The Food Court

Emeril Lagasse is at it again, flinging spices into his culinary creations with his signature “Bam,” ordering viewers to “wake up and pay attention,” and flirting with fans who take delight in his macho-man approach to Cajun cooking.

The “Two Fat Ladies” take over where he leaves off, trading one-liners in British accents and bypassing health rules by lopping heavy cream and lard on their already-fatty fare.

By serving up such personalities, the Food Network has transformed the subdued cooking show into ‘90s-style entertainment, replete with star chefs, a game show, celebrity interviews and even a program showing dog lovers how to prepare snacks for the family pooch.

By appealing to baby boomers’ sensibility for cooking, eating out and entertaining, network executives believe they have found the right ingredients to catapult into cable fame.

“Food for boomers is the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll of today,” said Heidi Diamond, the network’s senior vice president of marketing.

But like other cable players trying to build successful formats, the Food Network has yet to emerge as a major contender, analysts say. That’s why it’s ratcheting up its marketing, sponsoring major events and introducing programs that go beyond what the public might expect from a cooking show, one of the oldest genres on television.

Because viewers have increasing options to whet their TV appetites, the Food Network has had no choice but to go for the glitz. After launching in 1993 by relying on more traditional cooking-show formats, it realized recipes aren’t enough.

“The shows have to have some type of entertainment value,” said David Rosengarten, the host of two Food Network shows, who sometimes wears wild costumes to jazz up his otherwise proper image. “There has to be energy in the format.”

Amid its changing focus, the Food Network last year increased its subscribers by 57% from 1996. It’s now in about 36% of all cable television households.

But its Nielsen ratings are still low--only about 75,000 households tune in during any given prime-time minute. And although the network recently hit a milestone of 30 million subscribers, its audience pales next to the Discovery Channel, CNN and ESPN, each with more than 70 million subscribers.

Advertisers will consider networks reaching 30 million households. But only those that cross the 60-million mark are deemed “full-blown” players, said Kristian Magel, vice president of national broadcast at DeWitt Media in New York.

Said Andrew Johnson, a spokesman for cable company Tele-Communications Inc.: “You’ve got the ‘must carrys’ in the cable world, the ones the federal government requires you to carry. Then, you have the ‘gotta carrys’ like CNN, ESPN, Discovery and Nickelodeon. The Food Network hasn’t graduated into a ‘gotta carry.’ It’s still a special-interest niche.”

But subscriber interest is growing, said Gisselle Acevedo-Franco, a spokeswoman for MediaOne, which now offers the Food Network to most of its Southern California customers. (The Food Network is available in most Southern California communities through MediaOne and other local cable carriers.)

Blue-chip advertisers, such as American Express, Toyota, General Mills and Revlon, are using the network. Leading ad buyers say the network is an economical though limited way to reach upscale women ages 25 to 54.

“We’re using more and more of it,” said Bill Croasdale of Western International Media Corp., an ad-buying firm in Los Angeles. “And I think we’re going to see a continued growth in their subscriber base.”

The Food Network is majority-owned by E.W. Scripps, which owns the popular Home & Garden Television network. For the Food Network to become a ubiquitous part of the cable landscape, it must “make more noise,” Magel said. If viewers hear about the network, they’ll pressure their cable companies to offer it, which will boost viewership and lure more advertisers, he said.

One of the network’s most successful noisemakers is the gregarious Lagasse, whom fans mob at events and wait in long lines to see. He recently was satirized on “Saturday Night Live,” a sign that his antics are finding their way into popular culture.

On a recent live show, Lagasse whipped up a spicy kale soup as his audience oohed and aahed.

“I’m thinking of going outside to one of those hot-dog guys, taking a cart and making a fortune with this stuff on Fifth Avenue,” he quipped.

With a cast of such personalities as Lagasse, the “Two Fat Ladies” and Los Angeles chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, a.k.a. the “Too Hot Tamales,” the network thinks it now has star power it can market to the public.

Erica Gruen, Food Network’s chief executive officer, said the network’s catch phrase used to be “We’re really cooking.” But it was changed to “Full of Flavor” because the network does not want to appeal just to cooks.

“The network is now for everyone who loves to eat,” she said.

That includes men, who make up 40% of the audience.

“I think men have childhood memories of their family gathering in the kitchen, or maybe it’s a nostalgic thing with their mothers preparing meals for the family,” Diamond said. “I call it the edible complex.”

To reach a larger and more varied audience, the network has numerous events planned for this year. Its second-annual “Cooking Across America” tour will stop in 20 cities. During each stop, some of the network’s most popular chefs display their culinary talents, answer audience questions and offer samples to live audiences. Last month, 1,100 people attended the event in Newport Beach.

To play off Lagasse’s famous “Bam,” the network came up with “Bam Bam San Diego Jam” for last month’s Super Bowl. The promotion involved a sweepstakes in which the grand-prize winner received a trip to the Super Bowl and a pregame brunch with Lagasse.

This year, the network plans a sweepstakes in connection with a new show, “Mediterranean Mario.” Winners will get a Mediterranean cruise with chef Mario Batali.

The network’s Web site has become one of its key marketing tools. Not only can the network introduce new programming, tout its stars, display recipes and attract new viewers online, but it can sell T-shirts, aprons, cookbooks and spices.

“It’s a way for people to get bonded to the network,” Gruen said.

Still, some wonder whether the concept will hold public interest, or whether viewers eventually will tire of such narrowly focused programming.

The folks at the network contend it has a future as long as it offers shows that are both useful and entertaining. This could mean stand-up comedian chefs or a food-oriented sitcom.

“We’re playing around with lots of formats,” Gruen said. “I think we occupy one of the last great broad niches in cable. After all, food is one of the three basic necessities of life.”