Parents' Guide to Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked

For the total beginner, Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked takes the player on a tour of the kitchen, from gathering ingredients to multi-tasking to prepare a dish like Pan Seared T-Bone Steak, Mashed Potatoes, and Steamed Asparagus. Some recipes, such as Mashed Potatoes, need prep work to boil the potatoes before they can be mashed. Players must figure out how to cook multiple dishes at once so that they can all be served at the same time. In this simulation game, every action is done in real time. The game does not allow the player to stop a process if they realize they started it too early. It does however, allow speeding up a process -- such as shortening the baking time.

While the game does familiarize the total novice with a kitchen, including where food items are stored, including pantry, refrigerator, or freezer, it does not touch on dangers and safety procedures in the kitchen. It does however, give players a good feel of what it takes to put a meal of a meat and two sides on the table, and the recipes are real Food Network recipes and provided in the manual for players to duplicate in their own kitchens.