Diary of a Foodie

[jgm]

I don't know much about it yet...but it sounds good. The series premieres October 7th. The website says:

". . .a delicious new Public Television series that looks at the world food first. Join us as we travel the globe unearthing a feast of cutting-edge food trends, exotic ingredients, and in-the-know food players."

The next paragraph indicates Ruth Reichl and her editors will then take us to the kitchen for some "internationally-inspired dishes."

Anybody know anything more? If it lives up to its promises, it sounds really good.

And a question: is PBS becoming what the Food Network should be (in our opinion)? Do you think they see a niche, with FN's all-but-abandonment of cooking itself?

And I'm dying to see what an "in-the-know food player" looks like.

[edsel]

Louisa Chu mentioned this project on her blog Moveable Feast. It sounds like a must-see.

[larrylee]

And a question:  is PBS becoming what the Food Network should be (in our opinion)?  Do you think they see a niche, with FN's all-but-abandonment of cooking itself?

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FN has definitely been straying into food entertainment. I guess it's successful for them, but I find myself only watching a handful of shows.

jgm: do you have a link to the web site announcing the show?

Edited September 6, 2006 by larrylee (log)

[Louisa Chu]

And a question:  is PBS becoming what the Food Network should be (in our opinion)?  Do you think they see a niche, with FN's all-but-abandonment of cooking itself?

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FN has definitely been straying into food entertainment. I guess it's successful for them, but I find myself only watching a handful of shows.

jgm: do you have a link to the web site announcing the show?

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Here's the link to the site: Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie - it launches September 22. I worked on the France and Chicago shoots - and MobyP on the UK shoot.

[larrylee]

Thanks! Louisa!

[Nina C.]

The website for Diary of a Foodie is finally fully up, and announces episodes 1-5

Episode 1 - "One Billion Foodies" about China with Bruce Cost

Episode 2 - "Anatomy of a Meal with Jose Andres"

Episode 2 - "Italy"

Episode 4 - "H20"

Episode 5 - "The Hungry Luddite"

[mukki]

I'd love to watch this, but it's not showing up on local listings in the LA area. I'm wondering if it's possible it hasn't been picked up here.

[Nina C.]

I'd love to watch this, but it's not showing up on local listings in the LA area. I'm wondering if it's possible it hasn't been picked up here.

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I think it is national. It took me a while to find it because it is "Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie". Look under "G"

[Nina C.]

Aha - just found the listings information on the website:

It feels like they are a little behind in posting some of these things. When I worked at PBS (nothing food related), we had this kind of info well in advance.

I hope it is good! I'm particularly interested in the Jose Andres.

[Music]

I cannot find a listing for the two PBS stations in this area (Los Angeles and Orange County). Neither KCET nor KOCE lists this show -- which I have been eagerly waiting for! If they don't carry this show, they won't get any more donations from me!

[KristiB50]

I was looking forward to this but it's not listed in the Phoenix market either

[Nina C.]

I tivoed this, and held it off as a reward to myself when I had gotten so far in my writing. Imagine my surprise when what taped is not Diary of a Foodie at all but Mark Bittman! It is a particularly interesting episode, and so I'm not sorry to have accidentally tivoed it, but I wonder what went wrong. It is labeled as Diary of a Foodie, so I am suspecting the change came on the broadcasting end.

Has anyone seen the premier episode yet? Is it worth us all persuing it?

[edsel]

Here's the link to the site: Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie - it launches September 22. I worked on the France and Chicago shoots - and MobyP on the UK shoot. 

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Is that the launch date for the website, or the series? There's no mention of when the shows will actually start to air.

Both of the Northeast Ohio PBS stations are listed in the "local listings" on the series site, but the show doesn't appear in the broadcast schedules for either station.

[Curlz]

The NYC station (WNET, Ch. 13) is showing it on Sundays at 4pm. The web page for the show (not PBS) is here, and they are also offering podcasts...

I caught the Mark Bittman/Jose Andres show quite by accident this week, but I'm not sure that it was DoaF. It was great, not only b/c I've been to the two restaurants they showed (Cafe Atlantico and Zaytinya), but b/c the two of them were a riot. I found myself laughing out loud on more than a few occasions; never realized what a 'character' Jose is! Good stuff.

[MobyP]

I was told that it is supposed to be showing in Europe - on the discovery channel or some affiliate, but I'm buggered if I can find it. If anyone has the techie bod sense to track down the showing times here, my wife would appreciate it. She wants to see me eat a pig's head on camera (courtesy of St John... hmmm... pig's head....)

[larrylee]

My DVR didn't record anything at all this weekend, very strange and disappointing.

WNET 13's listings (New York City) don't show any repeats, either. To echo Nina's post, did anyone catch the first episode?

[Curlz]

Kim O'Donnel discusses the show in her blog on the Washington Post site today...let's just say she isn't completely wowed.

"...in spite of the mouth-watering, romantic imagery, the show's attempt to be a silky smooth puree has a few chunks to pass through the food mill one more time. The show's opening sequence, which is a collage of images with a narrated voiceover is a wee too preachy or perhaps self-proclaiming for my palate: "We are called foodies and the food world is where we live" sounds more like a mantra and more like something you'd hear at a religious service."

[alacarte]

I set up a season pass on Tivo for the program. I'm still disappointed that they used the silly word "Foodie" in the title.

I felt it was worthwhile watching. The first episode focused on China, and I felt it did a good job of making it entertaining and accessible, without dumbing things down. They brought in lots of different viewpoints, and I had one truly horrified moment watching a man blow air into a raw duck carcass in preparation for making Peking Duck. No one should have that kind of contact with a bird....Asian bird flu, anyone? Yeech. I wondered if the show would be all pretty food porn -- definitely not.

The one small improvement I'd like to see is a bit more narration in between each segment, something leading me in and explaining why this segment was chosen, and how it relates to the others.

[jsmeeker]

I lucked into getting the first episode (China) of this on my TiVo yesterday, as it was recording a show earlier on PBS and the buffer was still on PBS. I told it to keep the episode so I could watch all of it and I will add a Season Pass for this.. My TiVo will be spending a lot of time watching PBS on Saturday afternoon.

I'm still not bothered by the term "foodie".

[alacarte]

Second episode focused on Barcelona (mostly) and Jose Andres.

It's intelligently done but I'm still distracted by the pacing. Each little segment runs about 3 minutes and then you're into the next segment on Harold McGee on fragrances and then you're back in Barcelona for an olive oil tasting and --wait, I wasn't done with Harold McGee yet!--but better keep up, now Ruth Reichl is showing us how to make caramel corn and now we're back in Barcelona again and Jose Andre is chowing down on neat little olive oil bonbons.

I never knew I could feel so frazzled after watching anything on PBS.

[percyn]

A few months ago, my local PBS station started carrying this show and I loved it from the very first episode.

The Diary of a Foodie Website, which contains podcasts, recipes, etc. describes the show as:

Looking at the world food-first, Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie is a sophisticated, high-end series that introduces viewers to a feast of cutting-edge food trends, exotic ingredients, and in-the-know food players on an international level. Expanding on the lessons learned during the show's travels, Gourmet Editor-in-Chief Ruth Reichl, along with a supporting staff of Gourmet's renowned food editors, go inside the magazine's test kitchens to show viewers how they can bring this diverse culinary landscape into their own homes.

Interesting note - eGullet's very own MobyP appears in many episodes as your culinary guide.

[markk]

I've been watching this from the beginning and enjoying it tremendously.

[docsconz]

A few months ago, my local PBS station started carrying this show and I loved it from the very first episode.

The Diary of a Foodie Website, which contains podcasts, recipes, etc. describes the show as:

Looking at the world food-first, Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie is a sophisticated, high-end series that introduces viewers to a feast of cutting-edge food trends, exotic ingredients, and in-the-know food players on an international level. Expanding on the lessons learned during the show's travels, Gourmet Editor-in-Chief Ruth Reichl, along with a supporting staff of Gourmet's renowned food editors, go inside the magazine's test kitchens to show viewers how they can bring this diverse culinary landscape into their own homes.

Interesting note - eGullet's very own MobyP appears in many episodes as your culinary guide.

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Louisa Chu is also involved as well. I'm upset that my available PBS stations aren't carrying it.

[philadining]

I've been enjoying Diary of a Foodie in the PBS affiliate in Philly. I think it's one of the better food shows around, on broadcast or cable. It covers serious chefs and serious culinary trends in an intelligent way. It's a little too blipvert, short-attention-span theater for my taste, but todays' media tends to be that way...

It seems to be editorially a little uncritically in awe of its subjects (a recent segment on Kee's chocolates allowed Kee to suggest that using chiles or salt in chocolates was some sort of personal innovation, etc...) but then the chefs profiled are generally worthy of some degree of admiration, so that tone isn't too jarring.

The main thing that bugs me about the show is the title, and not the word "foodie." It's that it's not at all a diary. It's not recounting the exploits of some real or imagined food-lover, it's a magazine show. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

It's refreshing that they are focusing on interesting, important figures and movements, not merely on celebrities and quick-and-easy recipes. I like the reporters, and that there are several of them. It's nicely done, I hope it gets distributed more widely.

[KarenSherwood]

Our Phoenix affiliate isn't running it. In fact, their recent changes to the Sat afternoon Foodie lineup pretty much suck. For a little while Rick Bayless was back, but they've throttled him again. <sigh> I was going to post the current schedule but their begging (again) this weekend so everything's a wash.

Thanks for the website link. At least I can press my nose to the glass.