Home » Beverages » Cooking As A Food Entertainment: Good Or Bad For The Industry?

Cooking As A Food Entertainment: Good Or Bad For The Industry?

  • Dani Peters
  • July 19, 2011

Television has become a part of almost everyone’s household. While it is made for entertainment, it also became a huge marketing strategy for most companies, and even aspiring television personalities. The current trend in the television industry is something that we do a couple of times in a daily basis, and that is cooking and eating.

More and more food shows have been created in the last 10 years. This may be due to the fact that people have become more engaged with things that they see on television, it even became a lifestyle for them. When cooking shows first came to air on television, it was just a simple presentation how food is prepared, techniques which yourself can do, with the use of ingredients that are easily available for your convenience. It became a part of many households, often a daily relaxing routine for most moms, learning some tricks of the trade from the host of the show or a guest. These shows weren’t aiming for the very big numbers when it comes to ratings, because, in the first place, they were created not to entertain, but rather provide some learning tools to those at home and recipes, as well. Cooking shows then were seemingly relaxing to watch, no flying pans, no drama, enjoyable and applicable to reality. But the original context of a “food/cooking show”may have gone out of order with the spurts food shows that leveled up with television entertainment.

Television provided a spot for those who are looking for celebrity status fame, something like Guy Fieri and his funky hair and sunglasses ” not that I have a problem with that. Ever since this fella entered the Food Network family, he has been seen all over. He took the dude food platform with a storm. Guy is serious about his hotdogs and burgers, something that men have been waiting for on television. Cooking shows are usually family-oriented, but he has been provided a platform provide the dudes that kind of food they have been longing for. He has been quite a television entertainer with this enthusiastic character and unforgettable get-up, which viewers have come to love. He was given a new show last year, the Minute To Win It, which provides contestants with blueprints and using the kitchen as their instruments to win prizes. But if I may ask, what is the point of the cooking show or food show? What would an ordinary person learn from watching this? Is food entertainment as good as cooking for real?

Example is Rachael Ray, who has become a household name since her show dominated the Food Network on its early days. Rachael’s 30 Minute Meals was her first TV show on Food Network, which aims to teach people on the go to create delicious meals in a span of 30 minutes. A few years later she had $40 a day and then Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels. Both shows were of almost the same format, documenting her travels and food adventures. The biggest break she had, and probably one of the most popular is her daytime television show, Rachael Ray. This is the time that they focused on entertainment rather than the food aspect of the show. Attention is diverted to  who the guest is, rather than what is she cooking or presenting. She may have a passion for food but sometimes overshadowed by her bubbly character which is good for multimedia purposes. She is a woman who is in control of her career, but is she a television superstar, or a superstar in the kitchen?

But not all shows have gone up the wasteland. One good food show is Good Eats by Alton Brown. Throughout the years, it has been aired in the Food Network, Good Eats has been providing history and adventures with regards to food. He provides an in-depth and more scientific learning about the ingredients, the food, the tools that should be used, how your cooking tools could affect your food, and such. It’s a concept that marries Discovery Channel to the History Channel and they had a child named Good Eats on the Food Network. The shows gives credits for traditional dishes that we are familiar with or something we have outgrown, and bringing it back to the future, something that fits your lifestyle. He is serious about his passion for food and everything else that surrounds it. Good Eats created a new vision for food lovers, extending beyond plain entertainment and cooking.

Food is part of one’s travel adventure, and, this is widely evident in Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations on the Travel Channel. The show introduced the viewers to a different kind of food cultures around the world, the cuisines, the fusion, culinary traditions, etc. No Reservations lets you travel the world through television, discovering places that could be your dream destinations, the food that lets you through a region’s culture, and everything that talks about the flavors and the palate. He has visited different states in the U.S., and other continents, even reaching as far as Asian countries. He defied the ordinary tourists’ itinerary by embracing each culture deeply as he possibly could. No Reservations for culture shock is going to happen, only the discovery of cultural passion for food and traditions.

Cooking still seems to have captured a large market in the media industry. Chefs have always impressed upon viewers that cooking shows are a great source of sharing their recipes and cooking techniques. There are still lots of good television shows in the country today that focus more on food and cooking rather than pure entertainment. Food shows have come a long way since, and so has entertainment. What is the real essence of a television show? Application to real life or pure entertainment?

Cooking As A Food Entertainment: Good Or Bad For The Industry?Television has become a part of almost everyone’s household. While it is made for entertainment, it also became a huge marketing strategy for most companies, and even aspiring television personalities. The current trend in the television industry is something that we do a couple of times in a daily basis, and that is cooking and eating.

More and more food shows have been created in the last 10 years. This may be due to the fact that people have become more engaged with things that they see on television, that it even became a lifestyle for them. When cooking shows first came to air on television, it was just a simple presentation how food is prepared, techniques which you yourself can do, with the use of ingredients that are easily available for your convenience. It became a part of many households, often a daily relaxing routine for most moms, learning some tricks of the trade from the host of the show or a guest. These shows weren’t aiming for the very big numbers when it comes to ratings, because in the first place, they were created not to entertain, but rather provide some learning tools to those at home. Cooking shows then were seemingly relaxing to watch, no flying pans, no drama, enjoyable and applicable to reality. But the original context of a “food/cooking show”may have gone out of order with the spurts food shows that leveled up with television entertainment.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments