The ten best TV food shows

March 11, 2013 by
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Two fat ladies

Just because we like to stir up a bit of controversy every now and then, we wanted to note this article by The Guardian, “The ten best TV food shows.”

Some of the names may not be familiar in the U.S., but some will be, and this list could help our U.S. viewers keep a look out for some new names. And we’d love to hear who you might add to the list to make it global, so we’ve added a few of our U.S. suggestions at the bottom to get you started.

Here’s the list from The Guardian, (with a few of our comments in parens)

  • Floyd on fish
  • MasterChef
  • Jamie’s Kitchen (there had to be a Jamie Oliver entry)
  • Nigella Bites (ditto, Nigella)
  • Nigel Slater: Life is Sweets (ditto, Nigel)
  • The Great British Bake Off
  • Two Fat Ladies (we’re sure everyone on both sides of the Atlantic agree on this)
  • Man vs. Food (not sure about this one – not the U.S.’s best export)
  • The Galloping Gourmet (ah, memories)
  • Vic & Bob do Master Chef

 From the U.S. we’d suggest at least the following (in no particular order):

  • Julia Child’s French Cooking (a no-brainer)
  • For our quirky entry, instead of Man vs. Food, we’d nominate Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern.
  • Julia and Jacques [Pepin] Cooking at Home
  • Good Eats with Alton Brown
  • Yan Can Cook

Love to hear your thoughts.

Category: Food Biz People

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11 Comments

  • geoff@kupesoftware.com  on  March 11, 2013

    Jacque Torres had a show where he made amazing confectionary sculptures. Incredible.

  • geoff@kupesoftware.com  on  March 11, 2013

    I really enjoyed Nick Nairn's series and also Rick Stein's shows – love their books too!

  • sisterspat  on  March 11, 2013

    Two Fat Ladies, just loved that show, and Julia and Jacques the very best.

  • geoff@kupesoftware.com  on  March 11, 2013

    Two Fat Ladies- hands down the best!

  • PinchOfSalt  on  March 11, 2013

    The English-dubbed version of the original Japanese Iron Chef. Those guys were actually serious about their cooking. In addition to the show being a hoot to watch, if one paid attention there was a lot to learn, too.

  • debbyc  on  March 11, 2013

    UK – Great British Menu, and Australian Masterchef, because the master classes give it far more substance than the UK version.

  • meggan  on  March 11, 2013

    What about Baron Ambrosia? He is most awesome!

  • geoff@kupesoftware.com  on  March 11, 2013

    French Cooking at Home – Laura Calder.

  • adrienneyoung  on  March 11, 2013

    Alton! Alton! Who else could teach so much to so many adults with… Sock puppets?!!

  • bookpoet  on  March 12, 2013

    I second "French Cooking at Home" with Laura Calder.

    Also, a fascinating (and almost unknown) series is "A Taste of History" with Chef Walter Staib of the historic City Tavern in Philadelphia. Chef Staib cooks colonial-era food with colonial-era implements in the kitchens of colonial-era homes such as Mt. Vernon, Monticello, Colonial Williamsburg, etc. But this is not just history, folks. The dishes cooked are complex and look delicious. This series aired on PBS in the Mid-Atlantic states and picked up a passel of Emmys, season after season. The DVDs are available at the City Tavern website.

  • drlake66  on  March 12, 2013

    I would add pretty much any Julia Child or JacquesPepin cooking show. I also have to agree with bookpoet's recomendation of A Taste of History. It's amazing and wonderful to see what can be done in a Colonial kitchen with the available tools.

    I would also add America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country as well as any of Sara Moulton's shows.

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