How Martha Stewart Offended Food Network At Her First Meeting With The Channel

Most of us know Martha Stewart as someone who doesn't serve snacks at her parties and who would never cook offal or animal brains even if her life depended on it. There's also the fact she isn't known as a sweet lady off-camera, despite being soft-spoken and seemingly easy-going on her shows and during public appearances. In both her personal and professional life, it's clear that Martha is really unapologetically herself, even if that means being branded a stinker. So, it doesn't come as a surprise that she left a not-so-good impression on the Food Network during her first meeting with the channel's big boss.

The story goes that former Food Network President Eric Ober reached out to the lifestyle mogul's brand, Martha Stewart Living, wanting to air the old episodes of the latter's daytime cooking show on the channel. Stewart, who for some reason was contemptuous and skeptical of the then-budding network's push to work with celebrity chefs, agreed to the multi-million dollar deal — but she did so in a manner that was pretty offensive to Ober. Aside from not even looking at the exec, she allegedly did not offer a handshake during their meeting, prompting Ober to say to his lawyer, "The only other thing I want in this agreement is I don't want to have to see that woman again for the life of this contract" (via The Daily Beast).

Despite what transpired at the contract signing, the home and garden expert maintained a professional relationship with the Food Network boss and the latter did the same. Ober even recognized Stewart's pulling power before "Martha's Kitchen" started airing reruns of old episodes on the channel in 2001. "The addition of this series to our line-up is sure to delight viewers across the board," he was quoted as saying by MarketWatch in 1999. The syndicated show would continue to air on the channel until the mid-'00s even after Ober's term as president and general manger was over. 

It would take over a decade for Stewart, who previously dabbled in different careers before establishing an identity as a homemaking guru, to once again strike a deal and make appearances on the channel. She became a recurring judge on "Chopped" starting in 2018, exiting the show in a grand finale that aired in 2021. She also starred in a reality cooking competition show for the network titled "Bakeaway Camp with Martha Stewart" in 2020. It's not clear if both parties are still open to collaborating after these two projects, but knowing Stewart, she never runs out of options when it comes to the channels and networks fighting to feature her brand. Her latest small-screen project was the cooking competition series "Yes, Chef!" which aired on NBC in 2025.