TV Cooking vs. Real Cooking
Are televised cooking shows all a charade? Mark Bittman would argue yes. He'd also call them baffling and intimidating.
The home cook, especially the aspiring home cook, needs encouragement — not befuddlement. Show people what actually happens in the kitchen, show people that mistakes are made (”The grand thing about cooking is you can eat your mistakes” — Julia Child), show people that, just as you need not be Rafael Nadal to play tennis, you need not be Gordon Ramsay to cook a decent meal.
Maybe there is a future in food television bloopers? Nothing is chopped the "right" way, the kitchen is chaotic, and if the meat burns, so be it.
Related
Bourdain Rants About the Food Network
10 things I learned from food media (and not from momma) [Talk]
Is the celebrity chef culture over? [Talk]
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
13 Comments:
Generally speaking, I don't have a problem with RR. She is honestly what got me cooking in my early teens. I don't watch her much these days, but I'm forever grateful that she introduced me to the kitchen. Who cares if she's not a "real chef?" If she's getting people out of the drive thru and into the kitchen, does it really matter?
What I do take issue with is her calling her meals "healthy." While they may use whole ingredients rather than processed, I wouldn't go so far as to call it healthy.
Anyway, I think RR is the closest example of "real" cooking. As I said, I don't catch her show as often as I used to, but years ago I found her to use a good mix of high and low ingredients and techniques. I think she does a good job of easing people into the culinary world. Sandra Lee, on the other hand? Don't get me started...
meleyna at 2:55PM on 04/14/09
The question is, does anyone think cooking shows are real?
I've seen Julia Child make plenty of cheese souffles without the cheese, but I'd rather see her omit the cheese in a perfect souffle than see a fallen one with cheese. A fallen souffle might make me feel better about my kitchen mishaps, but it won't teach me anything.
popcornfordinner at 3:33PM on 04/14/09
i notice this kind of thing all the time -- giada will put lamb chops on her grill pan, they cut to some other shot, and when they return the chops look totally different ie swapped out -- that kind of thing.
i agree with bittman that sometimes it would be BETTER to show mistakes. obviously the shows are supposed to show us what to do instead of what not to do, but i found it incredibly refreshing in an episode of jamie at home when he put an onion in foil straight into the coals of a grill, and then started laughing when he opened the foil and it was completely charred and ruined. you learn from that -- not to put it in that long next time!
megannesta at 3:43PM on 04/14/09
I seem to remember a few 'mistakes' being called during episodes of Good Eats. 'Well if you had done it right it'd be less wet than this... but that's okay you can just add more flour until it comes to a better consistency'
'You ideally want stiffer peaks but this should work okay.' and such.
comicsan at 4:29PM on 04/14/09
@Megannesta, the swap-outs aren't so much about mistakes, they're more about camera time. They don't have the time to wait for things to cook while the crew sits back, so they have things finished ahead of time that are done to a certain point, and they swap the unfinished ones to the finished ones over and over as many times as needed to show the different steps in the process, until the dish is finished.
So mistakes, if they happened in one of those shows, wouldn't follow through to the finished product.
RR's show, on the other hand, doesn't do swap-outs, from what I understand.
And I have seen some mistakes on a few shows. What bugs me is when there is a problem and they make it sound like it's the correct result. This happens a lot when they're showing a hunk of meat that's supposed to be perfectly browned. I've seen them everywhere from barely browned to burned, and the star always says, "That's what you're looking for..."
I wouldn't mind a few epidsodes of shows, though, where they talk about how to fix things that have gone wrong. It might be an interesting way to mix things up a bit.
dbcurrie at 6:10PM on 04/14/09
This is something that I love about Jaques Pepin Fast Food My Way (and More Fast Food My Way). He'll stutter and forget words, and he'll burn himself, and he'll scorch his burgers (I also love how he says burger). Stuff gets messed up, and he says the wrong thing, and they just keep going. It's much more real.
EtherMaiden at 7:22PM on 04/14/09
There are actually real cooking shows out there on the web. I make a meal live each week. I burned things and have set my smoke detector off most of the time when I grilled meats indoors. It is an opportunity to show people that a meal can be made in 45-60 mins (my shows run longer since I interact with chatters). You should check out the live stream on Justin.tv.
casadelun at 7:55PM on 04/14/09
@casadelun, me too!! I have a cooking show online (not live), because it's the best way for me to express my culinary adventures. I think there is a place for both "real" cooking shows and the Food Network shows in this world. I've learned so much from watching those shows, and I hope that maybe someone can learn (or laugh!) from me.
http://thefunnysideup.blogspot.com.
lisapieinthesky at 8:43PM on 04/14/09
@ casadelun
How do I find you on Justin.TV? I watch a lot of live Raiders streams over there in the fall, so I know my way around. What time does your show steam?
Raiders757 at 10:58PM on 04/14/09
"Baffling", "intimidating", "a charade"? He really should give more credit to home cooks! Oh, and my dog just may have better knife skills than some of the TV "chefs".
brooke29 at 12:34AM on 04/15/09
@lisapieinthesky: That's great! At first I thought it was totally weird for me to cook. I thought "who would watch me when they have the Food Network?" Even after 18 years of cooking, I still burn stuff, and I had two failed attempts at making pizza live.
@Raiders757: My channel is justin.tv/casadelun, and I usually broadcast Friday nights around 7:30 EST. Last week, I made some Vietnamese sizzling crepes. This friday, I will attempt to make gyros. I post my recipes here on www.cookingwithcasa.com for those who are interested in trying it out.
casadelun at 3:36AM on 04/15/09
This is why I love watching old Julia Child videos. (You can borrow them from your local library.) I always say she is my favorite cook to watch because she wasn't afraid to a) make mistakes, and b) admit that she made them, there was no editing back then to make everything look perfect, and that's my kind of mentor!
Nowadays you have no clue how many people are behind the scenes chopping and prepping and making things look great.
The other thing I love about Julia is she taught me to never apologize in the kitchen. If you've spent hours making something and it doesn't turn out quite right, don't apologize about it, you still made the effort.
bobcatsteph3 at 10:56AM on 04/15/09
Just had to add to this post because Bobby Flay just sprayed Spanish cava all over himself on an episode of Boy Meets Grill after talking about how to carefully open the bottle... and all he had to say was "hey, it happens." I agree that a lot of shows seem over-produced, but it doesn't mean there isn't realism in the shows, even beyond just making mistakes.
jp_bakeupastorm at 11:02AM on 04/19/09