'Fat Chef': Upcoming Food Network Show Explores The Connection Between Cooking And Obesity

There's always a fine line between loving food and being addicted to it. "Fat Chef," a new Food Network six-episode show that premieres Thursday, January 26 at 10pm, explores chefs that have gone over that line. Each episode features two chefs working with a health consultant to attempt to defeat their abusive relationship with food. It sounds like heavy stuff -- it's not easy being unhealthily addicted to the one thing that also happens to be the central focus of your career.

In the preview clip from the first episode below, pastry chef Michael Mignano is a 36-year-old, morbidly obese (around 500 pounds) pastry chef from Long Island who knows that he needs to change his life. His father died at age 15, which Mignano admitted really "sucked." Mignano, who has two young sons, doesn't want the same thing to happen to him and his family.

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Comments

[christyrae75]

07:50 PM on 01/23/2012

Fat Chef brought to you by Michelle Obama.

[Veronix1617]

11:27 PM on 01/19/2012

My son refuses to watch shows like this one and The Biggest Loser. He thinks they exploit people. If I am going to watch a chef show, I would like to learn how to cook something.

[hdohighdesertobserver]

09:14 PM on 01/19/2012

I am so sick of the programming on Food Network.

[rikster]

07:48 PM on 01/18/2012

is he going to be shilling for a diabetic Pharma company too...?

[bmwracer]

09:38 AM on 01/19/2012

The entire show is probably funded by Big Pharma.

[bmwracer]

03:45 PM on 01/18/2012

First guest: Paula Deen.

And sponsored by her pharmaceutical company.

[Karl Wilder]

12:07 PM on 01/18/2012

I am in the industry and still enjoy a good meal, but never on the days I work. After cooking all day the last thing I want is food. I can rarely stomach more than a salad, but on my days off...another story. I am thin and fit and no matter how long the day I get to the gym daily.

[JScott]

10:41 AM on 01/18/2012

Well they did have a 'Two Fat Ladies' UK cooking show, and one of them has died since it ended. So this is the post mortem?

[screwedrus]

10:12 AM on 01/18/2012

His father was only 15 when he died? Nice editing.

[HappyBrit]

09:23 AM on 01/18/2012

I don't trust morbidly obese people around food.

[farmilyman]

05:49 AM on 01/18/2012

If a chef is fat they know very little about the science of food.

[Carrick]

11:07 AM on 01/18/2012

I don't think that's true. They may know the science, but they just don't care.

[ashleyhalstead]

02:00 AM on 01/18/2012

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[blackjacki2]

01:37 AM on 01/18/2012

I doubt obesity is a bigger problem among cooking professionals than in any other profession. Usually its the lack of cooking that gets people into trouble.

[JediChef13]

01:18 AM on 01/18/2012

Everytime, and I mean EVERYTIME, some overwieght cook gets hired at a restaurant I work at, they are ALWAYS the weakest link on the line, can't keep up, can't kneel down 150+ times a night, can't run to the dish-pit or the walk-in and yet each one will tell you all about culinary school and how they're gonna be the next sous-chef or open up their own joint. Being a line cook, sous-chef or chef require 10 to 12 hour days, on your feet all day, multiple trips to the walk-in, crouching down into low-boys, during a dinner service of 250-300 seats you'll put up close to 600-700 plates a night. It is a PHYSICAL job and is performed by a select few that can deal with the brutal hours, thankless tasks and s#!tty pay. You do it because you LOVE IT! Sure you love food, but if you've ever worked in (or still do) a REAL restaurant (not some bogus chain) you know exactly what I'm talking about here. Most of us are deadly thin, sleep minimal hours and drink copious amounts of alcohol (or enjoy other illicit substances) When you are cooking all day, smelling all of that food (possibly recovering from the night before) the last thing you want to do is sit down (you NEVER sit down) and eat. Not an opinion, just the truth, from an insider.

[skraeling]

01:31 AM on 01/19/2012

yeah, but who goes to Denny's anymore?

[fuzzynormal]

01:04 AM on 01/18/2012

That's an impressive dad, getting some action as a youngster before he "died at age 15."

Way too young to pass away though. How old was dad's chef-son to remember that? 3? Does that mean his dad was sexually active at 11?

[Robyn Singleton]

10:51 AM on 01/18/2012

Lol. HP needs to get it together and get an editor or proofreader. Something!!

[French Toast]

11:08 PM on 01/17/2012

Why do I care if a chef is fat? I don't. God forbid you make shows about food.