Title: Cooking and Traumatic Tv

Introduction: America loves watching competitive, and reality cooking shows, but are they having a negative impact on cooking in America? In this episode of Bending the Spoon, Chef Laura explores the reality of reality shows and delivers her featured ingredient, top tool, and the tip of the week.

Bio: With over 13 years of professional cooking experience with her meal delivery and catering business and restaurant, Chef Laura founded Bonicelli Cooking Club in 2018. She brings professional cooking techniques, knowledge, great recipes, and inspiration to home cooks and food lovers everywhere. She is known for her love, support, and advocacy for local, organic, and well-sourced food and her expertise in navigating dietary preferences and issues.

Timestamps

• [00:00] - Intro
• [0:57] - Overview of cooking shows in America
• [05:17] - Featured ingredient
• [06:59] - The cooking competition formula
• [10:50] - Tip of the week
• [12:33] - My personal experience with a cooking competition
• [14:18] - Top Tool
• [15:22] - The other impacts of cooking competitions

Key Takeaways

• are cooking shows good - or bad?
• featured ingredient
• what are the adverse effects of the competition
• what are the positive results of cooking shows on home cooks
• Tip of the week
• what is the cooking competition experience like for a chef
• why do restaurants and commercial kitchens have trouble finding cooks
• Top Tool

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Links mentioned in the episode:

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Bonicelli YouTube

Mezzaluna

In the next episode of Bending the Spoon, "The Importance of Holiday Cooking Traditions," Chef Laura discusses why holiday cooking traditions are worth keeping up and how to involve your family. She'll discuss starting new practices that your friends and family will accept, and will share some of her family's favorite culinary traditions, friends, and cooking club members. Chef Laura will also talk about holiday traditions in other countries.

Cooking and traumatic tv.

Are you or someone you know addicted to television cooking shows?

Chopped, Cupcake Wars?

Worst Cooks In America?

Love them or hate them, they've had a significant impact on American home cooks.

We'll talk about that and much, much more today on Bending The Spoon.

But before we get to that, I'd like to remind you that if you like recipes, go

to bonicellicookingclub.com and sign up for my email list and check out all of

the options of participating in the club.

And if you like what you hear today, hop over to pod chaser.com and leave

Bending The Spoon a positive review.

Also, for the video version of this podcast, subscribe to

Bonicelli Cooking Club on YouTube.

Now let's talk about Cooking and Traumatic TV.

A few years ago, I attended a conference for female chefs.

One of the main topics of the conference was the negative effects of reality

cooking shows, which are anything but real on Americans and their cooking.

The revelation, or I should say the phenomenon is that Americans

watch a lot of food TV on a wide variety of channels and devices..

But Americans are cooking less.

That conference was a few years ago, pandemic and all.

It is still true.

There was a time when all cooking shows were instructive, mostly women

tuned in to learn a specific technique.

Or recipe or commune with a host whose job was to improve our lives.

Some of those chefs and cooks were Julia Child, Martha Stewart, Lydia Bastianich,

the Galloping Gourmet, the Frugal Gourmet, Jamie Oliver, Emeril Lagazzi to name.

Just a few all teaching, cooking and it worked.

I can name many home cooks and food businesses, mine included, that were

totally inspired by watching these shows.

But there was a tremendous shift in television cooking shows due to the

success of the Iron Chef in 1999.

Now, that show led to that programming shift.

Now, the majority of cooking shows are challenges and competitions these

days followed in popularity by travel shows featuring food in some fashion.

And lastly, shows that actually teach cooking.

And many of those shows are celebrities that are only there

because they're celebrities not because they have skills to teach.

Food television is making big, big money turning the kitchen

into a very stressful place.

So here's a list of top new and returning shows in 2022.

There are lots of lists out there that vary somewhat, but the mix is similar.

And I picked this one.

The only two listed that were not competitions.

One was Ina Garten hosting dinners in her home.

Probably some cooking I assume.

And the other was Chef's Table on Netflix featuring pizza.

Basically beautifully filmed restaurant chefs making pizza.

For competitions, I'll list them.

Next Level Chef, chefs facing unique cooking challenges in a culinary gauntlet

to be the world's newest superstar.

This is with Gordon Ramsey, so there will be some lecturing and probably some

yelling, The Julia Child Challenge eight Home Cooks cook their way through some of

Julia Child's most iconic recipes to win a trip to Paris to study at Le Cordon Bleu.

Cool.

Iron Chef Quest for an Iron Legend.

Chefs go head to head against culinary icons in a battle for the

chance to become the Iron Legend Guy's Chance For a Lifetime.

Guy Fieri gives competitors the chance to run their own Chicken Guy Franchise.

Wow.

Spring Baking Championship Easter.

Some of America's best bakers get set to prove their skills in this springtime

baking championship Barbecue USA.

Michael Simon.

Also a chef, travels to barbecue competitions across the country to

showcase competitors and barbecue talent.

Gordon Ramsey, Uncharted Showdown, Gordon Ramsey faces off against UK

Stars, Paul Ainsworth, and Matt Waldron.

As you can see, Gordon has two reality cooking competitions now.

So here is my favorite one because it's just so, so ridiculous.

Easy Bake Battle, Queer Eyes, resident food millennial, Antoni Parowski

hosts a culinary competition where Baker's main tool is essentially

a box of plastic surrounding a light bulb, an Easy Bake Oven.

Dear Lord, so here's one that I just watched and was a little

surprised by The Big Brunch created and hosted by Emmy winner Dan Levy.

The big brunch celebrates inspiring, undiscovered culinary voices

from every corner of the country.

This eight episode cooking competition series gives 10 talented chefs the

opportunity to share their stories and business dreams, while volume

for a life altering $300,000 in cash, somebody is going to be crying.

So all of these shows follow pretty much the same formula, but we'll talk more

about that after our Featured Ingredient.

This week's featured ingredient is Sundried tomatoes.

Sundried tomatoes have a distinct, rich deep, almost piquant flavor.

That is a great addition to pasta, dishes, meat, poultry, fish,

vegetables, and even breads.

They make wonderful pesto and dressing, and I keep them on hand always.

They're ready to go.

Delicious and unique.

Sun dried tomatoes are ripe tomatoes that lose most of their water

content after spending a majority of their time drying in the sun.

These tomatoes are usually pretreated with sulfur dioxide or salt,

before being placed in the sun in order to improve their color and appearance.

The practice of drying tomatoes in the sun was originally done on the roof tiles

in Italy for the purpose of preserving the tomatoes for use during winter.

The tomatoes take five to 10 days to become sun dried tomatoes,

depending on their size, the type of tomato, and of course the sun.

When they're done, they weigh about 10% of their original.

Sundried tomatoes range in texture, color, and size, depending on the type of tomato.

Red plum tomatoes like Ro tomatoes are the most common tomato variety used.

The top producer of Sundried tomatoes is Turkey producing

40% of the world's productions.

Sundried tomatoes can be bought in a package as a paste or bottled in oil

like these with herbs and are commonly available in jars in most supermarkets.

I love them packed in oil.

The tomatoes are soft and tender and the oil is great too.

Sundried tomatoes are very high in potassium, sodium, and manganese,

and they have significant quantities of other vitamins and minerals.

Sun-dried tomatoes are our Featured Ingredient.

Losing in the kitchen.

One of my biggest problems with cooking competitions is that someone

loses that often involves crying and degradation and humiliation.

So the kitchen, a place where people commune, cook together, a

place filled with love and family is now about stress and drama.

And don't tell me that's what commercial kitchens are all about.

Chefs work very hard to control and eliminate stress because

cooking for the public in and of itself can be really stressful.

Let's talk about some of the formulaic elements of these shows and the fact

that they are all manufactured, false reality designed for drama and conflict.

In fact, they are so manufactured that the winner may not have been the best, and

the losers may not have deserved to lose.

It's all rigged.

Most shows start with a big prize , in other words, how they bait their chefs

and cooks into the room to suffer or be exalted, and then the ridiculous reveal

of ingredients or focus of the dish.

But here's the thing, the contestants know what they're going to cook.

They have to to get the ingredients together and have the proper equipment.

I really love it though, when everything magically appears a

completely bare kitchen to bustling and full of equipment and food.

Here are a few backstage facts I found in my research.

The backstory and the confessional cut-ins are recorded after the

fact and are at least semi scripted or coached by the producers.

Remember, drama, even though the shows are supposed to be in real

time, time is compressed because it has to be because cooking different

dishes takes different amounts of time, so everyone finishing within

seconds of each other's probably not.

There are retakes because things get missed and they have to show

the interesting cooking moments.

The emphasis on competition and the necessity to create personal animosity

and emotional instability is built in which completely obscures any

real cooking and real cooking chops.

Now, celebrities, celebrity chefs and restaurateurs are often terrible judges.

Celebrities don't necessarily know anything about food and who knows

what any of them are drawn to or why.

If nothing else is real, why would their opinion be?

And I ask you, doesn't everyone want their grandmother's bread pudding recipe

ripped apart on international television?

Also, here's a fact.

Tasting over time and multiple dishes, results in fatigue, and so does drinking.

I find it particularly annoying when the judges sip cocktails while the contestants

are scurrying around the kitchen, burning things and having their meringues break.

Oh, and it's also really helpful for the judges to go to their

station and ask questions while the chef is under a ticking clock.

So let's see if we can just break their concentration and

make things really fall apart.

Now, makeover shows like Kitchen Nightmares often put the businesses

they are making over out of business.

They are set up to fail.

And fail.

They do.

Now, granted some of these restaurants probably needed a large infusion

of cash and long-term coaching, not just a TV episodes worth of help,

but creating the drama and finding all sorts of food safety violations.

A horrible menu, disgusting carpeting, and then rehabbing a space on

a shoestring budget overnight.

Making a troubled feuding staff cook an unfamiliar menu with no time, and then

having all the patrons show up at once is not a successful restaurant make.

Now we know the restaurant owners sign NDAs, which they do to get the restaurant

makeover and celebrity exposure.

And of course, they know what they're getting into.

They're just looking for a lifeline, and the producers are looking for ratings.

With that, it's time for a Tip Of The Week.

The tip of the week is to save your leftover sun dried tomato oil.

I keep it in the fridge until I'm ready to use it.

Think of it.

We buy and make flavored oils and they are expensive.

This one is already done on hand and paid for.

You might as well use it.

You can saute your mire poix for soups and other dishes, saute chicken breasts.

Use it to drizzle over fish to toss in your pasta and to make

pesto use it anywhere you want.

Extra flavor and you're going to use oil.

But I have to say, my favorite way of using leftover sun dried tomato oil is

in a simple homemade salad dressing.

So here is my go-to recipe, one half cup strained sun dried tomato oil,

one quarter cup red wine vinegar,.

One teaspoon of Dijon mustard, one teaspoon of freshly minced herbs, one

clove of minced garlic, Kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Feel free to play with the ingredients, particularly the ratio of vinegar to

oil and the amount of Dijon and herbs.

Make it your own.

The Tip Of The Week is save your leftover sun dried tomato oil.

You are listening to Bending The Spoon, the podcast dedicated

to making you a better cook.

I'm Chef Laura Bonicelli, and I want to remind you that if you like recipes, go

to bonicellicookingclub.com and sign up for my email list and check out all of

the options of participating in the club.

And if you like what you hear today, hop over to pod chaser.com and leave

Bending The Spoon of positive review.

Also for the video version of this podcast, subscribe to

Bonicelli Cooking Club on YouTube.

Now, back to our episode, You can't be a chef without being asked to

compete in a cooking competition.

I have only done one, and it was absolutely awful.

I agreed reluctantly to do this for a local farmer's market, me against

another chef, totally doing something that I fundamentally disagree with

because, I believe that food should bind people together, not separate them, and

not be used to outdo another person.

And I truly believe that the adversarial format is negatively

impacting cooking in America.

But I agreed mainly because the market sponsor had put a lot of money into the

event and they couldn't get anyone else.

Needless to say, I hate to tell you, I lost, which didn't help my already

terrible opinion of cooking competitions.

So this competition was outside live in real time, and it was 90 degrees in the.

At one point I literally thought I was going to pass out.

Now, that was before the competition started.

Once we got up and running, though, we did well finished on time, my nieces

assisted me and . She was amazing.

Our prep was well done.

So other than not winning, because even though I don't like cooking

competitions, I of course wanted to win.

I was satisfied.

But here's the cool thing.

I had a conversation with the chef that did win when we were done, and he told.

That I had cooked with my meal delivery service for his family

during a very, very difficult time.

He thanked me and told me that he loved my food.

Now, I wouldn't have had that conversation without that competition.

So maybe that's why chefs do them.

Even if they don't win, they hope there will be an unexpected bonus.

And for me, there certainly.

It's top tool time.

My top tool for this cooking and tortured TV episode is the mezzaluna which

translates to half moon in Italian.

The mezzaluna was invented in Italy in the early 17 hundreds and I

find it to be a kitchen must-have.

A mezzaluna is a knife consisting of one or more curved blades with a

handle on each end, which is rocked back and forth to chop ingredients.

They usually have a single blade like this one, but sometimes

seen with two or three blades.

Mine came with a board.

Love this, which has an indentation, which allows me to

contain whatever I'm chopping.

I love that because it keeps my kitchen clean.

I use it for our featured ingredient, sun dried tomatoes, because I'll tell

you that they're a mess to chop, and the divot in the board keeps them together.

A mezzaluna is also wonderful for chopping herbs, mincing,

garlic, and shallots and nuts.

My top tool is the mezzaluna.

You can find out more and where to get them.

on my Benable site, there's a link in the show notes.

Here's another angle on cooking competition shows It's a fact

that cooking schools have shut down all over the country.

One of the reasons for that is pure economics.

Why get a $70,000 education for a job that's going to pay $15 an hour?

It just doesn't make any.

Another reason could be the negativity associated with cooking too stressful.

I mentioned the Chef's conference.

I attended many chefs, myself included, found that many of the potential employees

we interviewed that did go to cooking schools were more interested in achieving

fame by entering competitions cause they watch competitions and also it's

become a part of the educational system.

So more interested in that than they were interested in actually working

in a restaurant or commercial kitchen.

So the kids that are paying the $70,000.

Want to be famous chefs without doing any of the grunt work, and they're

probably hoping they'll win a $300,000 competition and get their own free

restaurant with a bunch of free publicity.

The truth is that cooking for a living is hard work and most of the

people doing it don't become famous.

Usually they just love food and they found a way to work with it and still love it.

When the underlying message of most of the cooking television we watch

is one of failure loss despair with a little humiliation thrown in, why

wouldn't we rather be entertained by it, watching someone else go through

it rather than do it ourselves?

That's it for this week.

Next week's podcast is called The Importance of Holiday Cooking Traditions.

Till Then, thank you so very much for listening to this

episode of Bending the Spoon.

If you like this episode or if you think someone else would find it, Please leave

a review on pod chaser.com and if you have any questions for me, find me on

Instagram or YouTube or go to bonelli cooking club.com and leave me a message.

Thank you, and go and make some magic in your kitchen.