Food Network

If the conclusion of Top Chef All-Stars has brought about symptoms of foodie reality TV withdrawal, sit tight, because the Food Network's Next Food Network Star is back with a vengeance.

The seventh season, which premieres Sunday, June 5, at 9 p.m., is the network's most star-studded yet and features celebrated figures from Alton Brown to Michael Symon to Ina Garten. Among the challenges? Performing live on the Rachael Ray Show, catering the Guy Fieri-headlined All American Food Festival, and competing head to head in Kitchen Stadium, Iron Chef America-style.

Season seven's challenges aren't the only part of the show that's advanced — the contestants sound like a pretty qualified bunch, too. To see the 15 finalists who'll compete come June, keep reading.

Cake aficionados collectively mourned the loss of Charm City Cakes on the small screen when it was announced that Duff Goldman's Ace of Cakes would end its 10-season run on the Food Network. If you're still looking to get your fill of cake shows, the network has a new series premiering April 2 at 12:30 p.m.

According to a release, Have Cake, Will Travel is a "new comedy docu-reality series that follows Ashley Vicos, the reigning queen of the cake decorating world, as she leads her motley crew of assistants around the country creating jaw-dropping, three-dimensional cakes for every type of event imaginable."

Sounds oddly just like Ace of Cakes, only on the road. It'll be interesting to see what Food Network's plan for Duff is, considering exec Bob Tushman has already confirmed that the network is developing new show concepts for him.

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Food Network's special season of Chopped All-Stars debuted last weekend, and Slashfood hit up host Ted Allen and judge Alex Guarnaschelli to get their insight on the limited five-episode run.

In between some homemade pizza baking, Alex, Ted, and a surprise guest talk about the star-studded lineup, the high-pressure stakes, and the serious beer drinking that goes on behind the scenes.

Find out more — and discover which chef makes a fun cameo! — when you watch the whole segment on Slashfood.

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When I met Scott Conant of Food Network's Chopped and 24 Hour Restaurant Battle, the first question out of my mouth had to be about the onions. The chef and restaurateur's notorious criticism of raw, red onions is so well-documented that even Facebook runs rampant with pages like, "Shut up, Scott Conant, we don't care if you have an aversion to raw onions!" But Conant wants to set the record straight: he's not raising any stink over red onions.

"I don't hate red onions . . . I have a lot of them on my menu," he explained. "There are big things that get edited out of these [TV] shows. When I explain my thought process on red onions, all too often, what happens is, is that it's not interesting — what's interesting is the reaction."

You heard it from Scott Conant himself: he doesn't dislike onions. A few ways chef Scott likes to prepare onions, when you read more.

One of our favorite demonstrations at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival was led by chef Alex Guarnaschelli. If you're not watching her wildly entertaining and informative show on the Food Network, Alex's Day Off, I highly recommend you check out a few of the episodes. Her passion and enthusiasm for food is infectious, and her recipes are creative and delicious-sounding. On Saturday afternoon, in the bright sunshine, Guarnaschelli made homemade pizza. While she whipped up tomato sauce and pizza dough, she provided the audience with tons of helpful hints for channeling your inner pizzioli. Read on for her suggestions.

Over the weekend at the Food Network's South Beach Wine and Food Festival, I attended a packed demo led by Rachael Ray. The self-proclaimed "burger and taco girl" sipped a kumquat margarita while she made fish tacos and a French bistro-inspired burger in a slinky black dress. Instead of focusing on teaching the crowd how to cook, Ray declared that "we're going to have a nice chat," and invited people to stand up and ask her questions. The result was an interesting look at Rachael Ray, the person, rather than Rachael Ray, the mega culinary personality. I learned some fun things about her — including what her next project with Food Network is! — so to find out about it, keep reading.

Chopped, the Food Network's culinary competition, is following in the footsteps of Top Chef and debuting a special five-episode season featuring "All-Stars." Sixteen of the network's food personalities will battle to win $50,000 for their favorite charity. Big names such as Duff Goldman and Anne Burrell are participating along with the likes of Next Food Network Star contestants Debbie Lee and Lisa Garza and regular Chopped judges Aaron Sanchez and Jacques Torres.

I've never been much of a fan of Chopped — the secret ingredients always seem totally bizarre — but I'm curious to see how the celebrity chefs will handle the tough challenges. Do you watch Chopped? Are you interested in checking out Chopped All-Stars?

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