Media Meditation #6 Is What You See Really What You Get?

Food, everyone loves it. So much so that there is even an entire television network dedicated to it, Food Network. On this channel shows vary from how to cook a certain recipe, to how certain foods are made and packaged in a factory to what restaurant you can find the best cheeseburger at. There are even reality challenge shows over food where multiple chefs will battle it out to be judge on their final products. 

Often these shows use production and persuasive techniques such as humor and beautiful people (see Paula Deen above) to make the food and cook process more entertaining. Neil Postman talked a lot about turning things into forms of entertainment and the Food Network has certainly done so when it comes to the kitchen.

With my brother being a culinary major, my family has taken a particular liking to the channel. Also, we thankfully (my parents especially) have the opportunity to travel a lot so we look to the station for different dinning ideas. The fact that we can do this and use the Internet is certainly a technological shift rather than just getting a recommendation from a friend or seeing an advertisement for the place in the paper. The past Thanksgiving break we traveled to Buffalo, NY to see family and tried to eat at a place called Grovers that was featured as an awesome burger joint in the show, Diners, Drive Ins, Dives.  

  The small restaurant ended up having a huge wait, something my dad pointed out that he had read on a message board online. Apparently after the show featured the place, they had a huge increase in customers, so much so that they stopped doing take out orders!

I asked my parents if they have ever made special trips to check out some of the places they see on TV or read about in books but the answer was not usually. They will however know that they are traveling somewhere for a conference, vacation or family and pay special attention to see if any places from that area are featured. My dad, who loves planning things ahead of time, will often check out the website RoadFood.com (pictured above) to get idea on places to eat while we travel.  

Although my brother and I always pick on him for planning ahead, we’ve always been really pleased with the outcome. One of my favorite places that we have gone after seeing it featured on the Phantom Gourmet was the East Coast Grill in Boston, MA… check it out on the video below and tell me you wouldn't be tempted to try it!  (Come on, they have a make your own bloody mary bar!)

Here are some of the other places they have tried out and where they learned about them...

Paula Deens – Savannah Georgia (Food TV Network Show)

Grovers – Buffalo, NY (Diners, Drive Ins, Dives)

Holy Canoli – Worchester, MA (Phantom Gourmet)

East Coast Grill – Boston, MA (Phantom Gourmet)

Super Duper Weenie – Fairfield, CT (RoadFood.com)

Peter Lugers Steakhouse – Brooklyn, NY (Steak Paradise)

PJ Clarke’s – New York City (Hamburger Heaven)