Just when our nation is experiencing a major fat attack, millions of viewers tune in to food-focused television shows. There may be some irony in this phenomenon. Think about it. In fact, there is a show called “Man vs. Food” in which a rather fat individual seeks to eat as much as he can at a variety of places across the country. This show plays even as the Centers for Disease Control issues a wake-up call on the obesity epidemic and movies like forks over knives present the scientific evidence that our diets are killing us. Unfortunately, Michael Pollan (The omnivore’s dilemma) has, in all likelihood, a smaller following than Adam Richman, the host of “Man Versus Food.” There isn’t much political correctness in food shows.

Teachers can turn food crazes into effective lesson plans with assignments students won’t object to. Students can learn something, exercise their writing skills, and possibly develop some career interests while being entertained by shows like “Iron Chef,” “Chopped,” “No Reservations,” “Restaurant Impossible,” or “Diners, Drive-Ins, and dives”.

I attempted such an assignment in both a freshman and a senior class last year. Children’s opinions about which shows are the best are strong; their loyalties are deeply established and they have no problem following story lines and characterizations of various personalities. They are attentive to the nature of the competition and become adept at predicting which judge will appreciate a particular chef and which of the prepared meals will win praise. They learn about spices, herbs, and how to select a particular ingredient for a particular recipe or substitute one for another when the occasion calls for some creativity.

Young people who watch these food shows quickly become food critics, even without having the opportunity to try the exotic foods prepared. They even become aware of the metaphorical value of what these shows call “presentation.” I’ve had kids talk about poor handwriting in terms of weak presentation and job interviews in terms of presenting yourself as a worthy candidate for the job. Hmmmm. What could this mean?

It means that teachers can use cooking shows as teaching tools in their ELA lesson plans. I created a worksheet that I distributed to my students asking them to identify elements similar to those found in literature, such as conflict, complication, and resolution, and to rate the show for its pacing, drama, suspense, emotional appeal, and themes. Extra credit, I said, when I started using the worksheet. Soon enough, virtually every kid was writing essays, critiques, and even formatting their own shows with their age-based themes. Some children created a program based on veganism in which they suggested using live animals to increase the element of compassion that is so important to people who refuse to participate in killing animals for food. Homework was no longer for extra credit, but an important part of my effort to meet standards and exercise writing skills.

Some children even prepared their own shows. One was in making fried bread. The students were reading the Sherman Alexie novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and they decided to have a fried bread contest. Everyone loved it, although some of the results were better used as frisbees than food. The judges played their roles beautifully and the reviews written by the audience, her classmates, were glowing. With the right lesson plan, education can often be entertaining.