Melissa d'Arabian On Her New Show

I was on a conference call earlier this week with Next Food Network Star winner Melissa d'Arabian (whose name I've seen with and without a capital D. I'm going crazy trying to decide which to use!) with a bunch of other bloggers and writers.

She seemed very exciting about her new show Ten Dollar Dinners ("I think people who aren't even on a budget are going to love the recipes that I've put together.") and wanted to assure everyone that she wasn't going to be making hotdogs to keep everything under $10 ("I think you're going to be really surprised by the recipes. [They're] well-rounded and have several components.")

Here's what I asked her...

Do you think you were presented fairly and accurately on The Next Food Network Star?
Just by the very nature of it, 44 minutes out of how many hundreds of hours of footage--you just can't put it all in there. You're not seeing all of it; you're not even seeing most of it. That being said, what you're seeing is just amazingly spot on. I am amazed how well it is edited and how the stories are brought to life.

I think the editing is very fair and very much captures the general story. Is there tons that happens that you don't see? Absolutely. Do I just meet a group of people and tell them my mom committed suicide? No, of course not. But I think people know that.


People sometimes criticize the show saying that the challenges don't really test what you'd need to be a Food Network personality. Over the course of taping your 6 episodes, did you rely on anything you learned from the crazy, fast-paced challenges in The Next Food Network Star?
Some of the challenges may not test exactly the environment you're going to be in as a Food Network star, but they test various characteristics. Do you need to be able to work outside of your favorite flavor profile? Of course you do. Absolutely. If I can't take flavors that I don't normally work with and taste them, adjust, and use my palate to create delicious, amazing food, then that's a problem.

The situations may not come up, but the skill that they're testing absolutely is relevant. The challenges--while fun to watch--are put together to test skills that you will need as the next Food Network star.

And I didn't ask this, but thought I'd include Melissa's answer to the question "What kind of show would you like to do with another contestant, if you had the chance?"
"I would love to parnter with Katie and do a series on making some really nutritious, breastfeeding-friendly recipes."

Hmm... what would you name a show like that?