For as long as the Food Network has been celebrating Christmas, I’ve been watching. On Nov. 23, 1993, the network was launched with shows like “Essence of Emeril” and “Desserts with Debbi Fields” and then six months later, I was born. Since then, the channel has shaped how I celebrated the holidays.
When I was nine, for instance, I received an Emeril Lagasse-branded miniature chef’s uniform, complete with a starchy white coat and toque. I wore them the next December when I launched my own neighborhood cookie delivery service, The Batter Bowl, which served only two varieties: my mom’s chocolate chip and Sandra Lee’s five-ingredient, semi-homemade (yet foolproof) sugar cookies, both of which I’d transport to customers around our suburban Chicago cul-de-sac in a small pull-along wagon.
