Cookery on Television

As I was preparing to start this web log, I noticed a real change to the style of of the cookery and food programmes on television. Before the recession the majority of them were “celebrity chefs” cooking restaurant style food that most people would never really cook. Often with ingredients that no one could normally afford. I could never afford to cook a whole Turbot, at £35-£45 each, I would have to be cooking for a really special occasion. It was food as theatre rather than the real cooking that real people do.

While there are many people who do like to cook impressive dishes for friends and family, most people can not afford to cook the food that top end restaurant chefs cook up. There was a gulf between the cooking on television and the food that the majority of people really eat. I suspect that it was highly paid television producers commissioning programmes that reflected what they were eating in restaurants. Well while eating out is great fun, most of the nation does not feast on or in Michelin stared food.

While it may have helped sell advertising, it was not encouraging people to cook at home. As the last time I checked most people live in a house and not a restaurant. Also there were programmes that were trying to tell people what they should eat, all fronted by rich celebrity chefs. Often the tone was rather patronising too; “come on you poor fat people, this is what you should be doing”.

I could see the benefits of what they were trying to do, but it is patronising to have someone who can afford to always buy the best, telling you that you are not doing the best for your family. While as a foodie and lover of good food and good ingredients, I could see what the aim was, but often these programmes were failing. Often quite simply as these chefs were known for their fancy and indulgent cooking, often expensive too, and they were now telling us that we should be cooking and eating better.

Fancy cooking has its place on television, but having the same chefs then telling us that we should be eating better really is not that useful. While I can go around a supermarket and see preprepared foods that I know I can cook better and cheaper, I realise that not everyone will have that skill. I am critical about the education system that fails to give children the all round skills for life beyond school. Personally I think that all children should be taught about food and cooking in school, boys and girls.

Equally I don't think that it is fair that whenever food is mentioned, obesity is not far behind. While I am a firm believer in the calories in, energy out principal of maintaining a healthy weight, as fully supported by science, there is often a blame culture imposed upon fat people;“Your fat because you eat to much”.

While I will be posting latter about obesity and diets latter, I want to keep on the topic of cookery on television. And while television has concentrated upon using celebrity chefs in recent years, occasionally they have looked for a gimmick that has worked. The first that caught my attention was a series called “Two Fat Ladies”. What actually made this work was the passion they both had for food and cooking.

They were two women put together for television, and given the gimmick of a motorbike and side car. When one of them died, television looked for another gimmick to play with. Thus a series called “The Hairy Bikers” emerged. Again it was the personalities of the two presenters that made the original show work. However, for television they looked like a one trick pony, and unlike other television cooks, they were ignored for a while. Then they reappeared as “The Hairy Bakers”.

These irrepressible Northern Bikers, one of them a local lad, have a passion for good food. Not the fancy restaurant food that has been the mainstay of television for far to long, but the type of food that really gets cooked and eaten. There latest series “Mum knows best” has had them visiting real families and discovering the food and recipes that have been passed down the generations.

I had wanted to see the series from the start, but other commitments meant it was only yesterday that I saw the first episode. Well I found it entertaining and informative. The aspect that makes it worthy of telling the world about this, is that there is a lot of good information and recipes on the website too.

This is not a complete history of cooking on television, but while I am not qualified to give that history, the aspect that stands out from this potted history, is that it is real cooks that have longevity. People like Delia Smith, Rick Stein and not the celebrity chefs that are just showing off what they can do. It is the cooks that genuinely want to share the food and the skills that last.


It would be really interesting to hear who your favourite cook is, so lets share that here too.