Bourdain dislikes them because they turned the fine art of food into a reality TV circus with inane shows like Throw Down with Bobby Flay, Iron Chef America, and The Next Food Network Star, while sacrificing, in the process, the earlier and far more educational programs like Molto Mario and Essence of Emeril.
Another unsavory repercussion of the growth of the Food Network, as I see it, is that their many "road food" shows have come to impart mythical status on local spots that many of us know and love, thereby resulting in those very places jacking up their prices to cash in on McMansion-dwelling, Food Network-worshipping couch potatoes flocking in from the suburbs by the hundreds.
On a recent conference in Philadelphia, I took a nice autumn walk from Center City down through the 9th Street Italian Market in order to visit an old friend - Pat's King of Steaks. I almost never eat cheese steaks these days, but Pat and I have a history dating back to the days when my friends went to grad school in Philly. To my astonishment, my order of a "Wit Whiz" was met with a brusk response of "That will be $9.50."
$9.50 for a wit whiz? You have got to be @#$%ing kidding me.
Sure, there is a thing called inflation. Yes, gas costs of delivery vehicles are greater now than in years past. But none of that explains the audacity of charging $9.50 for sliced steak with onions topped with processed cheese spread.
As I looked around, I realized that the locals - once a familiar sight at Pat's - were noticeably absent. Everyone was an out-of-town tourist. You can call Philly folks what you will, but stupid they are not. The local folks have already moved on to the hundreds of other cheese steak peddlers located around the city that charge a more reasonable price for the EXACT same product.
Forever more, I will do the same.