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Post by diane on May 28, 2011 17:59:25 GMT -6
At the moment Australia is drowning under a sea of reality cooking shows.
While I think it is wonderful that working as a chef or cook is one of the
last professions that you can actually achieve on your on merit (as opposed
to having numerous degrees or university courses etc) the celebrity cooks
seem to be the most insufferable and egotistical people on earth.
We are a small country but there is (apparently almost 30 cooking shows
on TV at any one time). The first series of Masterchef, both Herb and I watched
on the edge of our seats - only to see a woman who dropped food on the floor
couldn't "plate up" on time and cried and talked about her family constantly,
crowned the series winner. I swore I wouldn't watch it again and I have been
true to my pledge.
For chefs I actually like Jamie Oliver - I find he is very "no frills" and his food is
simple to prepare and nice to eat. Nigella Lawson is good as well.
Do you have reality cooking shows over in the US?
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Post by Midge on May 28, 2011 18:21:51 GMT -6
Oh, yes, we have lots of those shows over here as well. There are the typical demonstration-type shows with celebrity chefs such as Giada de Laurentis (niece of the famous producer), Emeril or Jamie Olivier. Some of these shows specialize in a certain type of cuisine such as BBQ with Bobby Flay or Ace of Cakes. Rachael Ray has a show that follows her on her travels around the world as she demonstrates how to eat well on a budget of $40 a day. Then there are competitive cooking shows in which a group of chefs are given a certain time frame to produce the same type of dish, and famous chefs choose the winner. The funny thing is that I do all the cooking at my house but it's Al who seems to enjoy those programs the most!  |
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Post by Roger Thornhill on May 28, 2011 18:48:29 GMT -6
Rachael Ray has a show that follows her on her travels around the world as she demonstrates how to eat well on a budget of $40 a day. Gosh Midge is that $40 a day for just one person? anyone should be able to eat well on $40 a day. |
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Post by Midge on May 28, 2011 19:12:40 GMT -6
Gosh Midge is that $40 a day for just one person? anyone should be able to eat well on $40 a day. You would think so, Jeff, and yes, it's for one person. However we're not talking about buying groceries and preparing your own food. This is for three restaurant meals a day day including beverages, taxes and tips. $40 a day is only $13.33 per meal, not a whole lot. In some cases Rachael has takeaway or street vendor food for lunch so she can have a nice dinner. |
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Post by Roger Thornhill on May 28, 2011 20:14:31 GMT -6
Midge, I'm glad to hear that her budget refers to eating out. I was thinking "Blimey $40 a day, I could eat like a King with that kind of daily budget"  |
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Post by Midge on May 28, 2011 20:23:38 GMT -6
Midge, I'm glad to hear that her budget refers to eating out. I was thinking "Blimey $40 a day, I could eat like a King with that kind of daily budget" Me, too, and the food prices here are probably a good deal higher than they are in Wales. |
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Post by diane on May 30, 2011 0:16:02 GMT -6
Haha Midge, I have to agree. I think Herb could watch
those sort of shows till the cows come home but if you
ask him to make a cup of tea, I doubt if he could turn on
the kettle.
Strangely enough - both you and Roger talking about $40
a day, Herb was looking at "The View" today and called me
in, quite excited, apparently a women was proclaiming she
could cook a family meal for $5 a day!!! Of course she was
pricing everything she used ("squeeze of lemon 5 cents etc)
but there is definately nowhere that I have seen chicken at
$1.50 a pound - not the shops I go to anyway.
Another funny thing, Masterchef was absolutely trounced in
the ratings last night by "Downton Abbey". I suppose it just
goes to show that there's always room for quality television.
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Post by dvdjunkie on May 30, 2011 13:33:47 GMT -6
We have two channels devoted to 'food', one is the Cooking Channel and the other Food Network. If the some of the other channels are showing cooking shows I usually avoid them. I watched "Top Chef" once and some other show about a Cake Master, and I turned them both off.
Food Network is my favorite channel for watching some of the cooking shows. "Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives" with Guy Fieri is one of my favorite, not only because he has featured a couple of Wichita diners on the show, but because he goes around the country to show us how you never know what type of restaurant you will find in any type of neighborhood.
I really like Iron Chef America because of the competition aspect of the show. And then there are the Reality shows like "The Next Iron Chef", "Next Food Network Star" or shows like "Best in Smoke" which just concluded last night (Sunday).
There are some shows on Food Network that I only watch occasionally, "Cupcake Wars", "Challenge", and "10 Dollar Dinners".
Lately my favorite network to watch has been HGTV. They really have some great shows on that network - "House Hunters', "House Hunters International", "Property Virgins" and "Income Property" are my favorite shows, but they have nothing to do with cooking, so I guess I am way off topic here.
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Post by Midge on May 30, 2011 16:53:43 GMT -6
We have the Food Network as well, though I don't think we get the Cooking Channel. Al is a big fan of "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives." The food looks so delicious and so fattening! My favorite Food Network show is "Unwrapped" with Marc Summers. It's not a cooking show (so I'm also off-topic here  ), but it is a lot of fun to go inside food factories and see treats like potato chips,ice cream, pies and candy being made. Diane, I can relate to what you're saying about Herb. There is a trait called "learned helplessness" that some men display whenever they are in a kitchen. Their brains turn to jelly when confronted with the most elementary cooking apparatus. To all the good cooks who happen to be male, I mean no disrespect, and I know you're out there . . . somewhere . . . . |
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Post by Larry's 66 Diner on Jun 1, 2011 15:04:11 GMT -6
I have tried to watch some of those cooking shows on television, and just can't seem to get interested in them. Here in the States there is a program called "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives", but it's not actually a cooking show; they tour and visit these types of facilities around the country and make recommendations based on their experiences, interviews, etc. That's about the closest I can come to watching a food-related series.  :uhuh: |
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Post by Midge on Jun 1, 2011 16:39:51 GMT -6
I have tried to watch some of those cooking shows on television, and just can't seem to get interested in them.  That's all right, Larry. We'll watch 'em for you. |
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Post by Larry's 66 Diner on Jun 1, 2011 18:35:14 GMT -6
Sounds fair to me, Midge. Keep me posted! ;D |
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Post by diane on Jun 1, 2011 18:46:14 GMT -6
A few years ago I used to watch the original "Iron Chef" on the foreign
language station we have over here (I think it was Japanese) and really
liked it. Everything seemed really claustrophobic and stressful but it was
quite exciting. When they made an Australian version of it, the kitchen set
was a lot bigger and the interest of seeing them run around and the
darting and grabbing was gone. It was a huge flop - I thought by trying
to make the kitchen more homey and comfortable to the contestants, the
show was spoiled. "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" sounds like the kind of
cooking show I would like.
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robin
Have my own Counter stool!
Posts: 264
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Post by robin on Jun 2, 2011 21:09:00 GMT -6
Jamie Oliver's shows on healthy food scare me to death - if I went on any of his stuff, I'd die!
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Post by Midge on Jun 3, 2011 4:13:17 GMT -6
Jamie Oliver's shows on healthy food scare me to death - if I went on any of his stuff, I'd die! |
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), but it is a lot of fun to go inside food factories and see treats like potato chips,ice cream, pies and candy being made. 
:uhuh: 
