Mark Bittman twittered: “A post I should’ve written long ago.” He then provided a link to his blog post at the New York Times regarding what you see on cooking shows versus real life cooking. In the piece Bittman talks of an incident during the taping of The Next Food Network Star where he witnessed a contestant putting a piece of meat on a too hot grill that was instantly charred. The cameras were stopped, an assistant found a replacement meat and cooked it properly, and then the contestant came back on with a big ta-da!
I guess it’s something I’ve missed lately because now that I come to think of it I don’t watch instructional cooking shows anymore. When I was younger my dad and I used to watch Rick Bayless on PBS because we were originally from California and at that time in western NY state it was nearly impossible to even find salsa, let alone good authentic Mexican ingredients. We also tuned in to watch Justin Wilson on a regular basis.
But since then I’ve turned away from the instructional shows. The Tyler’s Ultimate’s and 30 Minute Meals of the food TV variety. The stuff I do watch is meant to be edited, and is in no way trying to hide mistakes of the cooking type. It’s also enjoyable TV to watch. No Reservations is not exactly about the latest recipes from some corner stand in the Phillipines, and that’s the way I like my food television.
I may tune in to that silly Throwdown show, or even Iron Chef. But those too don’t live in a realm of instruction, rather dwelling on fabricated suspense and entertainment. It’s probably why I watch Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives even though I get this feeling I’m supposed to not like Guy Fieri. What is the consensus there? I’m not sure how I feel about him as a chef, but the guy makes a great host for a road food show.
The problem Bittman brings up regarding cooking shows is all too real. Those celebrity chefs are always too perfect and poised in the kitchen, and I can see that intimidating the home cook. If you can’t get an onion to a fine chop within 15 seconds then you must be a failure, and you’d never know it took two behind the scenes assistants to actually get that job done.
