If I were going to do a social study of homos and cooking, I think I'd use The Food Network as my guide. Not only are the gays the ones watching — programs include Rachel Ray's Thirty Minute Meals and Iron Chef America — but they're the ones starring on them, too. Los Angeles based baker Reggie Southerland is the latest reality star to grace the small screen, competing on the second season of the short series The Next Food Network Star.

"It's not a reality show. It's a talent search," he told me a few weeks ago during a phone interview. This was after taping the first seven episodes late last year, but before Southerland was announced as one of the two finalists. The eighth and final episode was "live," which unfortunately saw restaurateur Guy Fieri win out over Southerland. It aired last Sunday, April 23. Because of his win, Fieri will now appear in his own Food Network produced show, airing later this year.

Last year's winners, Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh, are the hosts of their own show airing Sunday mornings at 9:30 a.m. called Party Line with the Hearty Boys. Smith and McDonagh are partners — yes, those kind of partners — and I was thrilled to see another openly gay contestant in season two. Southerland, who also contributed to a blog at the Food Network website, writes "I am so blessed to be here and to have this experience — I wouldn't trade it for anything." Giving gay partners their own show last season and supporting Southerland through the finals this season gives the producers at the Food Network high marks, but Southerland says his sexuality wasn't a factor.

"It wasn't an issue," he says. "It's funny, no one ever asked me if I was gay or not," but as far as he knows, they knew. "If someone asked me I would tell them," says Southerland, but the point just never came up. He jokes, "If you don't know that I'm gay from that very first show, then come on," and he's right. No straight man I know would ever talk about food — on camera, nonetheless — by saying, "Let me just flip these girls around." It became one of Southerland's catch phrases, and he used it once on the phone with me regarding some cookies he had in the oven.

I was curious, however, of the episode featuring Smith and McDonagh as guests. The couple was on to teach Southerland and the other contestants about the importance of working together behind the counter. I watched with a close gay eye, and was surprised that The Food Network didn't mention a reason the pair work so well together was because they were, well, together. Why wouldn't they say it was because they were partners? "You know it's interesting," Southerland told me. "I think because [the Food Network] mentioned it a few times in season one… it was established. I just sort of take it for granted."

Southerland also used his own experience to counter my claim. He recently opened the Comfort Café in Los Angeles with his business partner, Jackie Joniec, and compared their relationship to Smith and McDonagh's. "Look at my relationship with Jackie," he said. He's right again, and I began to think my queer eye was on way too tight. Perhaps it's best if we all just take it for granted.

Forgetting about being gay was easy for Southerland and the Food Network. Bigger concerns revolved around food. Southerland's funniest moment came when he fixed his famous Chicken Pot Pie recipe for a group of vegetarians. He wrote about it on the blog: "What to do except make light of it all, tell a few funny stories, and move on." That type of acting was a big part of the show, as Southerland tells me, "I tried to be funny, I tried to be witty, I tried to be entertaining. Although, I didn't want to come across as clownish." He didn't, and his charming and welcoming personality is a major reason he made it to the final two.

Southerland only has good things to say about his experience, telling me they were "treated very well" by the producers and that the eight contestants "just naturally bonded." He's also reaping the benefits of his 15 minutes. "It's really bizarre," he says. "The show came out that first weekend. I went out and all day long, people were coming up to me and hugging me and inviting me out to dinner, and I thought, ‘This is ridiculous. I'm not Rachel Ray!' I'm still trying to figure it all out.

"It's doubly difficult nowadays only because I've started a cookie company with my business partner," he cheerfully told me. The company is appropriately called Reggie's Cookies (reggiescookies.com) and is set for a full-scale launch soon. After the taping of the show, he decided the timing was just perfect to start the business. Those cookies he was making during our interview? He was testing chocolate chip recipes. "I'm just being my picky self, I suppose."

Southerland and I both liked the format of The Food Network's reality show better. "I don't watch it anymore. It makes me mad," he said of the Top Chef. "I suppose if all of us were competing for $100,000, a brand new car, blah blah blah, it might be different." The winning chef does, in fact, win $100,000. Bravo calls it "seed money" for the winner to "help encourage their culinary career."

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