What do you look for in a good foodie program?

Some of the top programs seem to include at least some of the following themes:-

Educational: i.e. how to cook various dishes.

A competitive element.

The cut and trust, and pressure of a professional kitchen.

Presenters, or cooks, who are good looking.

Chef's roaming around the world looking at, or maybe cooking, national dishes.

Shows involving the public...

... to name but a few themes

But what is your idea of a good program?

What would you include if you were putting a TV Food program together?

gastrosurf

Great post (and I read your other post full of suggestions too!)

For me, the technical learning is important. It might sound a bit gory but some simple butchery or knife skills would be useful. Boning out a leg of lamb etc - you know the stuff. Given that we want to know where our meat has come from and, in general the meat from small, local producers costs more, it makes sense to me economically, to be able to buy larger cuts, and do the cutting and chopping myself. Also, things like making my own sausages and being able to link them would be good.

Some other thoughts -

Cooking on a budget - a fixed amount and you need to produce food for say a family of 4 for a week.
How to cope with different tastes within the same family without having to produce separate plates of food

Spotlight on regions - and highlight the small, local producers, giving good service and good quality produce for their customers. Visit local restaurants with a cook-off at the end of the week.

Tastings - introduce people to new products

Just a few random thoughts........

jan

I want a cookery programme that just gets on with it!

Hate too much faffing around & dialogues & intros that are either nonsense, irrelevant, or simply ego rubbing speeches!

Shows like Tamsin's, Contessa, Nigel's Real Food are just some examples of getting on with it without the pretences!

my favourite shows are the ones with simple concepts, such as rick stein, nigella, bill granger etc. i like presenters that arent arrogant and admit there are things in the kitchen that they are not so good at, or dont enjoy doing so much.
the most important thing (apart from the food obviously) is that the show has an element of humour in it, like rick stein and chalky, they can never fail to make me chuckle

I never though of this, but I can tell you the shows I like. Master Chef Goes Large, Rick Stein, Great Food Live, Hells Kitchen, Lidia's Kitchen, Tyler Florence, Top Chef, etc., Saturday Kitchen and Barefoot Contessa.

I don't know if there is a common thread to these - but perhaps shows that have a lot of entertainment value such as a contest, quirky personality or heaps of humour. It can't be a "dry, how-to" cooking show.

I would like to vote here for any LIVE program.

The cooking itself should be simple and accessible so that I can do it at home and the recipes should be on the web so that I can concentrate on the programme rather than taking notes!

I´d vote for "Matserchef goes Large " and "Kitchen Nightmares " Brilliant entertainment !

For me it was the original Masterchef with Lloyd Grossman, Nick Nairn's programs, also Robert Carrier and Yan Can Cook from years gone by.


More emphasis on ingredients, where they come from, info about them and what can be done with them, rather than strict recipes.

I would love to see the original " Masterchef " again they were fantastic , but being greedy , I would like the original shows with that format brought back AND keep "Masterchef Goes Large ". They is so much scope for so much more .

Great question

i enjoy programmes that encourage people to eat seasonal produce, im passionate about that, which shows a large variation in receipes for different ocassions and tastes. programmes that i have enjoyed are

Nigellas, Barefoot contessa, tamasins day-lewis, bill granger, delia smith, rick stein, kitchen nightmares for entertainment value , masterchef, full on food, sophie grigson, nigel slater, jamie oliver.

B x

Best cooking show *ever* is Good Eats starring Alton Brown.

If you can get hold of any DVDs or episodes (torrents etc) I guarantee you will love it.

Thanks gastro for this post and your very well considered suggestions on the other thread!!

Having the benefit of reading the posts above I'll keep mine brief. Rosti's comment on Yan Can Cook re-emphasises how personality is key in all this. I couldn't stand that show but only because of Yan. We see similar comments about Jeni on GFL, Tana on MK and Ainsley on his shows.

Personality can ruin the experience for the viewer.

On the other hand, if you look at shows like rick stein, sophie grigson, nigella lawson's series, barefoot contessa, tamasins day-lewis, bill granger, delia smith, nigel slater, yada yada yada they all seem to have what I'd call a "calm" presencejamie oliver

Where Kitchen nightmares, Masterchef goes large, Full on Food, Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen, etc all have the "entertainment value" and, as babsky put it, "get on with it" and are well paced and lively.

For my vote, I'd have to go for the entertainment angle with Masterchef Goes Large, Hells Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares.

Great topic! It certainly ISN'T Market Kitchen. That's for sure.

Thinking through all the programs that I look forward to watching (my criterion) it's one of two things: a contest or some form or travel/foreign element.

Masterchef Goes Large, Hell's Kitchen, Top Chef, even the Come Dine With Me all kept my interest level high from beginning of show to end.

Any travel element, that's why I can still watch Floyd after 20 times.

So, perhaps a travel based show with some competitive elemts would be ideal for me. "Masterchef Goes Europe", maybe.

Definately , more foodie shows with a travel theme .
Strangely enough we see India , Spain , Greece/Cyprus ,China ,Italy fairly often , but the land where gastronomy began , France , we see only rarely , although Floyd did a series of shows there , and not forgetting Rick Stein , his journey down the canal was brilliant.
I've also enjoyed "America's Top Chef ". At times this was hilarious , proberbly for all the wrong reasons , also when GR is in America finding his top chef , cannot remember the title of the show ,so funny . American's don't seem to be able to take being told . Mind you , it's proberbly the way he tells them , upsets their sensitivities .

More , more and more of these please !!

I think a series based on the QE2 would be interesting too. They showed a glimpse in Master Chef - around 100 chefs apparently, from all over the world. What a series that would make. Jenny Bond would be ideal as the presenter - perhaps working with a guest celeb chef each week looking at different aspects of the kitchens, dinning rooms and service generally.

The logistics of catering for so many people, with so many differing tastes and diets at such a standard, must be fascinating in itself.

A bit more of programs like The People,s cook book,because there is a treasure trove of people,s recipes throughout this nation and its so interesting to see what other people can cook and be recreated by simple family cooks like myself,I suppose thats the educational bit. And i am a bit nosey, and love to see other people,s kitchens to see how they arrange them,so a show with home cooked recipes and a little look around their kitchens .

Jackwagstaff, I loved Top Chef too. Thought I was the only one watching! It made my Sunday nights. As you say I was probably laughing at rather than with, but such entertaining characters. The one who was into wine, Stephen I think, was very funny to watch. They talk in a weird gastronomic language, strange nouns I'd never heard of ... very fancy. Apparently there's an Australian version that's really excellent so I hope we get more soon.

Yes I know who you mean Conch . I did'nt like him at all , but towards the end I quite warmed to him .
I hope we get to see the australian one , I would expect that to be a bit more down to earth , a bit less , how can I put it ? sucking up , from the contestants to the judges . The australians never strike me as being a particually rear end kissing nation , whereas the americans seem to thrive on it !
Reading the messages , it seems we all love cookery based competitions .Whatever aspect of them we like , selsey wants to look into other people's kitchens , gastrosurf wants to get behind the scenes of the QE2.
I would say that whatever sort of competition they could think of , so long as food or cooking is the main part , then UKTV food could'nt go wrong.

I agree, I also warmed to Stephen in the last few eps. He def showed some humility. And the nice guy won which is always good to see.

Yes I think the Oz version would be more to our tastes. They should make a Brit version ... well they may even be doing that as we speak, a sort of cross between Masterchef and Hell's Kitchen I suppose.

Did anyone see the oft repeated 'The Way We Cooked' at the w/e? I caught a bit of Fanny adorning a roast chicken with horrid looking piped squirts of something and then serving a Fruits de Mer platter whilst her guest complained that the contents were still alive. I sometimes wonder if Gordon had rather warped memories of her when he started his campaign.

I saw the Fruits de Mer episode first time around. How embarrassing for her. I think Gordon just liked the naughty title.

Have you seen Jamie's new advert. I think its really funny and refers to Gordon's army like persona. Looking forward to seeing Jamie and Gary's new series.

Grisinni

Yes, a great trailer, can't wait for new Jamie. Whilst so many progs take a lot of repeated viewing I can't do much more Naked Chef. I assume the ref to no drama is also pokiing fun at his own past progs like the school dinners stuff.

Agree, GR did enjoy the play on Fanny! I loved it when they showed a bit of her very last interview which was with a v young and greatly quiffed J Ross. Would love to see it again in its entirety.

Loved the first ep, not least because I could live on tomatoes. Yummy recipes, just my kind of food, I was drooling.

And as he promised, no drama, no Jules crying in the background. Like the gardener bloke too. Good tips about planting basil and marigolds around your toms to stop pests.

I can't stand Delia. She reminds me of a really patronising spinster aunt, and tbh, telling people they need 1/4 tsp of this and 1/8 tsp of that is NOT a good way to teach folk how to cook. It may be a good way to teach children maths...I like Nigella style of messy cooking, Bill Granger, Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa), Giada de Laurentis...

I like to see a show with Martin Blunos in a simple format, like Tamsins.
For me he is very unchefy more about the cooking and getting the good stuff onto the plate
I would also like to see some shows on the Germanic and eastern european cuisines, as they have some stunning food that is oft ignored, by food writers and TV shows.
I must admit that I have been enjoying for the umpteenth time Floyd in France, its still fresh. And what I have enjoyed is the context he sets the dishes to the region(something all but gone in most of the UK).
The F word is great, in the way it sets tongues wagging about food, and Kitchen Nightmares is pure voyeurism

Nigela I just can't stand, its just toooooo lifestylee, but if it gets people cooking then that is great.

Delia, got so many people cooking with the confidence of the recipe will WORK, yes it is very dadedadeda, but it gave people the skills and confidence to go and get cooking. Yes her shows are very simple, but they really are tutorial videos of the highest order, and if you view them with that in mind you can gleen alot from them

Always have loved Floyd , he just could'nt care who he upsets , his books are good too , the recipies work . When he does get something wrong , he's so "normal" about it , like the time the elderly french lady told him he was doing it wrong and it was'nt very good , hilarious !
Delia is good for following , not too keen on the recipies , and she is'nt a showman like Floyd , but she's very good as prodigal says for just getting people cooking , and like prod, I could live without Nigella , don't like or dislike her , she does nothing for me , I find her shows actually , a bit boring. Even Tamsin and her terrible hair at least keeps me entertained , ( wondering where the hair is going to land ! ) Actually she works and cooks a lot tidier in her new kitchen than she ever did in that awful place she lived in before.