Cooking Show Sociology

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How have television cooking shows impacted the food industry and peoples general health?

“-these shows (cooking shows) prevail because everyone eats, knows something about food, and can relate to the endeavour." Time magazine makes this point in an article about the evolution of television cooking shows. And it is very true. Everybody can relate in some way or another to the cooking programs we see regularly on our television.
This investigation will look to discover the question, how have television cooking shows impacted the food industry?

To investigate the following focus questions will be looked into
- What is the history of television cooking shows?
- How have television cooking shows impacted jobs in the hospitality industry?
- Are …show more content…

Hosted by Marcel Boustine and aired by the BBC, this is said to be one of the earliest cooking shows. Even earlier than 1937 it is believed that there were even radio cooking shows. Cook’s Night Out was fifteen minutes long and each show simply showed how to prepare one dish. We have now advanced to many varieties of cooking shows, from adventures around the country to win the prestigious title of Australia’s Masterchef, to cooking meals in fifteen minutes with Jamie Oliver. It is estimated that 3,962,000 Australians sat down to watch the finale of Masterchef Australian in 2010 , . Making it the third most viewed television show since 2001, only narrowly behind the Australian Open men’s singles final in 2005 and the Rugby World Cup Final in …show more content…

This is a significant amount of people that are cooking meals that tend to be higher in calories, fat, and served in unhealthy portions.

Besides questioning the health effects of cooking television shows, there is also the discussion that the food industry is not being portrayed correctly. Christina Tosi, chef at Momofuku Milk Bar in New York, was asked about her feelings about cooking television shows. She summed it up by saying “If I had to answer, I’d say food TV portrays more of who we are as TV watchers and less of who we are as people of the food industry.”

A group of chefs and restaurateurs were interviewed for an online article about how they think television cooking shows have affected young and aspiring chefs. Zoe Nathan owner of Rustic Canyon, Huckleberry, Sweet Rose Creamery, Milo and Olive restaurants states her

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