Last week I was contacted by a PR firm representing the Discovery Health Channel about two new cooking shows they are premiering on Thursday, March 29, 2007 (at 10:00 and 10:30 PM EST/PST). Up until the time that I got the e-mail, I didn't even know there was a Discovery Health Channel (there is, it's part of the Comcast Digital Classic lineup in my area). Both new shows,
Lyon in the Kitchen and
Healthy Dedadence are aimed toward the calorie conscious.
The first show, Lyon in the Kitchen (at 10:00PM), is really focused on using fresh ingredients. Nathan Lyon (some of you will recognize as a finalist in 2006's The Next Food Network Star) says "the fresher the ingredient, the better the food" and takes you "grocery stores, mom and pop places, and even roadside stands" to prove his point. Nathan seems to be a real proponent of buying local (to "support the community") and in season ("buying out of season, that means it's picked early and doesn't have a lot of flavor"), which is a philosphy about ingredients that I whole heartedly agree with. From the few clips that I watched, Nathan seems to have a good sense of humor and a pleasant attitude about food preparation. Also, the press release promises that Nathan will show us how to find the freshest produce from stands to farms, so I'll watch at least the first couple episodes just for that. It was unclear to me how his show is more "calorie-friendly" than other (fresh ingredient) cooking shows (perhaps that's a phrase that cooking shows on Discovery Health need to stick in for marketing reasons).
While Lyon in the Kitchen might be calorie-ambiguous, Healthy Decadence (at 10:30PM) is all about the calories. Devin Alexander (who wrote the Biggest Loser Cookbook that accompanied the NBC show in 2006) apparently specializes in reducing calories (mainly by reducing fat) in classic dishes. She selects "the right cuts" of meat and "simple cooking techniques" (such as replacing some chocolate in a recipe with instant coffee) to reduce fat. Hopefully, her recipes will work better than those provided by Juan-Carlos Cruz in his Calorie Countdown Cookbook (Cooking For Engineers will have a review written by David Papandrew at some point in the future; David's been working through some of the recipes and needed a break after a really bad one involving carnitas made from pork boiled in enchilada sauce). Devin is up beat, is excited about low calorie cooking, and reminded me of a lower-key Rachael Ray. If you're a calorie watcher, her show should be worth checking out.
1. The on screen tips say that olive oil has monosaturated fats
2. He says his provincial bread salsa is homage to Provence (which means he meant provençal instead)
3. He claims the Provence-style is from Italy (Provence is French)
I find myself watching the show only for the first two minutes where he visits a food source...
Yes but he put monosaturated on the screen - there's no such thing!