An Open Letter to the Food Network and Travel Channel – Now to Us (by Tammy Fuller)

I have been alarmed for sometime at the “food as entertainment and competition” industry.

Food is in short supply around our globe, and we have a responsibility to make sure all have some rather than some having all. I often wonder what it appears as… to be in a third world nation and to, perhaps, catch a glimpse of the food/travel channels, preparing rich/slimming, delicious/bizarre, small-portioned/gut-busting meals. To see a man, at one sitting, eat food that would feed a small village, often leaves me, excuse the pun, empty, on behalf of America and our vast freedom to choose to eat anything, anytime, anywhere. Then I remind myself that hunger is alive and rampant in our own nation, and I don’t have to imagine someone in a third world nation catching these shows… there are some in my own city that would grimmace at the gluttony paraded as entertainment and “good.”

This is a letter I sent to both the Food Network and the Travel Channel:
(Yes, I am just crazy enough (a fool for Christ) to think that I might’ve been heard at least a teeny bit.)

“It has recently begun to stir in me an increased awareness of food as entertainment, both on your network and the Travel Channel. I would like to submit a show idea of which I would love to support and see. Why not produce a show highlighting the need of the hungry around the world and the organizations feeding the poor and hungry?? At the end of the segment, you could feature contact information for people to participate in giving or volunteering. It would even be great to have regular show hosts be the ones highlighting the various organizations and traveling to the locales. Why not have a full day of programming dedicated to the cause?? You could call it ‘Food Network Cares’. You profit so highly off of your shows, products, and celebrity endorsements, why not use some air time to be proactive for the communities around the world?? Thank you for your time, Tammy Fuller”

So, to us. Let’s also do our parts to remember the hungry in our towns and around the world. While I enjoy cooking and entertaining, I cannot view food as entertainment nor sport. It is sustenance and not often an option for some around the world. Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
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Tammy Fuller is a youth leader in church and community. Inspired by the radical likes of Claiborne and Campolo, she is an advocate for peace, fair labor practices, and looking for ways to reach the marginalized in the marketplace of daily life. A wife and a mother, Tammy’s first loyalty is there. Find her on Facebook.