Watch The Food Network

Mastering a skill requires making it a way of life. One great way to get better at cooking is reading blogs (like this one you're reading right now), cooking (obviously), and watching cooking TV shows. This is why I recommend watching The Food Network. You can seriously learn so much from watching any show on this channel. I have talked about it before but "Worst Cooks in America" is a great show for beginners because you can learn from the mistakes of other beginners without wasting your own ingredients. You can learn from so many different shows on Food Network, which is why it is so great. It is also a great way to learn terms and ingredients. Even if you never use an ingredient it is still nice to know what it is just in case it ever comes up in a new recipe you are trying out. Another great informational show is "Good Eats," hosted by the amazing chef Alton Brown. This show is fantastic because Alton does a great job of telling you how and why he is doing something. Alton puts a strange comedic and scientific twist on cooking that turns out to be seriously educational. All of these shows are so useful to someone who is either brand new to cooking or has been cooking forever. A new cook can learn how to cook, and an experienced cook can get new ideas to put a spin on an old dish or experiment with new flavors.

There are so many variations of shows on the Food Network, which is another reason to love it. I personally enjoy shows like "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," where the chef Guy Fieri travels America to find some of the best restaurants. This show is very obviously entertainment based but you can still gain a lot of cooking knowledge. Guy learns some of the greatest recipes that again can give a cook new ideas or introduce you to new ways of cooking. This show takes you to such diverse restaurants that use flavors from all over the world, and you can learn more about cooking in different cultures through this show. The Food Network offers so many shows like this that may not be inherently educational but that you can still learn from. Almost every single show that airs on that network you can take something away from it.  I can't stress enough how much any cook can learn from watching the Food Network.

One complaint that I can make about the Food Network is they are focusing more on competitive shows and moving away from those educational shows. While, there are sometimes things to be learned from the competitive shows most of the time the competitors get weird combinations of ingredients that the average cook will never use. Those shows are entertaining to watch but very much so less educational. Beginners will generally not benefit from these types of shows so that's my only gripe with them. Personally I do enjoy watching them just because I like to see the crazy and creative things some chefs come up with. One other complaint I have has to do with how boring some of the individual cooking shows are. The kind of shows where the hosts just shows you how to cook one thing. Some of the hosts can be very dry and a little boring to watch in my opinion. It can be hard for a beginner cook to really into those types of shows if they just aren't fun to watch. With that being said there are definitely more talented hosts that are great at keeping an audience's attention.

I think the reason that I love the Food Network is because my mom loved the Food Network. I grew up watching it all the time with my mom in the living room. Even today, me and my mom will sit down when I'm home and eat dinner while watching it. This is similar to the reason that I love cooking in general. My mother loves to cook and I always loved to eat her food. Although, we didn't always necessarily agree on which show on the Food Network were the best. So maybe one day you'll be able to share you're cooking with you're children, and sit down to an episode of "Good Eats." You might even try out those recipes that you saw with your loved ones. Just another reason to love the Food Network is that it's family friendly. Any show aired on the Food Network can be viewed by anyone in your family at any age.

I would definitely recommend checking out the Food Network for anyone with any type of cooking skill. Their website also always offers great recipes from the shows and even more cooking tips, and articles. So not only should you check it out on the TV, but also look into foodnetwork.com for even more information. Your goal is to now try and find at least one show on the Food Network and try to watch it a few times a week. You might even want to take a few notes and learn some legitimate tips from the show. I recommend trying out the different variety of shows and figure out what you really enjoy watching. There is no other food channel that is better than the Food Network. I promise if you give it a try you will walk away learning at least one thing.

I honestly hope that you do give the Food Network a try because it does have so much to offer. It will inspire you to be more creative. It may even make you step out of your comfort zone and make you cook something that you think sounds delicious. I know that I have learned so much from watching the Food network and I know that you will to. You can even watch a few of their shows on Netflix, so if you don’t have cable you have no excuse. Go give the Food Network a try!

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