The Best TV Shows on Food Network

Chef Jamie Oliver invites people to his flat, where he prepares a meal, sometimes for a special occasion, and sometimes just to share his cuisine. Each episode frequently includes footage of him shopping for a particular ingredient - and riding around London on a scooter.

In an atmosphere as inviting as her recipes, Sandra Lee, author of the best-selling cookbook Semi-Homemade Cooking, shares her techniques for combining fresh ingredients with specially selected store-bought items. The results: mouthwatering meals and desserts, prepared in minutes, that taste like they were made from scratch. Now you can see why consumers, viewers and celebrities from Katie Couric to Nathan Lane have made Sandra Lee one of America's most sought-after culinary experts!

Host Alton Brown explores the origins of ingredients, decodes culinary customs and presents food and equipment trends. Punctuated by unusual interludes, simple preparations and unconventional discussions, he'll bring you food in its finest and funniest form.

Giada De Laurentiis lets her hair down as she demonstrates her love for cooking and entertaining California-style in this disarmingly laid-back show that allows De Laurentiis to venture far afield from her usual Italian culinary fare.

Paula's Home Cooking is a Food Network show hosted by Paula Deen. Deen's primary culinary focus was Southern cuisine and familiar comfort food that is popular with Americans. In the show, classic dishes such as pot roast, fried okra, fried chicken, and pecan pie were the norm, and overly complicated or eccentric recipes were usually eschewed. Dishes that are flavorful and familiar were spotlighted, although the fat content and calorie count of the meals were often very high. Paula also showed off vignettes of Savannah, Georgia, where she co-owns with her sons Jamie and Bobby, The Lady & Sons. Deen's popularity, spurred by the show, led to a small role in the feature film Elizabethtown.

Guy Fieri invites some of his heavy-hitter chef friends over for a spontaneous cook-off, where everyone comes up with big flavors and tasty dishes that can be made in anyone's kitchen.

Iron Chef America: The Series is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's Iron Chef, and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed Iron Chef USA. The show is produced by Food Network, which also carried a dubbed version of the original Iron Chef. Like the original Japanese program, the program is a culinary game show. In each episode, a new challenger chef competes against one of the resident "Iron Chefs" in a one-hour cooking competition based on a secret ingredient or ingredients, and sometimes theme. The show is presented as a successor to the original Iron Chef, as opposed to being a remake. The Chairman is portrayed by actor and martial artist Mark Dacascos, who is introduced as the nephew of the original Japanese chairman Takeshi Kaga. The commentary is provided solely by Alton Brown, & Kevin Brauch is the floor reporter. The music is written by composer Craig Marks, who released the soundtrack titled "Iron Chef America & The Next Iron Chef" by the end of 2010. In addition, regular ICA judge and Chopped host Ted Allen provided additional floor commentary for two special battles: Battle First Thanksgiving and Battle White House Produce.

Two talented chefs go head-to-head for the chance to Beat Bobby Flay. To get to Bobby the chefs must first face off against each other, creating a spectacular dish with a secret ingredient of Bobby's choice. Judges Alex Guarnaschelli and Jeff Mauro know Bobby's strengths and his weaknesses. Their goal: Pick the chef who has the skills to take down Bobby Flay in his own arena. The winning chef gets to challenge Bobby with his or her surprise signature dish. If Bobby goes down, the winner can tell the world, "I beat Bobby Flay!"

A high energy, fast paced cooking competition that challenges four up-and-coming chefs to turn a selection of everyday ingredients into an extraordinary three-course meal. After each course, a contestant gets “chopped” by our panel of esteemed culinary luminaries until the last man or woman left standing claims victory.

Essence of Emeril is a Food Network show hosted by chef Emeril Lagasse. In each episode, Emeril shares with his viewers some of his 'kicked-up' recipes, similar to those on Emeril Live, but with a far calmer demeanor and quieter tone, and usually without the trademark apron that has become his Emeril Live uniform starting with the 2000 season.

12 to 16 contestants with poor cooking skills are taken through an eight-week culinary boot camp, to earn a cash prize of $25,000. The recruits are trained on the various basic cooking techniques including: baking, knife skills, temperature, seasoning and preparation. The final challenge is to cook a restaurant quality three-course meal for three food critics.

Just how far is a chef willing to go to win a cooking competition? Cutthroat Kitchen hands four chefs each $25,000 and the opportunity to spend that money on helping themselves or sabotaging their competitors. Ingredients will be thieved, utensils destroyed and valuable time on the clock lost when the chefs compete to cook delicious dishes while also having to outplot the competition. With Alton Brown as the devilish provocateur, nothing is out of bounds when money changes hands and we see just how far chefs will go to ensure they have the winning dish.

The Great Food Truck Race is a reality television series, that originally aired on August 15, 2010, on Food Network, with Tyler Florence as the host. It features competing food trucks. The fourth season premiered on August 18, 2013.

Paula's Best Dishes is a cooking show hosted by Paula Deen on Food Network On June 21, 2013, the Food Network announced that they would not renew Deen's contract due to controversy surrounding Deen's use of a racial slur and racist jokes in her restaurant, effectively cancelling the series.

Guy Fieri sends four talented chefs running through the aisles in a high stakes, high skills, grocery store cooking competition. The chefs are hit by real-world challenges like finding workarounds when all the essential ingredients are suddenly "out-of-stock" or having to create a masterpiece when you can only cook with "5 items or less" or on a $10 budget. In the end, the food does the talking, as the last chef standing has the chance to make some serious dough!

Kick it up to notches unknown with Emeril Live. In front of a live audience, Emeril Lagasse--a master chef and owner of New Orleans' most talked-about restaurants--demonstrates gourmet cooking, with a bam!

Spend a fun and food-filled morning in The Kitchen with hosts Sunny Anderson, Katie Lee, Jeff Mauro, Marcela Valladolid, and Geoffrey Zakarian. From simple supper ideas, food trend discussions, and family meal tips to trivia games and viewer questions, they'll cover all things fun in food.

Bobby Flay pulls out all the stops and delivers a high-impact cooking series that takes outdoor grilling to a whole new level! Surrounded by a sea of grills and abundant, flavor-packed ingredients from around the world, quintessential grill master Bobby Flay transforms a backyard into a Mecca of barbecue deliciousness. In Bobby Flay's Barbecue Addiction, the grilling maestro steps up his game--from charcoal, to smoke, to the global Q--and proves why he's truly addicted to barbecue!

Trisha Yearwood shares some of her favorite recipes and puts together meals with friends and family.