"But you can't taste the food!" Since I started watching Top Chef, I think I've had some variant of the "but you can't taste the food!" conversation a couple dozen times. And it's true. I can't taste the food. Half the time I'm not even really sure what's in it. It's a critique, though, that works just as well for everything from redecorating shows to porn. And hey, that's rather what Top Chef is: Porn for yuppies. It's aspirational. But the aspiration isn't to sit at the judging table. It's to be in the kitchen. What the critics get wrong is that people don't watch Top Chef because they want to taste the food, though few would wave away a dinner prepared by Stephanie or Richard. They watch Top Chef because they want to make the food. Folks who tune into Top Chef do it because they wish they could cook more, cook better, cook faster, cook more creatively. The majority of the show, after all, is not the judges tasting the food and discussing its merits. It's the chefs cooking, innovating, chopping, frying, and creating under pressure. For those of us who find dinner an occasionally overwhelming effort, it's frankly inspiring. ASSIGNMENT DESK: TOP CHEF THOUGHTS.
"But you can't taste the food!" Since I started watching Top Chef, I think I've had some variant of the "but you can't taste the food!" conversation a couple dozen times. And it's true. I can't taste the food. Half the time I'm not even really sure what's in it. It's a critique, though, that works just as well for everything from redecorating shows to porn. And hey, that's rather what Top Chef is: Porn for yuppies. It's aspirational. But the aspiration isn't to sit at the judging table. It's to be in the kitchen. What the critics get wrong is that people don't watch Top Chef because they want to taste the food, though few would wave away a dinner prepared by Stephanie or Richard. They watch Top Chef because they want to make the food. Folks who tune into Top Chef do it because they wish they could cook more, cook better, cook faster, cook more creatively. The majority of the show, after all, is not the judges tasting the food and discussing its merits. It's the chefs cooking, innovating, chopping, frying, and creating under pressure. For those of us who find dinner an occasionally overwhelming effort, it's frankly inspiring. 
