Is the Food Network Planning a Food Wars Copycat Show?

The Travel Channel's Food Wars has only been on the air for a few weeks now, but it appears that it has already spawned an imitator. Word has been trickling through a few Detroit-area blogs that Food Network Star (and burger bash king) Michael Symon was in town last weekend shooting a pilot for a show called "Food Feud" for the FN. Filming took place at two competing hot dog stands: Lafayette's and American Coney Island (which are adjacent to eachother). Symon even posted a call for audience participants on his resaurant's Facebook page:

"Hello Everyone! Join Mike Symon and the Food Network Friday March 19th from 2:30-4:30 if front of Coney Island on the corner of michigan Ave and Griswold Ave. Audience participation a must! free hotdogs for the first 150 people. Mike's filiming a pilot for his new show called Food Feud, come support Detroit in a positive light!"

One blogger who was dining at Symon's restaurant, Roast, accidentally took part in the taping of the show. Her description of the events:

"Symon got behind the bar and asked if anyone in the crowd didn’t want to be filmed. He then told us that in about 15 minutes coney dogs from American and Lafayette Coney Islands would be delivered and we were all going to do a blind taste test. On film."

Then, once the dogs arrived:

"one of each was given to everyone. The dogs simply had a red or blue toothpick stuck on them to denote which establishment they came from. Symon went around with the camera crew and filmed each patron eating his or her coney. He asked if you were loyal to either American or Lafayette and then you blindly picked the better coney."

So, yes, basically the show sounds exactly like Food Wars. This is a pilot after all, and there's no saying whether or not the Food Network will pick it up. But, the popularity of Top Chef certainly opened the door for a bunch of shamless cooking-competition copycats, so maybe the Food network will adopt the same logic to the Food Wars-style single menu-item competition format.

A video of the Taping from Detroit Moxie is below (warning: the clip features cheesy Star Wars editing effects):

·Detroit Coney Islands: Wars and Feuds [Detroit Moxie]

Food Feud Hot Dog Stands

118 W Lafayette Blvd Detroit, MI 48226