One of my favorite hobbies is cooking. It’s a relaxing and exciting pastime that brings people together and allows you to think outside the box.
For me, the spark that set off my interest in cooking can be traced back to the cooking shows I used to watch with my family over the years: “Chopped,” “Good Eats,” “America’s Test Kitchen,” “Emeril Live,” “30 Minutes with Rachael Ray” and “Barefoot Contessa,” just to name a few.
While I was not interested in cooking when I was younger, the more I watched these shows, the more I became curious about what it would be like to try it out. It is because of these programs that I have established this hobby.
However, now I’ve found that when I watch the Food Network or Cooking Channel, these shows are becoming less common.
Sure, there are reruns of old cooking shows, but the common type of show in this genre that you will find now are based on competition and conflict. These include shows like “Cutthroat Kitchen,” “Beat Bobby Flay,” “Kids Baking Championship,” “Chopped Casino Royale” and a host of other niche tournament-based shows. It’s become an oversaturation of the cooking-show market that leaves a bland taste in my mouth.
To be clear, I do not hate the competition-format cooking show. I still adore the original format of “Chopped,” where there are mystery baskets with four different ingredients and chefs have to make the basket foods the star, despite the difficulties of awkward ingredients like string cheese and octopus.
Another show I love is “Iron Chef,” which is arguably the grandfather of the modern-day cooking-competition show. Based in Japan, “Iron Chef” has challengers go to the so-called Kitchen Stadium and take on a chef of esteemed skill in a one-on-one food duel while using a secret ingredient.
The show was so popular that it spawned several regional variants, including the long-lasting staple of the Food Network, “Iron Chef America.”
So, if I don’t hate competition cooking shows, why am I dissatisfied with the current programming that producers on these channels are creating? I feel as if these shows have moved away from the true essence of what makes cooking shows great: the food.
Both “Iron Chef” and “Chopped” have conflict, which is important in any narrative; but the difference between these traditional shows and the newer ones is that the food ties together the conflict. The competition consists of what the chefs can do with the secret ingredients and how they will do it in a set period.
Shows like “Cutthroat Kitchen,” however, prefer to center the conflict on the environment, rather than the food. For instance, on one episode I found myself watching, these directions were uttered: “You can only work hopping on one foot; you can’t use any blueberries in your blueberry pie; you must walk backward while you whisk your egg.” The program is using absurdity to create conflict.
Other shows like “Beat Bobby Flay” use the essence of the celebrity to evoke excitement, but if the chefs are going to constantly fight with Chef Flay, the novelty wears out quickly.
Even shows like “Hell’s Kitchen,” which airs on FOX, are losing their luster. Chef Gordon Ramsay, whose food I dream to try one day, is known for his ire and the coarse vocabulary he directs towards chefs in the kitchen, particularly in instances where they send him a raw risotto or he cannot find key ingredients, such as lamb sauce.
After airing 20 seasons of the show, however, we know what to expect from Ramsay — even this hot-headed chef has become more mellow in his criticisms. These days, he has become more interested in creating shows where he is cooking alone or trying different foods from around the world.
It makes sense why producers pitch these kinds of cooking shows — conflict sells. I would argue, however, that as the world becomes more chaotic, there is a market for cooking shows that offer familiarity with a traditional format.
“The Great British Baking Show” is a good example. While the show features a competition format, the focus is not on the abundance of challenges and raw emotion, but rather the art and taste of the baked goods. As a result, the show offers a calming, yet endearing atmosphere.
Other shows like “The Great Food Truck Race” offer a similar format. While we care about the teams and grow with them throughout the season, the food is the main course of the show. We even get to watch the chefs try to incorporate foods that are local to the area where they are filming, which allows for the all-important ingredient: conflict.
Will there be a seat at the table for these kinds of shows in the future? It remains to be seen, but I hope that there will be an appetite for food to take the center stage on television once again.
