Art Smith may not have been the winning chef on Top Chef Masters, but he was the best at bringing the drama, associating food with emotions and generally oversharing. (As befits a guy who used to be Oprah’s chef.) Also, he specialized in the kind of down-home food that people like to eat, and to ogle on TV.
So it makes sense that he would parlay his Masters experience into his own show, one that focuses on comfort food and whose very titled suggests thinly veiled psychodrama. TLC has ordered eight episodes of Craving Comfort with Art Smith, in which the host will find the personal stories behind the fat-, salt- and sugar-laden yummies that we use to numb the hurt deep, deep within.
Read the excerpts from the release after the jump, while I go and stress-binge:
TLC today announced that it has ordered the new series CRAVING COMFORT (wt), which explores the obsessions, triumphs, and secrets behind some of America’s favorite comfort foods. The series is produced by True Entertainment, and has already begun shooting. TLC has ordered eight half-hour episodes.
Hosted by chef Art Smith, each episode of CRAVING COMFORT will travel the country, exploring variations of the simple, sumptuous dishes that everyone craves. Not just a cooking series, CRAVING COMFORT is about the experience shared with favorite foods, and the stories they embody. Each episode will focus on one specific comfort food – from fried chicken to apple pie – and uncovers three different tales that reveal the passion behind the plate.
[snip]
n addition to hosting CRAVING COMFORT, Art continues his role as specialty chef for many of Oprah Winfrey’s most talked-about events, and runs his restaurant, Table Fifty-Two, serving locally-sourced and seasonal home cooking inspired by his family’s farm on the Florida-Georgia border. He also recently opened the Washington DC-based restaurant Art and Soul.
The chef devotes much time to community service through his nonprofit organization Common Threads that teaches low-income children to cook wholesome and affordable meals as a way to prevent childhood obesity and reverse the trend of generations of non-cookers, while celebrating the things people all over the world have in common.
CRAVING COMFORT adds to TLC’s slate of food programming, joining fan-favorite CAKE BOSS, currently airing its second season, ULTIMATE CAKE OFF, currently in production on its second season, and the upcoming BBQ PITMASTERS, which premieres December 3.
