‘It’s not about cooking and learning’

Actress and former Food Network star Valerie Bertinelli is not happy with the current state of the cable channel.

The “Valerie’s Home Cooking” host took to Threads to express her displeasure, writing, “I fell in love with Food Network two decades ago because of all the amazing ITK (in the kitchen) shows. 30 minute meals, Ina, Giada…the list goes on.”

“I learned so much. It’s sad it’s not about cooking and learning any longer,” she continued. “Oh well, that’s just business, folks.”

Bertinelli’s comment was in response to a previous post from cookbook author Marlynn Schotland, who wrote that she missed “actual shows” on Food Network. “Remember those?” she wrote. “Do you know what this world does NOT need? Yet another cooking competition show.”

“Valerie’s Home Kitchen” ran for 14 seasons, from 2015 to 2022, when the series was canceled. At the time, in a video posted to Instagram, she said she didn’t have any idea why the show had been canceled.

“I have loved making this show. It was such a dream come true,” she said in the video. “Every single part of it brought me so much joy. I loved the crew. I loved everybody in production. They loved making this show for you.”

In January of this year, Bertinelli revealed that she had been let go as the co-host of the Food Network show “Kids Baking Championship”

“I wanted to sleep on it because it really hurt my feelings, and I know it’s not supposed to. Logically, I know that it’s business, budget cuts, right? But it really hurt my feelings to know that I’m not going to be asked back to be on ‘Kids Baking Championship,’” she said in an Instagram video. “Really sucks.”

“Kids Baking Championship, which Bertinelli co-hosted with Duff Goldman, debuted in 2015.