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Food Show Suggestions (1 Viewer)

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My girlfriend and I are looking for new food shows to watch together. We currently watch Masterchef Australia and the UK show Food Unwrapped. Would love some more suggestions, we do like Kitchen Nightmares and Hotel Hell (but don't consider them food shows as such). Thanks :)
 

Stan

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I honestly don't have any recommendations from the US. I don't know why, but all our shows are becoming more and more antagonistic, kill or be killed shows. One of the latest is Cutthroat Kitchen, starring one of my favorite chefs, Alton Brown, but the title says it all. Sabotage your fellow chefs so you win the prize.

So many of these shows are becoming "contests", rather than true cooking shows where you actually learn techniques and new recipes. Even Chopped rarely teaches anything, just another contest where you see chefs use "mystery" ingredients and try to come up with something inventive. The only thing I've ever learned from that show is "don't do bread pudding, it will never cook in time".

Even Kitchen Nightmares, US version is awful. Then Ramsay does his UK version and he's polite and very helpful to the people. (Might have the wrong title, Ramsay is doing so many series, they start to blend together)

We still get repeats of Giada de Laurientiis and Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa" shows, but things have really gone downhill.

I'm beginning to cut out the more commercial oriented channels and go back to my old favorites like America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Country and other PBS shows.

I think I need to look into somehow getting some Australian channels.
 

Mark_B

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Master Chef and its spinoffs on Bravo are good. At least on these shows they are not judging on personality and who will provide the most drama. Top notch chefs being judged on their food.
 

Malcolm R

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There are still a few decent non-contest shows on Food Network. If you enjoy rustic, home-style cooking, The Pioneer Woman, Trisha's Southern Kitchen, and Farmhouse Rules are good.

I enjoy Cutthroat Kitchen and Chopped for the entertainment value, but I do agree they're not teaching any kind of kitchen skills or techniques.

These days, I get most of my ideas and recipes either online or from magazines (Cooking Light, Eating Well, Taste of Home, Simple & Delicious, etc.)
 

Kevin Hewell

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Try to catch some "Good Eats" repeats on the Cooking Channel on Friday nights. Alton Brown stopped making new ones a couple of years ago but the ten seasons of repeats are always good. It's still one of the best cooking shows ever.
 
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Thanks for all the suggestions. I have a feeling a lot of the reasons some of the US cooking shows don't appeal to me is because of US culture and its emphasis on cutthroat competition. I will give some of these other suggestions a try.

I can definitely recommend Food Unwrapped which involves people examining the food production process and which chemicals and other techniques are used to create products, very enlightening.
 

Josh Dial

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Stan said:
I'm beginning to cut out the more commercial oriented channels and go back to my old favorites like America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Country and other PBS shows.
ATK and CC are the best cooking shows on television. Hands down, no contest. No other show even comes close, save Good Eats, which ended its run years back.
 

DaveF

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Yep, agreed, if you want to learn to cook, watch America's Test Kitchen.If you want to be entertained, I like Cuthroat Kitchen. And I'm told Beat Bobby Flay is good.For drama feel goods, Restaurant Impossible has merits. To shake you head in dismay, the Undercover shows are entertaining.
 
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I am from the US partially. I lived there for 10 years during my adolescence. Now I live in Denmark and the cooking shows here are also far friendlier (even the competition based ones) and still keep some of the drama. I think the vibe you get from a country's cooking shows actually speaks a lot about its culture :).
 

Wayne_j

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Restaurant Impossible is close to the content of Kitchen Nightmares. Guy's Grocery Games is probably the most light hearted competition show.
 

Stan

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DaveF said:
For drama feel goods, Restaurant Impossible has merits. To shake you head in dismay, the Undercover shows are entertaining.
The Undercover shows are like watching a train-wreck you can't turn away from. I really despise them, but am somehow drawn to them.

The whole "spy on your employees" thing is awful. Most of the problems are due to bad management and ownership. If I worked for one of them, even if I were one of the "good" employees, I'd walk out. Disgusting and micromanaging so far over the top.These owners are such wimps they can't even run their own restaurants.
They're hilarious to watch, probably like most "reality shows" they're heavily edited, but they're quite humorous.
As Josh mentioned, "Good Eats", probably my all time favorite cooking show. Sadly, Alton Brown has sold out and entered "Used car salesman" territory.
 

Stan

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"We still get repeats of Giada de Laurientiis and Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa" shows, but things have really gone downhill."

Don't know when it started, but "Giada at Home" has a new episode on 9/14, so at least one true "teaching" series is back.
 

McPaul

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If you can get either of Michael smiths shows, cooking at home or chef michaels kitchen, I highly recommend. I've been watching Dave beaulieus YouTube channel as well. No more "reality" TV for me tho. Can't help you there.
 

Josh Dial

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blindpet said:
Are the Michael Smith shows US based? I'd never heard of them before. Will add them to the list :)
He's Canadian--I'm not sure if his shows are shown state-side.
 

McPaul

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Yeah, Michael Smith is Canadian. You used to be able to go to food network.ca and see video clips for each recipe. But it doesn't look like that's available. And as I scan the recipes listed for his show, none of them look at all familiar. I wouldn't go by that. I like his cooking. it's simple. it's rustic. it's homey. and he's an award winning chef as well. I used to watch his syndicated show every day. In fact I think my pvr still records his shows whenever they're on, I just haven't got around to watching lately.
 

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