It’s unfortunate that cookery on TV has become such a competitive sport. Who can do the craziest show? I watched a bit of Jimmy’s Food Factory last night and couldn’t say I felt I had enhanced myself from the experience. He’s like a poor man’s Heston Blumenthal, and what they both have in common are TV series about food, with nothing edible at the end to inspire. Where oh where have the good old days of telly cookery gone? Now we have to rely on the morning shows to show us what to cook.
Saturday Kitchen, ITV’s This Morning or GMTV all have good food offerings and you can actually learn something from the better chef presenters such as Dean Edwards who is always so inventive, full of great tips and not bad to watch either! Even the guest chefs on Saturday Kitchen occasionally inspire me to get going in the kitchen and cook what I just watched (after a spot of shopping of course).
James Martin looks bored with the whole thing though – he’s obviously doing a job now, and like day old bread, he’s gone a bit stale. What we need are more initiatives like This Morning’s hunt for a new chef.
I want new ideas, new ingredients, new faces from TV viewing. Why isn’t Yotam Ottolenghi on TV? He could do an entire series on eggplants alone, and I would be riveted. But maybe that’s just food porn for kitchen geeks like me…