Contest Announcement and Reason #91 Why I'll Never Have a Show on Food Network

Celebrity chef Tyler Florence, my neighbor (he lives in Mill Valley, just North of SF), and good friend (he has no idea who I am), just announced a video recipe contest sponsored by Macy's, called Macy's Keeps America Cooking.

The contest's theme is explained in the video below. I suggest watching it twice, since if you're like me, the first time I could only focus on trying to figure out what was the deal with that dude's accent. I'm hoping to partner with TF's people on future projects, so help a brother out - go enter the contest and tell'em Chef John from Food Wishes sent you.

As far as reason #91 for why I'll never have a show on food network, two words: demo tape. Every online cooking contest, reality cooking show audition, Food Network open call, et al., requires you send in some kind of demo tape, or video, so they can see you in "action."

But, not cooking action, they want to see personality, and lots of it. I think after watching the gentleman in the video sample below, you'll see where I'm going with this. Let's just say my style may be a bit subdued for the producers of these shows. Bam!

All kidding aside, I am a fan of Tyler, and his cooking style (hey, you think they just let anyone create menu items for Applebee's?), so I'm happy to help spread the word about this contest. The prizes are pretty sweet, including a trip to San Francisco! You can get all the specific info at the Macy's Keeps America Cooking contest website. Good Luck!