The "Evolution" of Food and Cooking on TV

[weinoo]

So, I'm probably wrong, but let's say it started with James Beard. Then came teachers such as Julia, Graham Kerr, Jacque Pepin, Jeff Smith, Martin Yan and others I'm sure I'm forgetting.

Then along came the Food Network, with it's cooking shows that actually served the purpose of teaching people how to cook. Sarah, Curtis Aikens, David Rosengarten. Bobby, Mario and Emeril. They all taught us how to cook. They were cooking shows.

Then came the, in my opinion, pseudo cooking shows. Rachael, Alton, the Neelys, Iron Chef, Iron Chef America and others too numerous to mention - all on the Food Network.

Of course, other networks started getting into the act. Competition became the zeitgeist, if you will. Top Chef. Top Chef Masters. Top Chef All-Stars. Top Chef Losers. Top Chef - well, you get the picture. Restaurant Wars. America's Next Great Restaurant. Kitchen Nightmares. Ad nauseum.

My question: Where do we go from here?

[dcarch]

There are probably more cooking done on youtube than anywhere else.

dcarch

[Moopheus]

My question: Where do we go from here?

Back to the kitchen? To the library? Out for a bike ride? Watch less tv and do stuff? Read internet forums?

Cooking shows were created for housewives who were home in the afternoon (before there was cable and VCRs) and were expected to cook. It's not too surprising that there are fewer of those shows as that demographic shrinks relative to the overall population. Now we have cable and DVRs and DVDs and video on demand and everything else: we can watch whatever we want, whenever we want. Everyone wants speed, convenience, entertainment, and vicarious thrills. It's on commercial tv, so it's driven by ads, which mostly means processed foods and family restaurants. They're not going to promote shows that say those things aren't needed. They want you to believe that cooking is best left to professionals and people in places you might never visit.

[Lisa Shock]

PBS still has high quality instructional cooking shows.

But, there's a ton of fascinating stuff on

[DanM]

I beg to differ on Alton Brown. He does spend a good deal of his show explaining the technique, history and science behind what he is doing. Who doesn't love is gaseous sock yeasties!

Anyhow... I find the best cooking shows are migrating back to PBS. Avec Eric by Eric Riper and Mexico One Plate at a time by Rick Bayless are two standout examples.

[Rico]

Well, the way things are going my guess would be The Most Dangerous Flame: 10 Barbecue teams go to competitions throughout the US and after 10 weeks the winner gets a million dollars: The catch - they have to kill their own bull with plastic knives.

[weinoo]

Well, the way things are going my guess would be The Most Dangerous Flame: 10 Barbecue teams go to competitions throughout the US and after 10 weeks the winner gets a million dollars: The catch - they have to kill their own bull with plastic knives.

Now that's what I'm talking about .

[Holly Moore]

The Next Culinary Apprentice where contestants vie to become Ruth Bourdain's intern.

[Blether]

Well, the way things are going my guess would be The Most Dangerous Flame: 10 Barbecue teams go to competitions throughout the US and after 10 weeks the winner gets a million dollars: The catch - they have to kill their own bull with plastic knives.

Now that's what I'm talking about .

Yes, that's a beauty

[Jeffery C]

I beg to differ on Alton Brown. He does spend a good deal of his show explaining the technique, history and science behind what he is doing. Who doesn't love is gaseous sock yeasties!

I second this motion. I always find AB to be informative & entertaining. Is there a better way to be taught?

[JHeald]

I beg to differ on Alton Brown...

I have to agree with DanM: were it not for Alton Brown, I wouldn't be cooking. Granted it was the scientist in me that found his show so fascinating, but if the purpose of a cooking show is to teach someone how to cook, then "Good Eats" is definitely a cooking show.

Well, the way things are going my guess would be The Most Dangerous Flame: 10 Barbecue teams go to competitions throughout the US and after 10 weeks the winner gets a million dollars: The catch - they have to kill their own bull with plastic knives.

There is a show similar to this concept (sans the competition or plastic knives) called "Kill It, Cook It, Eat It". Considering the trend towards organic, free-range, wild caught, all natural, etc., I would guess (or hope) there will be more shows devoted to exploring where our food actually comes from. Similar to my love for Good Eats, I believe that knowing about food (what it is, where it comes from, what to do with it) is a critically important component of cooking, and more important for overcoming fears of/in the kitchen.

I hope that new cooking shows focus on depth and the importance of cooking with fresh, real ingredients, rather than how to make meal quickly or with canned foods. I also don't ever want to see another husband-and-wife-lovely-dove cooking show...yuck...

[Dakki]

+1 for Good Eats. The Thanksgiving Special was invaluable when I did the turkey (for the first time) last year, and I've watched selected episodes when dealing with unfamiliar ingredients or dishes on other occasions. Definitely a legit cooking show in my book.

Well, the way things are going my guess would be The Most Dangerous Flame: 10 Barbecue teams go to competitions throughout the US and after 10 weeks the winner gets a million dollars: The catch - they have to kill their own bull with plastic knives.

In parallel, I give you Kooking with Kandi, the show where exotic dance meets exotic dishes.

[ruthcooks]

Here's one: Battle of the Slobs, winner is the one with the worst table manners.

Seriously, about the same time as James Beard came on the scene, local television stations often had a "home" show on which the host(ess) usually demonstrated cooking recipes or featured guests who did.

[andiesenji]

My question: Where do we go from here?

Back to the kitchen? To the library? Out for a bike ride? Watch less tv and do stuff? Read internet forums?

Cooking shows were created for housewives who were home in the afternoon (before there was cable and VCRs) and were expected to cook. It's not too surprising that there are fewer of those shows as that demographic shrinks relative to the overall population. Now we have cable and DVRs and DVDs and video on demand and everything else: we can watch whatever we want, whenever we want. Everyone wants speed, convenience, entertainment, and vicarious thrills. It's on commercial tv, so it's driven by ads, which mostly means processed foods and family restaurants. They're not going to promote shows that say those things aren't needed. They want you to believe that cooking is best left to professionals and people in places you might never visit.

I can't agree with the entirety of this premise. There were not that many cooking shows being broadcast when the majority of married women were still home during the day.

In the late '70s and '80s there were just a couple broadcast during the day - in my area Graham Kerr was broadcast at 5:30 p.m. The Frugal Gourmet was broadcast in the early afternoon and again in the evening, I think it was 9:30 p.m.

Most of the women in my neighborhood worked outside the home at least part of the day, most had full time jobs.

In southern California, the turning point was in the early '70s when inflation made it imperative for families to have more than just one income to keep even. Housing prices were already beginning to shoot up and by the end of the decade had doubled. In the '80s the aerospace industry pretty much took a dive and all those well-paid engineers were out of work.

Women had to work outside the home.

I welcomed the appearance of FoodTV Network. I loved Curtis Aikens and especially John Ash. They spoke intelligently and did not give the impression that their viewers were incapable of understanding adult conversation.

I resent being "talked down to" by food show presenters and that has been my complaint with the more recent Food TV shows.

I like the PBS shows, they aren't trying to sell me something and they don't present it as if they are teaching a bunch of morons.

[Moopheus]

I can't agree with the entirety of this premise. There were not that many cooking shows being broadcast when the majority of married women were still home during the day.

In the late '70s and '80s there were just a couple broadcast during the day - in my area Graham Kerr was broadcast at 5:30 p.m.

Well, I did grossly oversimplify for the sake of a one-paragraph post. It's true, in the beginning there were not a large number of these shows, but I think it was clear who the intended audience was. I remember Kerr being on in the afternoon (I watched it after school), but that was East Coast time. The explosion of media channels has meant micro-targeting of demographics, producing ever larger quantities of programming, each of interest to smaller and smaller groups. To me, it hardly even seems worth trying to keep track, so I don't bother any more. Even watching Sandra Lee for the horrorshow thrills has lost appeal.

[IndyRob]

I can't agree with the entirety of this premise. There were not that many cooking shows being broadcast when the majority of married women were still home during the day.

In the late '70s and '80s there were just a couple broadcast during the day - in my area Graham Kerr was broadcast at 5:30 p.m. ...

I had to check my memory with the help of the world wide wikipedia. Kerr's The Galloping Gourmet went from '69 to '71. That correlates well with my memory of watching him in the early afternoons in the midwest at the age of 7 or 8.

[Blether]

Weinoo, are you hoping to hear predictions of where the mainstream trend will go, or are you a producer looking for ideas ?

I give you: "Hot Times in the Kitchen, with newcomer Melanie Melon" (Vivid Video, 2011).

Edited March 24, 2011 by Blether (log)

[Dakki]

Further blurring the distinction between cooking shows and food porn, I'm afraid.

[andiesenji]

I can't agree with the entirety of this premise. There were not that many cooking shows being broadcast when the majority of married women were still home during the day.

In the late '70s and '80s there were just a couple broadcast during the day - in my area Graham Kerr was broadcast at 5:30 p.m. ...

I had to check my memory with the help of the world wide wikipedia. Kerr's The Galloping Gourmet went from '69 to '71. That correlates well with my memory of watching him in the early afternoons in the midwest at the age of 7 or 8.

It is true that the original 400+ episodes were filmed and broadcast live between '69 and '71 (when he was injured in an auto accident and was unable to work) but these were syndicated shows and were rebroadcast by many local TV stations(channel 13 in the L.A. Area) from the mid-'70s to late '80s and he had another show (with more heart-healthy cooking) for one season in the late '80s or early '90s.

Food TV network also broadcast some of those early shows in the early days when they did not have a lot of programming, often late at night.

(I'm 72, as of yesterday, and so far my memory for those "olden days" is pretty good.)

Edited March 25, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[Blether]

Hey, if they're going to push the lovey-dovey stuff, I say, give us the goods.

[weinoo]

Weinoo, are you hoping to hear predictions of where the mainstream trend will go, or are you a producer looking for ideas ?

I give you: "Hot Times in the Kitchen, with newcomer Melanie Melon" (Vivid Video, 2011).

I think I was being a bit more tongue-in-cheek and revealing my exasperation with the medium. And I'm not a producer, other than one of witty sarcasm .

I like what andiesenji has to say above...

I resent being "talked down to" by food show presenters and that has been my complaint with the more recent Food TV shows.

I like the PBS shows, they aren't trying to sell me something and they don't present it as if they are teaching a bunch of morons.

Her first sentence is the reason why I don't watch 90% of the more recent shows. With PBS being the lone exception. From Lidia to Colameneco, it's pretty informative stuff.

The Top Chef stuff I watch because I'm just waiting to see someone's head explode. And what Padma's wearing.

[lancastermike]

Weinoo, are you hoping to hear predictions of where the mainstream trend will go, or are you a producer looking for ideas ?

I give you: "Hot Times in the Kitchen, with newcomer Melanie Melon" (Vivid Video, 2011).

I think I was being a bit more tongue-in-cheek and revealing my exasperation with the medium. And I'm not a producer, other than one of witty sarcasm .

I like what andiesenji has to say above...

I resent being "talked down to" by food show presenters and that has been my complaint with the more recent Food TV shows.

I like the PBS shows, they aren't trying to sell me something and they don't present it as if they are teaching a bunch of morons.

Her first sentence is the reason why I don't watch 90% of the more recent shows. With PBS being the lone exception. From Lidia to Colameneco, it's pretty informative stuff.

The Top Chef stuff I watch because I'm just waiting to see someone's head explode. And what Padma's wearing.

Oh, sarcasm. I understand now. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

TV is about TV not cooking. It is nice to see serious cooking shows on PBS but commercial TV is all about TV not about cooking. Take the example of Guy Fieri. Alot of people don't take him seriously as a cook. Although on his cooking show he does indeed cook. But he is a great TV personality. The look, the schtick it works and the camera likes him and he knows how to play to the camera. he ain't jacques pepin. But if I was looking for somebody to host a TV show that may have to do with food, he would be a good choice.

Of course he is common and maybe even a little white trash in style. perhaps that is all beneath some. But the fact remains: TV is about TV not about cooking.

Edited March 25, 2011 by lancastermike (log)

[jsmeeker]

Even non commercial TV (PBS) needs to find an audience. Local PBS stations need to buy those shows. Ones that find an audience willing to make dontations will last. Also, it seems were seeing a lot more "food travel" woven into the PBS shows. Avec Eric is a great example of that. It's not just Eric Ripert in a kitchen cooking a dish. In fact, that's less than half the show. Rick Bayless does a lot more cooking, but he still has a good amount of "food travel" in his show, too.

[SobaAddict70]

It would be nice if there was a cooking show that taught people the basics, so they knew what goes into a bolognese sauce, for example. Psst, it's not green bell pepper and sugar as in this recipe nor is it Worcestershire sauce.

eG's resident curmudgeon

[weinoo]

It would be nice if there was a cooking show that taught people the basics, so they knew what goes into a bolognese sauce, for example. Psst, it's not green bell pepper and sugar as in this recipe nor is it Worcestershire sauce.

eG's resident curmudgeon

Mario's first show was a good example of that. Lidia B does a nice job on her show.