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Americans love stuffing their faces and crashing out in front of the tube. Which is why the combination of the two has always proved popular.
Cooking shows are a staple of television programming, as essential to the medium as news broadcasts, sporting events and sitcoms. But unlike grandfatherly anchors droning, sportscasters shouting or wacky neighbors barging, cooking on television is a very rare form of mass instruction, with a sensual ebb and flow.
Celebrity chefs cheerfully chop, slice and saute, swearing the whole time it's easy. Anyone can do it, provided they listen up. These affable hosts crack jokes, add oil and set the oven to broil. And then eat, shoveling their delicious creations into their quivering maw.
Over the course of decades, these shows have remained beloved and rightfully so. Here are 10 of the greatest. ...
10. "Good Eats"
Alton Brown combines dry humor, a passion for food and a head for science into a succinct, yet entertaining show that's a love letter to cooking technique.
9. "America's Test Kitchen"
This plucky PBS show is about the kitchen: what to cook in it, what to cook it with and how to cook it. The hosts are serious-minded experts, but with a wink.
8. "Bizarre Foods"
Host Andrew Zimmern doesn't really show his viewers how to cook as much as he shows them how to eat. Fearlessly, with gusto, passion and enthusiasm.
7. "The Naked Chef"
Jamie Oliver brought a youthful, rock-'n'-roll sensibility to a show that featured simple, flavorsome dishes with exotic flourishes.
6. "Emeril Live"
Emeril isn't boring -- his food and his show sung with spice and soul. Perhaps too much the entertainer for purists, he nonetheless put the "show" in cooking show.
5. "Martha Stewart Living"
The Doyenne of Domesticity leaves some people cold, but her masterly skills, exquisite tastes and the unique way she challenged her viewers to aspire to her seemingly impossible standards makes her an icon of the genre.
4. "Yan Can Cook"
Martin Yan demystified the cuisine of an entire hemisphere, demanding Americans not only embrace Asian food, but cook it as well. And he did it with a clever twinkle in his eye.
3. "The Galloping Gourmet"
This Scottish lad did something pioneering -- he made you laugh as he told you how to cook. Graham Kerr was funny, unpretentious and taught a generation of men that one can be debonair whilst laboring over a hot stove.
2. "The French Chef"
It's almost cliche to venerate Julia Child, the woman who reinvented the cooking show and gave birth to generations of gourmets. She was poised. She was accessible. And her joy was infectious.
1. The Original "Iron Chef"
Like any great competition, this Japanese import was about bragging rights. Classically trained chefs pitted their skills against brash upstarts, improvising like jazz musicians and sweating bullets. And in the end, marvelous, inventive dishes were created, all for the love of the game.
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12-30-2009 @7:20PM Kassie said... Really, Bizarre Foods over No Reservations? That's crazy talk. Bizarre Foods sucks. How about the Rick Bayless One Plate at a Time, that's 10x better than Bizarre Foods.
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1-04-2010 @2:02PM dp said... I have to agree. Andrew Zimmern has horrible commentary and always looks totally like what the world thinks and American looks like. I love No Reservations and One Plate at a Time over Bizarre Foods any day.
12-30-2009 @7:21PM Gary said... Sorry, but there is no way that Jamie Oliver and Martha Stewart have better shows than Alton Brown's Good Eats. He is entertaining (unlike Martha) and really gets into the science and "why's" of food (unlike Jamie)
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12-30-2009 @7:30PM Samme said... Like some other people I don't believe Martha Stewart and her often inedible (but beautiful) cooking belong here. Most of the shows I have seen with her feature a guest chef and not her own cooking anyway. My vote would be for Justin Wilson the Cajun chef. He was incredibly funny and made homestyle food that I wanted to try.
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1-04-2010 @6:19PM BETTY said... WHO COOK LIKE THIS , WITH TODAY'SMONEY??????
I CAN'T MARTHA, WHAT ABOUT RACHEAL RAY?????
1-04-2010 @2:05PM Bob said... I'm glad someone else recognises the great show/showmanship of Justin Wilson.
1-04-2010 @1:50PM Lola said... Complete agreement--Justin Wilson's show was the best ever I guar-on-ee.
1-04-2010 @6:54PM mark keenan said... totally agree about justin wilson also tony bourdain. love those guys. rip justin. he is truely missed.
1-04-2010 @5:48PM Mike said... I agree with Samme. Justin Wilson was the best. I like Alton, Tyler and Bobby Flay but Justin was #1. I still tell some of his funny stories. They should rerun his shows. He was a great Cajun cook and very funny. Don't wanna waste none, no.
1-04-2010 @9:41PM robert said... Thank God someone else on here has taste. How could they have missed Justin?
1-05-2010 @11:52AM Dale Logue said... My all-time favorite TV chef is Jacques Pepin, a down-to-earth man with an elegant cooking style who was able to translate and teach his style with a minimum of fuss. Replace Martha!
1-06-2010 @12:52AM judie said... I totally agree, the all time best.
12-30-2009 @8:16PM Jami said... Jacque Pepin!
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1-01-2010 @6:00PM GL said... I agree.
1-04-2010 @1:10PM Bob said... Jacque Pepin is the best teaching chef on TV. The viewer is led step by step. He and Julia Child together made an excellent team but Jacque by far is the best.
1-05-2010 @9:17AM kiki said... Love Pepin. How about Hubert Keller?
12-30-2009 @8:55PM Monty Harris said... How about Justin Wilson the Cajun Chef! He was very funny and the food was interesting/foreign to a Michigander!
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12-31-2009 @5:28PM tidcar said... Monty,
I guar-on-tee I remember the Cajun Chef. Never knew what he was saying but it was a great show.
1-04-2010 @11:26AM pusssykatt said... I loved him....and thought immediately he'd be on the list!
1-06-2010 @1:36AM bigG said... Justin Wilson was great. "What kinda wine goes good with this? Any kind you got. I garontee"