Recently, a friend joined us for lunch and, along the way, our discussion turned to TV cooking shows. We all liked the original Great British Baking Show because of the warm, supportive contestants who were all serious hobby bakers.
We also enjoyed the Master Classes by the hosts, Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry. It’s fun to watch them work together teasing but helpful and eager to pick up tips from one another as we learn from both of them.
We listed other cooking show hosts and series that echoed that warmth and educational aspect like the older seasons of Moveable Feast, Alton Brown's Good Eats, Ina Garten, Sara Moulton, Jamie Oliver, Jacques Pepin and, of course, Boston’s own Julia Child!
Cooking as Conflict
On the other hand, you won’t find our TV tuned to the “reality-based” cooking competitions offered by the big cable outlets. Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen, Top Chef, Iron Chef, Hell’s Kitchen, Throwdown, and MasterChef all clearly display an attitude that cooking is a competitive endeavor.
For the people who take part in these shows, food is not about hospitality, tradition, nutrition, fun, or honing useful skills. What matters is who has the best “chops” or virtuosity and technical skills in the kitchen. It is about being numero uno with those oh-so-important celebrity judges.
These shows are often referred to as “reality-based” because they toss in a few staged crises and highlight adversarial relationships as fits the formula. Unfortunately, this is a recipe for sending a generation of prospective cooks to the take-out counter. “If a celebrity chef has a problem doing this, what hope is there for me,” they ask.
Leftovers from a Sunday roast chicken and vegetables can become a hearty, savory, main course bread pudding in the hands of a good home cook.
Home Cooks Win!
Like many of you who cook at home, we know there is nothing exceptional about facing a grab bag of ingredients and making a wonderful meal out of them. Good home cooks do this every time they walk into the kitchen and decide what to make for dinner. They do it when unexpected guests arrive and they throw together something delicious to share. What’s more, their judges are people who really matter–family and friends.
Leftovers become a frittata with a nice crisp salad for dinner.
Generations of Home Cooks with Chops
Today’s home cooks are pulled along by the apron strings of generations of both memorable and unknown cooks who came before them. In some cases, you may remember a patient teacher who taught you to make cookies or grill a fish.
Other women and men from generations earlier created dishes that we consider comfort food today. These were made from whatever ingredients they had on hand and were often economical as well as delicious. They turned Sunday roast leftovers into Monday meat pies, Tuesday stuffed vegetables, Wednesday pasta sauces, and Thursday casseroles. They served up fish dishes on Fridays and beans on Saturday night.
In addition to the stove magic, home cooks do the budgeting, shopping, food storage, ingredient preparation, serving, and cleanup with just a bit of help from those they feed. They plan how to use the leftovers and follow food-safe kitchen practices. Furthermore, they do it week-after-week and year-after-year.
Home-based kitchen wizards may not be awarded celebrity status or prize money, but they do win smiles and grateful hearts. They have the real chops when it comes to cooking.
The next time you sit down to a well-prepared meal take a moment to thank the cook. And, if you are the cook, give yourself a smile and a pat on your own back. You know who the real winners are, you and those around your table.
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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017- 2018 Penny & Ed Cherubino, top photo courtesy of The Great British Baking Show
(Adapted for BostonZest from one of our Fresh & Local newspaper columns.)
