From Scratch
Inside the Food Network
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Narrated by:
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Julian Fleischer
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By:
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Allen Salkin
About this listen
Big personalities, high drama - the extraordinary behind-the-scenes story of the Food Network, now about to celebrate its 20th anniversary: the business, media, and cultural juggernaut that changed the way America thinks about food.
In October 1993, a tiny start-up called the Food Network debuted to little notice. Twenty years later, it is in 100 million homes, approaches a billion dollars a year in revenue, and features a galaxy of stars whose faces and names are as familiar to us as our own family's.
But what we don't know about them, and the people behind them, could fill a book.
Based upon extensive inside access, documents, and interviews with hundreds of executives, stars, and employees all up and down the ladder, Allen Salkin's book is an exhilarating roller-coaster ride from chaos to conquest (and sometimes back). As Salkin takes us inside the conference rooms, studios, homes, restaurants, and after-hours meetings, we see a salty Julia Child lording it over the early network performers; a fragile Emeril Lagasse staggering from the sudden public shock of cancellation; a very green Rachael Ray nearly burning down the set on her first day; a torn Tyler Florence accepting the Applebee's job he knows he can't refuse, but with a chill running down his spine; and a determined Bobby Flay reinventing himself once again to survive.
Paula Deen, Tom Colicchio, Anthony Bourdain, Mario Batali, Jamie Oliver, Martha Stewart, Guy Fieri, Cat Cora: Salkin illuminates the people we thought we knew, and the ones we never knew about, in this irresistible story of the intersection between business, television, pop culture, food - and us.
©2013 Allen Salkin (P)2013 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Dishy, behind-the-scenes....it’s salacious enough to keep you swinging from one good old-fashioned bootstrap story to the next.” (New York Times Book Review)
“Allen Salkin shows how the sausage really gets made at the Food Network in From Scratch, a behind-the-scenes history liberally spiced with gossip and unsavory tidbits.” (Entertainment Weekly)
“In From Scratch: Inside the Food Network, Allen Salkin guides readers through the history of the network, from its start in the 1990s to today. Along the way, Salkin serves up plenty of stories that will surprise and entertain.... For Food Network addicts hungry to know more about the network, Salkin’s book will hit the spot.” (Associated Press)
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Story
When the first episode aired on Nov. 10, 1969, Sesame Street revolutionized the way education was presented to children on television. It has since become the longest-running children's show in history, and today reaches 8 million pre-schoolers on 350 PBS stations and airs in 120 countries. Street Gang is the compelling and often comical story of the creation and history of this media masterpiece and pop culture landmark.
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An important subject, but hardly gripping
- By Scott T. Hards on 09-24-10
By: Michael Davis
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Working Together
- Why Great Partnerships Succeed
- By: Michael D. Eisner, Aaron R. Cohen
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson, Michael D. Eisner (introduction and epilogue)
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Dig deep and you will find the most compelling argument for working together: Happiness. In business there are always unique individual achievers, but pull down the veil and you'll often find someone alongside them. Michael Eisner does just that in Working Together. Using his own collaboration with Frank Wells at Disney as a launching point for examining other famously successful partnerships, Eisner offers us an intimate and deeply personal look at some of the most rewarding business partnerships.
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Interesting to see what all partners had in common
- By Amazon Customer on 06-01-13
By: Michael D. Eisner, and others
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Top of the Rock
- Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV
- By: Warren Littlefield, T. R. Pearson
- Narrated by: Bob Balaban
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Warren Littlefield was the NBC President of Entertainment who oversaw the Peacock Network’s rise from also-ran to a division that generated a billion dollars in profits. In this fast-paced and exceptionally entertaining oral history, Littlefield and NBC luminaries including Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Kelsey Grammer, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, Julianna Marguiles, Anthony Edwards, Noah Wylie, Debra Messing, Jack Welch, Jimmy Burrows, Helen Hunt, and Dick Wolf vividly recapture the incredible era of Must See TV.
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Nostalgic Look at NBC in the 90's
- By Jill on 10-10-12
By: Warren Littlefield, and others
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Life, on the Line
- A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat
- By: Grant Achatz, Nick Kokonas
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2007 chef Grant Achatz seemingly had it made. He had been named one of the best new chefs in America by Food & Wine in 2002, received the James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef of the Year Award in 2003, and in 2005 he and Nick Kokonas opened the conceptually radical restaurant Alinea, which was named Best Restaurant in America by Gourmet magazine. Then, Achatz was diagnosed with stage IV squamous cell carcinoma - tongue cancer.
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A Tasteless World?
- By Exec. Chef 'Special K' on 03-18-14
By: Grant Achatz, and others
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Ladies Who Punch
- The Explosive Inside Story of "The View"
- By: Ramin Setoodeh
- Narrated by: Ramin Setoodeh
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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When Barbara Walters launched The View, network executives told her that hosting it would tarnish her reputation. Instead, within 10 years, she’d revolutionized morning TV and made household names of her cohosts: Joy Behar, Star Jones, Meredith Vieira, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. But the daily chat fest didn’t just comment on the news. It became the news. And the headlines barely scratched the surface. Based on unprecedented access, award-winning journalist Ramin Setoodeh takes you backstage where the stars really spoke their minds.
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Please never let this author narrate again! Ever!
- By Sean McCormack on 04-05-19
By: Ramin Setoodeh
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They Call Me Supermensch
- A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food, and Rock'n'Roll
- By: Shep Gordon
- Narrated by: Shep Gordon
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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In the course of his legendary career as a manager, an agent, and a producer, Shep Gordon has worked with and befriended some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, from Alice Cooper to Bette Davis, Raquel Welch to Groucho Marx, Blondie to Jimi Hendrix, Sylvester Stallone to Salvador Dali, Luther Vandross to Teddy Pendergrass. He is also credited with inventing the "celebrity chef" and has worked with Nobu Matsuhisa, Emeril Lagasse, Wolfgang Puck, Roger Vergé, and many others.
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It's like he's never seen the words before
- By Joe F. on 11-01-17
By: Shep Gordon
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Caddyshack
- The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story
- By: Chris Nashawaty
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Caddyshack is one of the most beloved comedies of all time, a classic snobs vs. slobs story of working-class kids and the white-collar buffoons that make them haul their golf bags in the hot summer sun. It has sex, drugs, and one very memorable candy bar, but the movie we all know and love didn't start out that way, and everyone who made it certainly didn't have the word classic in mind as the cameras were rolling.
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Not Really About Caddyshack Until Hour 5
- By William M. on 07-01-18
By: Chris Nashawaty
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Ferran
- The Inside Story of El Bulli and the Man Who Reinvented Food
- By: Colman Andrews
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In his lively, unprecedented close-up portrait of Ferran Adrià, award-winning food writer Colman Andrews traces this groundbreaking chef’s rise from resort hotel dishwasher to culinary deity, and the evolution of El Bulli from a German-owned beach bar into the establishment voted annually by an international jury to be “the world’s best restaurant”.
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recasting needed
- By Marco I on 09-09-18
By: Colman Andrews
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Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted
- And All the Brilliant Minds Who Made the Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic
- By: Jennifer Armstrong
- Narrated by: Amy Landon
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Mary Tyler Moore made her name as Dick Van Dyke's wife on the eponymous show; she was a cute, unassuming housewife that audiences loved. But when screenwriters James Brooks and Allan Burnes dreamed up an edgy show about a divorced woman with a career, network executives replied: "Americans won't watch television about New York City, divorcées, men with mustaches, or Jews." But Moore and her team were committed, and when the show finally aired, in spite of tepid reviews, fans loved it.
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An Interesting Story That Never Quite Gets Told
- By S. Blythe on 07-26-13
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The Simpsons
- An Uncensored, Unauthorized History
- By: John Ortved
- Narrated by: John Allen Nelson, Justine Eyre
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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John Ortved's oral history is the first-ever look behind the scenes at the creation and day-to-day running of the television phenomenon known as The Simpsons, as told by many of the people who produce it.
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Great Content, Awful Reading
- By JH Easton on 03-13-11
By: John Ortved
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Homey Don't Play That!
- The Story of In Living Color and the Black Comedy Revolution
- By: David Peisner
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Few television shows revolutionized comedy as profoundly or have had such an enormous and continued impact on our culture as In Living Color. Inspired by Richard Pryor, Carol Burnett, and Eddie Murphy, Keenen Ivory Wayans created a television series unlike any that had come before it. In Living Color shaped American culture in ways both seen and unseen. Now, Homey Don't Play That! reveals the complete, captivating story of how In Living Color overcame enormous odds to become a major, zeitgeist-seizing hit.
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Wow, that sucked......
- By Just W on 10-11-18
By: David Peisner
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Starmaker
- Life as a Hollywood Publicist with Farrah, The Rat Pack, & 600 More Stars Who Fired Me
- By: Jay Bernstein
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Revealingly candid, this Hollywood memoir is the story of Jay Bernstein, an entertainment industry fixture who helped launch and sustain the careers of many celebrities including Farrah Fawcett and Suzanne Somers. From his childhood in Oklahoma City and his first job in a Hollywood mail room to the ownership of his own public relations firm and his work as a television producer, Bernstein’s life is chronicled in his own words.
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Very Entertaining
- By patrick on 09-27-15
By: Jay Bernstein
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Can I Go Now?
- The Life of Sue Mengers, Hollywood's First Superagent
- By: Brian Kellow
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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A lively and colorful biography of Hollywood's first superagent - one of the most outrageous showbiz characters of the 1960s and 1970s, whose clients included Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, Faye Dunaway, Michael Caine, and Candice Bergen. Before Sue Mengers hit the scene in the mid-1960s, talent agents remained quietly in the background. But staying in the background was not possible for Mengers.
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A little long.
- By Doris on 11-29-15
By: Brian Kellow
What listeners say about From Scratch
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Drew
- 10-17-22
Entertaining and interesting story
Was really fun to hear behind the scenes of a world we’ve all watched for so long
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- A.M.
- 11-18-16
I laughed. I cried. I got hungry... .
Great book. Well written. Smart, funny, literate. Like the network he writes about, this book has something for just about everyone.
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- Moseylou
- 06-17-21
food Network history lesson with some audio flare
this definitely reads more like a history than a story but it was fun to see all the characters and hear where they came from what they did at the beginning the middle and the end. I feel like the narrator did an excellent job reading the story aloud and adding the exact amount of flare to be entertaining.
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- cheryl
- 07-20-14
More Business Related Than I Thought
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
Parts of this were a fun listen parts of this were dry and boring. Overall ok.
What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)
The last part of the book had more to do with food stars so it was better.
Which character – as performed by Julian Fleischer – was your favorite?
Bobby Flay & Rachel Ray
Do you think From Scratch needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
No I don't think there should be more to say.
Any additional comments?
This one was just ok for me.
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- danny lawrence
- 10-12-13
Entertaining look at The Food Network
A good listen if you are interested in the Food Network or television in general. From its beginnings as an idea to start a cable network of some kind to make some money, to its present day presence in the news this book examines the triumphs and pitfalls encountered during the rise to the top of the food chain by the Food Network.
Emeril, Bobby Flay, Rachel Ray, Paula Deen and more make their appearances showing how TVFN became what it is today.
Entertaining, informative and a good narration from Julian Fleischer all combine for a good listen
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1 person found this helpful
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- Juan Carrillo
- 08-25-15
Could be tastier
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
no not really, it takes awhile to get to the meat of the story and the bouncing back and forth inregards to the time line make it at times very hard to follow
Would you recommend From Scratch to your friends? Why or why not?
no not really, it takes awhile to get to the meat of the story and the bouncing back and forth inregards to the time line make it at times very hard to follow
Which character – as performed by Julian Fleischer – was your favorite?
none
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
no
Any additional comments?
I wish the book would have had more juice in the story the back story at times seeemed soooo long not getting to the point
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- Christopher
- 06-05-15
Starts out slow but stick with it and you are rewarded
It started out very slow and I almost gave up but by the time you're at a quarter of the way through it pays for itself this was an amazing book
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- P. Hudson
- 04-23-14
Very Interesting
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
If you are a fan of the Food Network - this will be an interesting listen. Lots of stories of who was involved throughout the two-decade long life of the network. Interesting details on the stories of the major players within the Food Network.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Don't have a 'favorite'.
What does Julian Fleischer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Clearly narrated. I don't read many books since I have Audible.
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- Vicki Lynn
- 03-31-18
Very interesting!
I really enjoyed hearing all of the behind the scenes stories.
My only critique is that it was not told in chronological order. It was a lot to keep up with and would jump back and forth by several years throughout the book.
The narrator did an excellent job.
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- Dana M Cooper
- 03-06-14
Great performance!
What did you love best about From Scratch?
Julian Fleisher's performance of this book was really special. When reading quotes from well known personalities, he didn't do an impression, but he put just enough of the speaker in his voice so that you could hear their voice coming through. It was really well done.
What was one of the most memorable moments of From Scratch?
As someone who watched a lot of Food Network in the mid to late 90s, it was fascinating to learn about how all those chefs, of whom I have such fond memories, found their way to the network. It was also great to hear about the network in its infancy, the ups and downs, and how it got to where it is today. Some of the technical stuff about the business side of cable channels was slightly dull, but the rest of the book easily made up for that.
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