The first cooking shows I ever watched were the ones that used to air on Saturday mornings or early afternoon on public television. There was the “Frugal Gourmet,” Jeff Smith; amiable Cajun Justin Wilson, and even Brother Domenic, a genuine monk who baked bread.

“It’s bread,” Brother Domenic would say, reassuringly, while demonstrating some new technique about which viewers might be unsure. “It’ll forgive you.”

Eventually, of course, the local cable TV company picked up the Food Network, and I could get cooking shows any day of the week. I was delighted. And the Food Network made it easier to cook along by giving instant access to all of their recipes online. Most of the public TV shows, which depended on cookbook sales for some of their revenue, would force you either to take notes or send in a self-addressed stamped envelope if you wanted that episode’s recipes in print form.

And I liked the personalities who were on Food Network at that time.

Today, I happened to catch a little of Sara Moulton‘s public TV show, “Sara’s Weeknight Meals,” on public TV. I always enjoyed Sara when she used to be on “Cooking Live” and “Sara’s Secrets” on Food Network, and it was nice to see her again. It sort of reminded me of how much Food Network has changed over the past few years, and not usually for the better.
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