Definitely Not the Opera
Couch potatoes. A phrase which probably best describes what people think of when you talk about television and food in the same sentence. After all, television and food isn't quite the same thing as love and marriage. I mean – where's the action? Where's the drama? – will the milk curdle or not? – I don't think so! Slicing and dicing vegetables doesn't make for the most riveting television. And how long can you watch water boil before reaching for the remote?
But food shows have been around almost since the beginning of television – Julia Child became a big star, as did Graham Kerr with his Galloping Gourmet. Now those were cooking shows. There may have been some sizzle to the steak but the steaks were the stars of the show.
Today even Martha Stewart features cooking – though it is questionable whether she actually cooks or just garnishes – whichever – I'm sure she would say "it's a good thing".
In the early days of TV, cooking shows rarely made it onto a national network. But these days it was only a matter of time till we got the Food Channel- after all we do have the Golf Channel and the Gardening channel .
Why? Why are cooking shows so popular and so plentiful? Well, basically – they fill air time and are relatively cheap to produce. I suspect that no one watches these shows for recipes any more – these newer shows are more character driven – an oversized personality and an outrageous attitude seem to be the key components for a successful cooking show. TV cooks are no longer chefs but entertainers. After all, since few people actually cook for themselves anymore, food shows have to grab viewers with something more exciting than bubbling pots and smiling chefs in aprons.
So how do these shows try to get their audiences? Some revolt us – care for the recipe for chocolate-dipped cockroaches or cricket crème de menthe?. Some stun our health conscious nation with intoxicating hearty fare cooked with butter, sour cream, double cream, heavy cream, drippings, fatty bacon, lard, deep frying – all served up by Two Fat Ladies.
The newer shows either appeal to our love of spectacle or to our love of the sensuous.
For spectacle, trust the Japanese to push the entertainment limits of a cooking show – they make Emeril's bark sound like a whimper! The show – Iron Chef – is almost impossible to describe but Godzilla meets WWF comes close. We have arena seating around a stadium size kitchen, We have chefs challenging each other to cook a meal in an hour using massive quantities of a mystery ingredient We have a panel of experts, a narrator, and a roving reporter – all making solemn pronouncements in dubbed American. The stadium is filled with action, the chefs sweat, mistakes are made, apologies are offered. Reminds me of a polite version of American Gladiators.
For sensuousness, we have The Naked Chef. 23 year old Jamie Oliver has movie star good looks, bedroom eyes, an East end London accent that verges on incomprehensible and a saucy attitude. His style of cooking involves "stripping" good cooking down to the basics – that's where the naked comes in. He keeps his clothes on – and "that's a good thing"! But what have we got? A guy cooking a leg of lamb by putting herbs on it and throwing it in the oven. If he looked like Regis Philbin would anyone watch the show? As it is the dizzying camera work – they seemed to have left the tripod back at the studio – is beyond distracting.
So how do you top a naked chef? Well, you combine cooking with the latest craze for television game shows. The result is the brand new Cooking for Love. It's a dating game type show with the candidates cooking a mystery date's favorite meal while answering questions.
No one's going to watch this show to learn how to cook anything. Most of you will turn in to watch the host – 27 year old Thea Andrews who is both very talented and very beautiful. Both she and Jamie Oliver have this presence, this magnetism, this fascinating sensuality that makes people want to watch. But it seems to me that both of these shows teeter precariously on the edge of exploitation. And that's a problem. It makes me want to wonder how the Naked Chef would make out on Cooking for Love.
But – and this is what puzzles me – many people do watch these show and I'm still not sure why? Is it for the spectacle or for the sensuousness? Probably a little – or lot – of both depending on who you are. Or maybe it is a simple as that we just like to watch someone do something we no longer even think of doing – cooking a meal. Or maybe I should just end this as I started – forget the food shows , just be a couch potato, pass me the chips and beer – that's as close as I want to get to television and food. Ally McBeal is on in five minutes – now there's someone who definitely might actually benefit from watching food shows – it might encourage her to eat.
John Pungente, SJ, is an author, teacher, executive member of the AML (Ontario), and president of the Canadian Association of Media Education Organizations (CAMEO). His most recent publication is Watching TV. He is also the author of the following lively commentary on the latest trends in cooking shows.