Carla Hall posing out front of Taco Tamix food truck with El Pastor Taco, as seen on “Chasing Flavor” (Photo courtesy of Food Network/Max)
The following is a press release from Max:
Celebrity chef and best-selling author Carla Hall takes viewers on a global adventure to explore the unexpected roots of popular dishes within today’s American food culture on the original Max series “Chasing Flavor.” Beginning on February 1, 2024, follow along as Carla’s curiosity about America’s most delicious dishes from chicken pot pie to ice cream leads her to Ghana, Italy, Turkey, and more. Along the way, Carla traces the history and lineage of dishes, discovering the interconnected, international origins and cultures that paved the way for today’s American cuisine – because if you don’t know the history, then you don’t know the dish. Join Carla as she chases flavor across the globe to find out how it all comes together on the American plate.
“’Chasing Flavor’ brings together so many of the things I am passionate about. It’s about food, and family, and sharing stories and history and travel. And more importantly, giving credit to the cultures that had a hand in a particular dish,” said Hall. “I’m really proud of this show. Everyone involved in making it, myself included, put their heart and souls into it. It was a wonderful adventure, and I can’t wait for others to share it.”
Throughout the six half-hour episodes, Carla dives into American classics from shrimp and grits to hot chicken, to barbeque, and more. On one episode, Carla is on an unexpected dairy adventure that takes her from the United States, to Italy, and to Turkey to discover the origins of ice cream. Stopping at the top ice cream spots in New York and Philadelphia, Carla learns the unique churning methods used to give the classic dessert its smooth, creamy texture. Then, in Italy Carla gets a lesson on the difference between ice cream and gelato, and in Turkey, Carla is like a kid again playing with her food as she uncovers a unique ingredient that gives ice cream its silkiness.
Carla’s travels do not end there as she goes on a taco trip to Mexico and discovers how a vertical flame helped cultures collide to create tacos al pastor. She also explores how Jamaica helped to shape the flaky crust of chicken pot pie, and in Ghana, she gets a spicy taste of the roots of hot chicken with chef Eric Adjepong. With every bite in every country, Carla’s journey highlights the influences that have shaped American cuisine.
“Chasing Flavor” is produced by Fremantle’s Original Productions for Max.
Carla and Gamze watching Dondurma stretching in “Chasing Flavor” (Photo courtesy of Food Network/Max)
A scene from “Chasing Flavor” (Photo courtesy of Food Network/Max)
Bassetts Ice Cream’s Alex Bassett Strange and Carla Hall at City Kitchen, the test kitchen at Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia in “Chasing Flavor” (Photo courtesy of Food Network/Max)
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Max®, which launched May 23, 2023, is an enhanced streaming platform from Warner Bros. Discovery, delivering unparalleled quality content for everyone in the household. With a personalized user experience that brings unique and unexpected stories ranging from the best of unscripted to the highest quality in scripted programming to live news to sports, Max is the destination for HBO Originals, Warner Bros. films, Max Originals, the DC universe, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, CNN Max, Bleacher Report Sports Add-On, an expansive offering of kids and family content, and best-in-class programming across food, home, reality, lifestyle, and documentaries from leading brands like HGTV, Food Network, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, Discovery Channel, TLC, ID and more, all in one place.
Food Network stars Sunny Anderson, Alex Guarnaschelli, Bobby Flay, Michael Symon and Katie Lee (Photo courtesy of Food Network)
The following is a press release from Food Network and Cooking Channel:
Food Network and Cooking Channel are preparing for food’s biggest holiday with a full slate of Thanksgiving-themed programming, including a live on-air event and first-ever, interactive Thanksgiving streaming event on the NEW Food Network Kitchen app, marking a 40% increase in Thanksgiving content compared to 2018. The November primetime lineup on Food Network includes: “Ultimate Thanksgiving Challenge,” a four-episode competition hosted by Giada De Laurentiis premiering Sunday, November 3rd at 9pm ET/PT; “Worst Cooks in America: Thanksgiving Redemption” with Anne Burrell and Scott Conant on Sunday, November 10th at 10pm ET/PT; brand-new special “Thanksgiving Pie Fight” hosted by Sunny Anderson on Thursday, November 14th at 9pm ET/PT; a turkey-focused “Good Eats” one-hour special with Alton Brown on Sunday, November 17th at 8pm ET/PT and “Macy’s Thanksgiving Cake Spectacular” with Maureen McCormick on Sunday, November 17th at 10pm ET/PT.
On Friday, November 22nd at 9pm ET/6pm PT, Guy Fieri will host the first-ever, fully interactive LIVE Thanksgiving streaming event, “Guy’s Thanksgiving Hotline,” on the Food Network Kitchen app, sharing recipes, tips and guidance for the biggest holiday of the year, and giving fans the chance to have their questions answered in real-time. In daytime, Food Network goes live on air on Saturday, November 23rd at 11am ET with special two-hour interactive event “The Kitchen: Thanksgiving Live” with “The Kitchen” co-hosts Sunny Anderson, Alex Guarnaschelli, Katie Lee, Jeff Mauro and Geoffrey Zakarian, joined by Alton Brown. Immediately following “The Kitchen: Thanksgiving Live,” fans can join the hosts on the Food Network Kitchen app as they each go live sharing more great ideas on how to make this year’s Thanksgiving the best it can be. On Cooking Channel, host Carla Hall discovers outrageous Turkey Day treats in primetime special “Thanksgiving Grubdown” on Monday, November 11th at 9pm ET/6pm PT.
“Food Network and Cooking Channel have Thanksgiving covered from every angle and this year we have packed the schedule, adding dynamic live and interactive content to really give viewers the experience, access and information they crave,” said Courtney White, President, Food Network and Cooking Channel. “From expert Thanksgiving feast recipes and family entertaining tips to edge-of-your-seat holiday themed competitions, spectacles, and live stunts, our programming and platforms are the ultimate destination leading up to the big day.”
The season kicks off on Sunday, November 3rd at 9pm ET/PT on Food Network with “Ultimate Thanksgiving Challenge,” where six chefs face off to create the ultimate Thanksgiving dishes. Host Giada De Laurentiis puts the creative competitors to the test, challenging them to prepare the most delicious and innovative turkeys, side dishes and desserts to ever hit a dining table. Judges Alex Guarnaschelli, Carla Hall and Christian Petroni choose the $25,000 winner in the finale on Sunday, November 24th at 9pm ET/PT. Join the conversation on social using #UltimateThanksgivingChallenge.
On Sunday, November 10th at 10pm ET/PT, four beloved former “Worst Cooks” recruits return to boot camp in Worst Cooks in America: Thanksgiving Redemption. Chefs Anne Burrell and Scott Conant teach the much-improved recruits how to make a Thanksgiving meal to impress judges Jonathan Waxman, Esther Choi and Cliff Crooks – and only the winning team wins kitchen appliances worth $10,000. Follow #WorstCooks on social media for more of the very best of the worst.
Four top pie bakers compete to create the most outrageously visual and edible pies in the brand-new special “Thanksgiving Pie Fight,” premiering Thursday, November 14th at 9pm ET/PT. Hosted by Sunny Anderson, the bakers must utilize height-defying techniques, intricate designs, dyed doughs and more to blow away judges Nacho Aguirre, Jessica Clark-Bojin and Scott Conant. With a $10,000 prize at stake, the self-taught and professional bakers will stop at nothing to make the most elaborate pies. Follow the fight on social media using #ThanksgivingPieFight.
Alton Brown talks turkey in “Good Eats: Thanksgiving Special,” a one-hour show dedicated to the bird on Sunday, November 17th at 8pm ET/PT. Turkey may be the most versatile of the “New World” critters, but for some crazy reason we only roast it for the holidays, so Alton puts an end to that with three turkey recipes that should be made year-round. Follow #GoodEatsTheReturn to get Alton’s turkey tips and more.
In “Macy’s Thanksgiving Cake Spectacular,” hosted by Maureen McCormick, four of the country’s best bakers come together to design sweet masterpieces that pay tribute to the beloved Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons and floats. Airing on Sunday, November 17th at 10pm ET/PT, only the most successful cake artist will take home the grand prize of $10,000 and have their work featured in Macy’s flagship New York City store, plus receive tickets to the parade. Judges are Buddy Valastro, Susan Tercero and last season’s winner Timbo Sullivan. Join the conversation anytime using #ThanksgivingCakeSpectacular.
On Friday, November 22nd at 9pm ET/6pm PT, Guy Fieri will host the first-ever, fully interactive live Thanksgiving streaming event, “Guy’s Thanksgiving Hotline,” on the Food Network Kitchen app, sharing recipes, tips and guidance for the biggest holiday of the year, and giving fans the chance to have their questions answered in real-time.
In daytime on Saturday, November 23rd at 11am ET, the special event “The Kitchen: Thanksgiving Live” helps viewers successfully pull off the biggest culinary holiday of the year with interactive tips and recipes from Food Network stars themselves. In the two-hour live show, The Kitchen co-hosts Sunny Anderson, Alex Guarnaschelli, Katie Lee, Jeff Mauro and Geoffrey Zakarian are joined by Alton Brown to offer their own takes on classic Thanksgiving dishes to make an amazing holiday feast. Immediately following “The Kitchen: Thanksgiving Live,” the hosts will each go live on the Food Network Kitchen app giving viewers even more Thanksgiving 911 to help make their holidays the best they can be. Follow #TheKitchen #ThanksgivingLive for all the culinary action.
Thanksgiving-themed premiere episodes of fan-favorite series, including “Barefoot Contessa: Cook Like a Pro,” “Beat Bobby Flay,” “Chopped,” “Chopped Junior,” “Girl Meets Farm,” “Guy’s Grocery Games,” “Guy’s Ranch Kitchen,” “The Pioneer Woman,” “Trisha’s Southern Kitchen,” “Triple D Nation” and “Valerie’s Home Cooking,” will also air in November.
On Cooking Channel, host Carla Hall discovers outrageous Turkey Day treats in the primetime special “Thanksgiving Grubdown” on Monday, November 11th at 9pm ET/6pm PT. She gobbles ’til she wobbles on pumpkin pancakes piled high with a slice of cheesecake, reimagines Thanksgiving dinner as a giant sandwich and devours a 23-pound cake made with layers of holiday pies. Follow along on social using #ThanksgivingGrubdown.
For even more inspiration, fans will be able to use the Food Network Kitchen app to access 25 LIVE cooking classes each week, over 800 on-demand cooking classes, 3,000 instructional videos, 80,000 recipes, and more. Plus, beginning November 9th viewers can stream all-new episodes of “30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray” on Food Network Kitchen.
On digital and social, Food Network’s “Countdown to Thanksgiving” begins November 1st with brand-new content every day across platforms. Fans will get the best-of-the-best recipes and tips, expert demos, product recommendations, interactive Q&As throughout the month, plus the chance to win BIG with social giveaways. Fans will also have an exciting opportunity to have a direct line to experts in Food Network Kitchen to solve their biggest Turkey Day conundrums to make sure their feast is a success. Join the countdown on social media using #CountdowntoThanksgiving.
Visit Cooking Channel’s one-stop guide to Thanksgiving online, featuring everything needed to host the perfect holiday feast. From easy entertaining timesavers and a cornucopia of side dishes to the all-important turkey and something sweet for dessert, Cooking Channel has recipes, how-to videos and step-by-step tutorials to set users up for delicious success.
FOOD NETWORK (www.foodnetwork.com) is a unique lifestyle network, website and magazine that connects viewers to the power and joy of food. The network strives to be viewers’ best friend in food and is committed to leading by teaching, inspiring, empowering and entertaining through its talent and expertise. Food Network is distributed to nearly 100 million U.S. households and draws over 46 million unique web users monthly. Since launching in 2009, Food Network Magazine’s rate base has grown 13 times and is the No. 2 best-selling monthly magazine on the newsstand, with 13.5 million readers. Food Network is owned by Discovery, Inc., a global leader in real life entertainment spanning 220 countries and territories; the portfolio also includes Discovery Channel, HGTV, TLC, Investigation Discovery, and OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.
COOKING CHANNEL (www.cookingchanneltv.com) is an entertainment brand dedicated to today’s passionate food lover. For food people, by food people, Cooking Channel is the answer to a growing hunger for more content devoted to food and cooking in every dimension from global cuisines to international travel, history and unconventional how-to’s. Cooking Channel is owned by Discovery, Inc., a global leader in real life entertainment spanning 220 countries and territories; the portfolio also includes Discovery Channel, HGTV, TLC, Investigation Discovery, and OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.
Michael Symon, Carla Hall and Clinton Kelly of “The Chew” (Photo courtesy of ABC)
ABC has announced that it is canceling its food-oriented talk show “The Chew” to make way for a third hour of “Good Morning America” at 1 p.m. ET/PT. “The Chew,” which debuted in 2011, “will cease production at the end of this season but will continue to air as planned until September [2018] with new episodes airing in June,” according to an ABC press release.
“The Chew” began with five hosts: Michael Symon, Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly, Daphne Oz and Mario Batali. Oz left in August 2017 to pursue other opportunities. Batali was fired in December 2017, after he admitted to and made a public apology for accusations that he sexually harassed female employees and colleagues for several years. Oz and Batali were not replaced on “The Chew.”
In a press release, “The Chew” creator/executive producer Gordon Elliott issued this statement: “Before ‘The Chew,’ no one had attempted a talk/food hybrid. Our hosts Clinton, Carla and Michael and the staff created television history executing the show as well as they did for all these years. I know I speak for all of the people who work on the show when I say it was the best television we have ever had the privilege to produce.”
Apart from Gordon Ramsay’s shows on Fox, “The Chew” was one of the few food-oriented shows on a broadcast (not cable) network.
Symon posted this statement on his Facebook page: “As you may have heard by now we found out today this is our final season of The Chew … I Just want to say thank you to everyone who not only was involved with show but to all those who watched daily and allowed us to entertain you…it has been an amazing run and we are all looking forward to new fun things!…xoxo…MS”
Hall commented on her Twitter account: I am so grateful for all the good times and incredible friends I have made over the past seven years on @thechew. It has truly been an amazing ride. I am looking forward to new adventures! What’s next? Stay tuned! Onward and upward! #adventurefollows.”
Viewers had swift and overwhelming reactions to “The Chew” being cancelled, with most expressing anger or sadness on the Internet about the show’s cancellation. A small minority of people reacting on the Internet expressed happiness that “The Chew” was cancelled, but they are identifying themselves as soap-opera fans who are still bitter that “All My Children” was cancelled and replaced by “The Chew.” Fans of “The Chew” are extremely upset about “The Chew” getting cancelled, and say they won’t be watching the “Good Morning America” segment that will be replacing the show.
Clinton Kelly, Carla Hall and Michael Symon of “The Chew” (Photo by Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC)
“So disgusted and disappointed The Chew is being cancelled. I have been watching since the very first episode. I tape it everyday and see absolutely no reason why we need 3 hours of GMA. I love GMA but don’t need 3 hours of it. I hope the Food Network picks this show up.”
“Save the Chew… it’s the only daytime show I watch… I cannot believe it’s being cancelled for more news… I think we see enough negative stories in the morning and at night from the news… this was a great positive uplifting fun show and I learned a lot of new recipes too… I love the interviews w/ celebs cooking along side the chefs…”
“Just read the The Chew has been cancelled, yet The View is still on!! Very disappointing. I do not watch the 2 hours of GMA now so I definitely won’t be tuning in during this time slot.”
“I can not believe The Chew is cancelled. ABC execs have made a huge mistake here. This show has a great following and brings something different to daytime TV that no one else has. I DVR this show and look forward to watching every new episode. I will not be watching a THIRD hour of GMA. Absolutely ridiculous.”
“Shame on you ABC! We don’t need more news through the day, loved watching Clinton, Clara, and Michael. Hopefully, another station will pick them up.”
On Twitter:
“The Chew was a great show! The other 3 host had nothing to do with what Mario did. Who in the world needs another cornball hour of Good Morning America?”
“Boycott ABC. Shame on you for canceling The Chew! Nobody needs a 3rd hour of GMA.”
“I’m a ‘Good Morning America’ watcher, but not happy #TheChew has been canceled (despite strong ratings & sometimes outperforming “The View”) for a new afternoon version of @GMA! Unless #TJHolmes is hosting the 1pm version, this is a BAD idea!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPw7i9yUD34
UPDATE: “The Chew” aired its final episode on June 15, 2018. Here are some statistics that ABC provided about “The Chew”:
Seasons: 7
Episodes: 1,500
Audience members: 201,343
Recipes made: 6,630
Celebrity guests: 1,121
Crafts created: 228
Michael’s “5 in 5s”: 164
Carla’s desserts: 437
Emmys: In 2015, the co-hosts of “The Chew” won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host; and in 2016, “The Chew” won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show.
