a few other channels: Home and Garden Television (or HGTV, which focuses on home improvement and construction, and was launched in 1994, three years before Scripps bought FN), DIY Network (a channel for do-it-yourselfers, launched in 1999), Creator/CookingChannel (launched in 2002 as a general lifestyle channel called "Fine Living", it adopted its current name in May 2010), Great American Country (a country music channel inexplicably purchased by Scripps in 2004) and the Travel Channel (65% of which was bought from Cox Communications in 2009). In 2008, FN and its siblings were spun off into "Scripps Networks Interactive", which in turn was acquired by Discovery Communications (later renamed to Discovery, Inc. (or simply Discovery) currently known as Creator/WarnerBrosDiscovery) in March 2018.

[[https://www.foodnetwork.com Food Network]] is a cable network whose main topic is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin food, food and more food]] -- where to find it, how to prepare it, as well the people who do all the work behind the scenes. Founded in 1993 by the Providence Journal Company as the "TV Food Network" (this name was dropped in 1996 for the present one), FN was bought by the E.W. Scripps Company as a result of a trade with the A.H. Belo Corporation, who bought the Providence Journal Co. in 1997 (the trade was for CBS affiliate KENS-TV in San Antonio), and is co-owned with a few other channels: Home and Garden Television (or HGTV, which focuses on home improvement and construction, and was launched in 1994, three years before Scripps bought FN), DIY Network (a channel for do-it-yourselfers, launched in 1999), Creator/CookingChannel (launched in 2002 as a general lifestyle channel called "Fine Living", it adopted its current name in May 2010), Great American Country (a country music channel inexplicably purchased by Scripps in 2004) and the Travel Channel (65% of which was bought from Cox Communications in 2009). In 2008, FN and its siblings were spun off into "Scripps Networks Interactive", which in turn was acquired by Discovery, Inc. (currently known as Creator/WarnerBrosDiscovery) in March 2018.

FN rose to fame in the late 1990s, after picking up Emeril Lagasse's show ''Essence Of Emeril'' and its hit follow-on ''Emeril Live''; he was the face of the network for many years until Creator/RachaelRay and ''30-Minute Meals'' came along. The current torchbearer, taking over by the early-2010s, is Guy Fieri who, after getting his start on second season of ''Series/TheNextFoodNetworkStar'', has hosted no fewer than ''seven'' shows on the network (not counting spin-offs of those shows), including most prominently ''Series/DinersDriveInsAndDives'' and ''Series/GuysGroceryGames''.

[[https://www.foodnetwork.com Food Network]] is a cable network whose main topic is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin food, food and more food]] -- where to find it, how to prepare it, as well the people who do all the work behind the scenes. Founded in 1993 by the Providence Journal Company as the "TV Food Network" (this name was dropped in 1996 for the present one), FN was bought by the E.W. Scripps Company as a result of a trade with the A.H. Belo Corporation, who bought the Providence Journal Co. in 1997 (the trade was for the CBS station in San Antonio), and is co-owned with a few other channels: Home and Garden Television (or HGTV, which focuses on home improvement and construction, and was launched in 1994, three years before Scripps bought FN), DIY Network (a channel for do-it-yourselfers, launched in 1999), Creator/CookingChannel (launched in 2002 as a general lifestyle channel called "Fine Living", it adopted its current name in May 2010), Great American Country (a country music channel inexplicably purchased by Scripps in 2004) and the Travel Channel (65% of which was bought from Cox Communications in 2009). In 2008, FN and its siblings were spun off into "Scripps Networks Interactive", which in turn was acquired by Discovery, Inc. (currently known as Creator/WarnerBrosDiscovery) in March 2018.

** Anne Burrell started as Mario Batali's sous chef on ''Iron Chef America ''. Now she has two shows herself.

* AchillesHeel: In ''Beat Bobby Flay'', Flay's notorious weakness is in baking and pastries, leading him to audibly groan and complain when a chef challenges him to a dessert-bassd round. Inversely, his own specialty is burgers, so any chef challenging him to make a burger is quite often met with a SquashMatch.

** Also Anne Burrell and Robert Irvine on ''Worst Cooks In America'', despite the former [[IncompatibleOrientation being a lesbian]] and the latter being married.

* StraightGay: Ted Allen, Cat Cora, Anne Burrell.

** During the ICA battle where Flay and Giada went up against Rachael and Batali, Website/{{Fark}} [[InJoke warned the]] [[MemeticMutation kitten population]] [[ADateWithRosiePalms to be on alert]].

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* GratuitousFrench: Ina Garten of "Barefoot Contessa" is probably the most notorious offender for this, as even the Francophilic Melissa D'Arabian doesn't name-drop French terms nearly as often as Ina. Ina seems determined to use French to describe anything she can. It gets especially ridiculous (and somewhat amusing) when she repeatedly uses ''Crème anglaise.'' [[note]]If you're wondering why she doesn't just ''say'' English cream, it's [[DontExplainTheJoke because that's its name]]. The French named sweet custard used as a dessert sauce "English cream" in (grudging) recognition of the fact that the English like to put thin, sweet, creamy custard on their desserts and are actually pretty good making it--but the specific technique used in France is not exactly the same as the traditional English one.[[/note]]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/food_network_logo_2013_7494.png[[{{Tagline}} Dig in!]]]]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/food_network_logo_2013_7494.png]]
Food Network is a cable network whose main topic is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin food, food and more food]] -- where to find it, how to prepare it, as well the people who do all the work behind the scenes. Founded in 1993 by the Providence Journal Company as the "TV Food Network" (this name was dropped in 1996 for the present one), FN was bought by the E.W. Scripps Company as a result of a trade with the A.H. Belo Corporation, who bought the Providence Journal Co. in 1997 (the trade was for the CBS station in San Antonio), and is co-owned with a few other channels: Home and Garden Television (or HGTV, which focuses on home improvement and construction, and was launched in 1994, three years before Scripps bought FN), DIY Network (a channel for do-it-yourselfers, launched in 1999), Creator/CookingChannel (launched in 2002 as a general lifestyle channel called "Fine Living", it adopted its current name in May 2010), Great American Country (a country music channel inexplicably purchased by Scripps in 2004) and the Travel Channel (65% of which was bought from Cox Communications in 2009). In 2008, FN and its siblings were spun off into "Scripps Networks Interactive", which in turn was acquired by Discovery, Inc. in March 2018.

** On ''Worst Cooks in America,'' Anne Burrell is known to tell recruits, "Brown food tastes good," in an enthusiastic, gravelly, Cookie-Monster-type voice. Some recruits fondly repeat it.

** Daniel Mar of ''Worst Cooks in America'' season 10. He regularly put down the other contestants or otherwise acted arrogant, and Chef Anne warned him about "phoning it in" more than once. However, Daniel always ended up safe at the end of every elimination round. [[Spoiler: Plenty of viewers were incensed when he actually ''won.'']]

FN rose to fame in the late 1990s, after picking up Emeril Lagasse's show ''Essence Of Emeril'' and its hit follow-on ''Emeril Live''; he was the face of the network for many years until Creator/RachaelRay and ''30-Minute Meals'' came along. Also the network that was willing to take a chance on [[Series/GoodEats a certain offbeat cooking-science show]] back in 1999, as well as introducing most of the USA to ''Series/IronChef'', a show whose exposure had been limited mainly to the Bay Area before then.

** Paula Deen and butter. A couple other chefs are noted for their favorites in terms of both using it and eating it, but Deen's love of butter has reached MemeticMutation levels. One of Paula's shows focused on fried butter. Straight up '''FRIED BUTTER'''. A home viewer was even invited to share a recipe, who also had a variation on the recipe for weight-conscious viewers (it was still fried and it was still butter).

* BaldOfAwesome:
** Chris Santos
** Duff Goldman
** Robert Irvine
** Michael Psilakis
** Michael Symon

* AchillesHeel: In ''Beat Bobby Flay'', Flay's notorious weakness is in baking and pastries, leading him to audibly groan and complain when a chef challenges him to a dessert-bazsd round. Inversely, his own specialty is burgers, so any chef challenging him to make a burger is quite often met with a SquashMatch.

* ArchillesHeel: In ''Beat Bobby Flay'', Flay's notorious weakness is in baking and pastries, leading him to audibly groan and complain when a chef challenges him to a dessert-bazsd round. Inversely, his own specialty is burgers, so any chef challenging him to make a burger is quite often met with a SquashMatch.

* CircusEpisode: ''Series/HalloweenBakingChampionship'' had a CircusOfFear-themed episode called "Circus of Dread." The episode featured a circus-themed set and two circus-themed challenges. The first required the contestants to make desserts based on one of four UsefulNotes/TarotCards. The second had contestants making desserts based on one of four original {{Monster Clown}}s. (Three were mannequins, but one was a person in costume pretending to be a mannequin to JumpScare the contestants.)

** Dante, of the 2014 version of ''Holiday Cooking Championship''. A [[ArrogantKungFuGuy US Naval Academy instructor]], Dante is shown to be highly dismissive of other candidates through his participation, complaining whenever other contestants’ dishes were selected over his even after the judges praised him. It also doesn’t help that he flaunted his skill and talents in nearly every shot he was in. By contrast, the rest of the cast were mostly affable and nice, and of more humble backgrounds. His brother joined the following season- with more or less the same attitude, but much nicer. He lasted two seasons.