Now don’t get me wrong - I LOVE a lot of the chefs down at the Food TV Network. A lot have worked hard, toiled at their craft and deserve to be where they are - this isn’t about them, but about who they work for - which is the Food TV Network.
The above snapshot is about 1/2 of the hosts and celebrity chefs listed from the Food TV Network’s Web site here. Notice anything? I know the pictures are small, but I’ll break it down for you:
Out of 50 celebrity chefs and hosts they have listed, the following are people of color - all together 11:
- Al Roker
- Bobby Rivers
Iron Chef Chinese: Chen KenichiIron Chef Italian: Masahiko Kobe- Iron Chef Japanese: Masaharu Morimoto
Iron Chef French: Hiroyuki SakaiIron Chef Japanese: Rokusaburo Michiba- Ingrid Hoffmann
- Mark Dacascos
Takeshi Kaga- Warren Brown
If you take away the crew from Iron Chef except Morimoto - because it’s been relegated to 4:00 AM status for the most part now, and they’ve never really pushed those chefs as personalities - this takes you from a modest 20% of people of color from their listings to a measly 10%.
From there you then have to ask yourself how many are regulars, who has bit parts, and who is really getting promoted as well - and that 10% number even seems to shrink more when compared to how white the network seems as a whole.
Survey Says
We know that Food TV isn’t really that diverse, but we also know there are chefs, cooks, and hosts of color out there that would fit the bill for a personality or a show - so really then - the only question remains is when and IF Food TV Network will start diversifying their lineup - just like their food.
