TV cooking contest shows

[Blarg]

I've been really enjoying cooking contest shows for the last year or two. Examples are Hell's Kitchen, Next Food Network Star, and Top Chef. Sometimes the food is very interesting, as can be the challenges they put the chefs through.

They're all worth watching. Last night I saw another installment of Next Food Network Star, and it was fun. There has already been spotty outbreaks of discussion of these shows in OOT, sometimes impassioned, usually interesting. Let's do a Lounge take on all those shows!

To start, here's celebrity chef and author Tony Bourdain's take on that show as of 7/11/07.

Tony Bourdain is a familiar name to people who follow cooking shows. A confessedly moderately talented chef and small-time novel writer, he rose to notoriety and near adoration with Kitchen Confidential, a grungy, hilarious tell-all about the restaurant business and growing into adulthood as a chef and various types of louse. The success of the book spawned t.v. series and further books and articles, and it occasions some fun blog posts, including "guest blog" spots on other people's sites.

I hope you enjoy this one. Warning -- Tony can be crude.

Tony Bourdain on The Next Food Network Star

Note that Tony has been a guest judge on Top Chef, a similar show, just a few weeks ago.

Note also that on the same page, you can scroll down to find other entries from him.