From Scratch: Inside The Food Network (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
This 400+ page book contains more than any one person would really want to know about the Food Network, but I enjoyed reading the back stories of some of the cooks I enjoy watching, and to learn something about how their programming has changed over the years. For those who care, Salkin relates every single little detail about negotiations and business aspects of the network, something I think could be shortened considerably. I was staggered when I read about the cost of filming even one episode of a cooking show, and interested to find out a little more about what is involved in a show’s production. Recommended if you skim over what you don’t enjoy. If you're excited to read a book about today's Food Network then don't pick this--it's bloated (425 pages) and poorly written (the author mixes verb tenses within the same paragraph--like saying Emeril "was" and "is" when talking about something from years ago). It covers mostly the early years (rushing through the last half decade in a few pages near the end) with way too much gossip and little that's interesting. The book could be cut in half and be twice as good.The biggest problem is that the author doesn't have a clue what he's talking about when it comes to TV. Some of the errors he makes are laughable (he says ESPN started in the 1980s when really it was 1979, he claims that the Food Network accidentally showing a minute of porn in 1997 was a "federal offense" yet that's not true for a cable network which is allowed to air whatever it wants) and his glib writing style makes him sound like he's trying to be a cool New York insider by kissing up to network executives and stars.There are a couple good stories (not told well and often incomplete) but he recreates private conversations from years ago with quotation marks (hard to do without a recording of it). This book isn't just half-baked, it's a culinary disaster that shouldn't have been served.
What do You think about From Scratch: Inside The Food Network (2013)?
I thought this would be a great read. Instead I used it to help me fall asleep at night.
—Hoops98
I have an MBA. I wasn't expecting a business book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
—Steph
