‘Mind of a Chef’ and ‘A Chef’s Life’ Lead Food TV Emmy Nominations

Facebook Watch, the new streaming platform from embattled social media behemoth Facebook, has its first Emmy nominations thanks to Mind of a Chef. The most recent season of the show, which starred Mission Chinese chef and owner Danny Bowien, was Facebook Watch’s first big programming splash and is nominated for three daytime Emmys.

Mind of a Chef is up for Outstanding Culinary Program and Outstanding Directing in a Single Camera Lifestyle/Culinary/Travel or Educational and Informational Program. Bowien is up for Outstanding Culinary Host. (Though the nominations represent the first for Facebook Watch, the currently beleaguered social media platform received three nominations last year for programming on its Facebook Live hub.)

Elsewhere, food-TV favorites like Giada De Laurentiis, Guy Fieri, and Vivian Howard also received nominations; the latter for her PBS show A Chef’s Life. The full rundown of food television nominations, announced yesterday by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, is as follows:

Outstanding Culinary Program

• A Chef’s Life, PBS
• Giada Entertains, Food Network
• Lidia’s Kitchen, PBS
• Mind of a Chef, Facebook Watch
• Valerie’s Home Cooking, Food Network

Outstanding Culinary Host

• Vivian Howard (A Chef’s Life), PBS
• Giada De Laurentiis (Giada Entertains), Food Network
• Guy Fieri (Guy’s Ranch Kitchen), Food Network
• Lidia Bastianich (Lidia’s Kitchen), PBS
• Danny Bowien (Mind of a Chef), Facebook Watch

Outstanding Directing in a Single Camera Lifestyle/Culinary/Travel or Educational and Informational Program

• Ask This Old House, PBS
• A Chef’s Life, PBS
• Family Ingredients, PBS
• Giada’s Holiday Handbook, Food Network
• Mind of a Chef, Facebook Watch
• Renovation Realities: Ben & Ginger, DIY Network

Outstanding Directing in Multi Camera Lifestyle/Culinary or Educational and Informational Program

• Furze World Wonders, YouTube RED
• The Kitchen, Food Network
• Milk Street, PBS
• Nick Stellino Storyteller in the Kitchen, PBS
• Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, Food Network

Outstanding Single Camera Editing

• 1st Look, NBC
• Cop and a Half: New Recruit, Netflix
• Free Rein, Netflix
• Giada In Italy, Food Network
• Scars of Nanking, A&E

Outstanding Multiple Camera Editing

• Crime Watch Daily With Chris Hansen, syndicated
• The Ellen DeGeneres Show, syndicated
• Roman Atwood’s Day Dreams, YouTube RED
• Sesame Street, HBO
• Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, Food Network

Outstanding Talk Show Informative

• The Chew, ABC
• The Dr. Oz Show, syndicated
• Megyn Kelly Today, NBC
• Larry King Now, Ora TV
• Steve Harvey, syndicated

The Chew, ABC’s food-talk mashup, is nominated for Outstanding Talk Show Informative despite the fact that disgraced celebrity chef Mario Batali served as one of its hosts until December 2017. ABC pulled Batali off the air and released a statement on his sexual misconduct allegations before officially firing him three days later. Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly, and Michael Symon remain as hosts.

Winners will be announced during the Daytime Emmy Awards at the Pasadena (California) Civic Auditorium on Sunday, April 29.

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