Why do you love cooking shows?

[Ari]

I've loved cooking shows ever since I was little. Not flash-bang Emeril/Iron Chef-style shows, but good, old school man-or-woman-in-the-kitchen type programs. Last week, I think I put my finger on what I like so much about them.

I was watching an old Julia Child show, I was late to meet somebody, and I couldn't tear myself away from the TV screen. She was making biscotti.

That was when I realized that for me, each dish on these shows is a perfect, compelling little story - with characters (hazelnuts, flour, sugar); plot (then you mix them all up in the bowl), suspense (what will it look like when it comes out of the oven!?) ; and of course, a happy ending (it's so delicious!).

I'm not generally a safe, cautious, boring kind of guy, but I find great comfort in the reliability of these plots.

I thought that if I could find someone to back me up anywhere, it would be here. So what do you think? Am I crazy? Do you love cooking shows for the same reason? If not, what's your reason? Who are your favorites? What do you think makes a great cooking show, and what drives you nuts?

Ari

[Chef Mongo]

I like your description of the ingredients as "characters" in the drama. Very apt!

The one thing that turns me off most quickly with a cooking show is too much striving on the part of the host to involve me in the process. Just show me what you're doing without the "work right along with me!" aspect.

[melonpan]

i like cooking shows that either:

*) take you to a lot of different restaurants and show dishes

*) show you a lot of variations on a theme

i watch both types of shows for inspiration.

[Kevin72]

I'm like you Ari in that I've always liked cooking shows even from when I was little. Put a cooking show on and I'm entranced. Maybe it has something to do with having a mother who was pretty active in the kitchen and so watching this on TV has a kid had a residual maternal attachment for me.

With Food Network though I OD'd and no longer get this feeling. Now I watch to see what the chef's voice is, to learn about new cultures or techniques or recipes.

[Ari]

With Food Network though I OD'd and no longer get this feeling.  Now I watch to see what the chef's voice is, to learn about new cultures or techniques or recipes.

←

It's funny, I find that one of my biggest disappointments in the food network is that I can't reliably find good ol' cooking shows there any more. I think that Unwrapped, Food Finds, etc. are interesting in their own right, but they just don't give me that certain je ne sais quoi that I get from a half hour in the kitchen with the Galloping Gourmet.

[chile_peppa]

I enjoy the "technical" aspects. It's one thing to read a description of a technique in a cookbook, but it's another to see it demonstrated on a screen with a close-up of the cook's hands performing the task. Such a close-up is even better than attending a cooking class where you can't see the details because you're too far away.

[hsm]

I like watching people do the same thing I do. But better. Much better. So I'm not only entertained, I'm informed. Or taught. And often, delighted. But then, I grew up watching Julia, Jacques and the Frug.

The Food Network was a great idea - and offered some compelling television. (Remembering the early days of Iron Chef ) But that was before the cheapo food-o-mentaries. Give me PBS anyday.

[FistFullaRoux]

I like watching people do the same thing I do. But better. Much better. So I'm not only entertained, I'm informed. Or taught. And often, delighted. But then, I grew up watching Julia, Jacques and the Frug.

The Food Network was a great idea - and offered some compelling television. (Remembering the early days of Iron Chef ) But that was before the cheapo food-o-mentaries. Give me PBS anyday.

←

Same reason I listened to Eddie Van Halen and Eric Clapton when I was trying to play guitar. You learn by observing those who do it well.

[mrsadm]

I love most cooking shows because I learn techniques and what the finished dishes are supposed to like. Something that I read in a recipe might not sound so good to me but when I see it on TV it can look pretty tasty.

I'm also really proud now to see something done by a TV chef that I now, know all about, and I realize I've learned a lot in the last two years. Pretty cool!

[andiesenji]

I loved the Julia shows, Galloping Gourmet, Frugal Gourmet, Jacques Pepin, and especially the Great Chefs shows. Also the other PBS food shows and I taped quite a few over the years.

The CIA shows were also very good.

The earlier Food TV shows were much better, in my opinion, than most of the shows on now.

especially John Ash, as well as The Two Hot Tamales, Curtis Aikens, Two Fat Ladies, Jacques Torres.

I want to learn about a particular recipe and see the technique that makes it work. I don't want entertainment, I want instruction.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I like watching people do the same thing I do. But better. Much better. So I'm not only entertained, I'm informed. Or taught. And often, delighted. But then, I grew up watching Julia, Jacques and the Frug.

Give me PBS anyday.

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You got that just right! I have to concur with you, point for point, here! I loved watching people cook who seem to do it out of a passion for the food.. and for sharing, teaching others from their passion ..

yes, like Jeff Smith and Julia and Jacques and Lidia .. the PBS folks actually ..

food is too commercial from a lot of the TV Food Network people now on the air ...

[Ari]

The earlier Food TV shows were much better, in my opinion, than most of the shows on now. 

especially John Ash, as well as The Two Hot Tamales, Curtis Aikens, Two Fat Ladies, Jacques Torres. 

←

Ah, the two fat ladies.... God I miss them. Does anyone still show reruns?

[Dr. Funk]

I've probably learned more from Mario than anyone else. The nice thing about his cooking is that it can be done well in the average home kitchen. I loved watching Galloping Gourmet (especially half drunk at 2:00 AM). I never had much use for Frugal, but Julia was an inspiration - I love the fact that she lived a long life in spite of the doomsayers.

[snowangel]

My kids were home today, and as we ate lunch, we flipped through the TV. None of us could understand the purpose of Paula Dean. Peter could not understand her fascination for cooking to get a man.

Julia, Mario, Jacques!

[Allura]

About the only food shows I watch consistently is Iron Chef, I think, but that's mostly b/c I don't watch much tv at all. I do like the more 'serious' shows, esp ones that are more like the type of food we talk about, then the type I actually cook . I find that I watch mostly to learn techniques. I hate shows where everything is pre-diced, etc.

Bizarrely enough, I like "UnWrapped". Mostly, though, it's because I started off as a Controls Engineer, and find it amusing from that point of view. They're so earnest about their "high tech" machines - which I can usually spot as being fairly ancient

[Jinmyo]

Julia, Mario, Jacques!

Exactement. No one else has ever equalled the programs that this Trinity have produced.

(This doesn't count that Ciao, America! show that FNTV reduced Mario to.

"Dried fruit? Uh. Oh. Now I kinda like dried fruit. In this... great... Italian-American... great... uh, recipe of yours!")

[handmc]

I am a food show junkie. I loved Jeff Smith and Julia, I Love Jacques, Lidia, Ming,Yan and Bayless ....yes him too, he is very good at describing flavors. My long lost friend "Floyd on food"'s cooking show was always better with a slurp! He was much less pretentious and a decade ago's Tony Bourdain. I'm bummed his and Tony's show are over.

The whole mix is what I loved. Technique was one thing I have learned alot but just the different ideas for food presentation,etc.; all the different flavors is the attraction.

Mario's OK, lots of nice recipes, but I just don't click with him, he seems distant and he has superior air about him, I know everyone else will say he is down to earth, but he treats the minions at the counter like idiots.

Emril bores me becuase he takes forever to do a 3 minute meal. Rachel Ray, the T& A of the food channel has good receipes but I OD on perky before the end of the show.

Sarah M. ....Is for me like cooking if it was done by dentists or accountants. I cannot watch, it hurts too much.

Jaime's fun but he's like watching Iron Chef, the real show from Japan; you cannot understand what the hell they are talking about and you cannot find the ingredients anyway.

While on Iron chef, on mute, it is a visual cooking ballet. I love it! With the sound on, it is funny and beautiful.

The rest and latest trend on food TV or is it really TZZZZZZZZZ Unwrapped and all that crap, is too painful too watch. I live in the sticks in PA and do not get cable I get the 3 majors, FOX, WB and 2 PBS stations that's it. When I travel, more than I like, I used to like the novelty of what was on Food TV. Nows its unwrapped and the secret life of ... mixed with Sarah and Emeril. No longer a treat just somthing else to flip by in search of something worth watching.

In closing I still love cooking shows. I find however Egullet fills the void for the shows that do not run anymore for which I am thankful.

Now a food show along the lines of the Blogs we get to enjoy or the postings on Dinner cannot be equalled by those in TV Foodland! That would be something.

[Timh]

I find the local PBS and cable station to have the more interesting shows, Trotters' 'series...' English's show, Lydia, and a Med/Ital show(Ican't remember the name). Yet, Iron Chef is just the best show in the world, the guys cook their asses off, what could be better, except the dialogue?

[Chris Amirault]

In addition to the above-mentioned desires, I watch the shows to see people royally screw the pooch. There are the ones that are wonderful because the cook just goes with it -- Julia dropping the chicken, the Two Fat Ladies burning some potato-in-lard concoction, a wacko Morimoto getting dissed by Kishi. But with others (Puck, Emeril, Flay) it's just schadenfreude, pure and simple.

[Daddy-A]

Yet, Iron Chef is just the best show in the world, the guys cook their asses off, what could be better, except the dialogue?

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Are you out of your mind Timh-san? The dialogue is so cheesy it's funny.

When I first started watching IC about 6 years ago, I'll admitt the dialogue was hard to take. The cooking was amazing. But after a while ... well, once you've seen one matsutake mushroom with foie gras wrapped in fat netting, you've seen them all. At that point the dialogue started adding to the entertainment value.

I mean, what other cooking show offers up dialogue like:The first bite was awfull ... the second was even worse!!"

A.

Edited November 6, 2004 by Daddy-A (log)

[snowangel]

As I watched Diana (age 14) make her first batch of larb today, I watched her weild the knife. The big ass chef's knife. Sharp, sharp, sharp.

She commented that "it's a good thing it's really sharp. I'm less likely to cut myself." When quizzed, she admitted that she learned about The Knife from St. Jacques. Watching those shows taught her how to use the knife, how to care for the knife. Which knife to use for what.

His shows were all about learning how to do what. Not entertainment porn.

She's currently whisking up a vinagarette, with aplomb. Lessons learned from the two J's. Julia and Jacques.

[Timh]

Are you out of your mind Timh-san? The dialogue is so cheesy it's funny.

Thats what I actually meant. The voice overs are hilarious, sometimes better than the contest.

[Dr. Funk]

In addition to the above-mentioned desires, I watch the shows to see people royally screw the pooch. There are the ones that are wonderful because the cook just goes with it -- Julia dropping the chicken, the Two Fat Ladies burning some potato-in-lard concoction, a wacko Morimoto getting dissed by Kishi. But with others (Puck, Emeril, Flay) it's just schadenfreude, pure and simple.

←

Have you ever seen Emeril's comfort food show where the meatloaf just crumbles and he keeps on going, talking about how wonderful it looks? I've seen it three times and it's still a hoot.

[Jinmyo]

She commented that "it's a good thing it's really sharp.  I'm less likely to cut myself."  When quizzed, she admitted that she learned about The Knife from St. Jacques.  Watching those shows taught her how to use the knife, how to care for the knife.  Which knife to use for what.

Benedictus.

[KathyP]

Alton Brown. I love the way he dissects ingredients and explains why certain things happen to them during cooking - the science guy for food. Besides, he's hysterically funny, too.