why we watch the things we watch
I like cooking shows. But not the ‘here’s a recipe and here’s how to make it’ shows. I like gladiatorial cooking shows – Top Chef is coming to the end of season 22, and I’ve just finished season 2 of 24 in 24 Last Chef Standing (which I find to be a delightfully bonkers show in its basic concept). There’s Iron Chef, Next Level Chef, Chopped, Hell’s Kitchen, Barbecue Showdown, Culinary Class Wars and many many (many) others.
Those close to me have gotten used to me bringing them up in conversation from time to time, as they do form one of my touch points, along with the first 10 or so seasons of the Simpsons and classic Looney Tunes.
But I’ve been pondering this love I have for these gladiatorial cooking shows. Why, and just how bad is it? One thing to note is that clearly, I’m not alone. Each week seems to bring a new one, and there is the Food Network, and perhaps others as well. And I do like cooking and I enjoy a good meal. Not that I’ve yet tried to cook one of the dishes created in the throes of these competitions, but hope springs eternal.
But I do have this worry in the back of my mind. I think the fertile ground from which this worry sprung is a quote that I only vaguely remember, that civilizations are doomed when they make celebrities of their chefs, and we are well down that road.
But food is an important aspect of our lives. We need to eat. And I also appreciate the skill of the chefs. They train, they spend time, years and decades with their craft, and then they enter an arena, to test their skills and to find out, as sometimes happens, that they know more than they thought they did. And those are great moments.
I’ll admit that I wasn’t sure where this was going to go when I sat down to put some words down. I have an appreciation of the skills of those involved, but I do worry a bit that I am distracting myself from the cares and woes of the world.
Perhaps that’s necessary. Perhaps I’m taking advantage of my place in the world to escape the crush of the news for a bit of time, watching as a chef pulls a great dish out of an ingredient they’d never worked with before.
But I suspect as well that anyone reading this has their own escape, their own thing they keep to avoid the world for a few minutes. To which I can only say, enjoy. Enjoy those moments, and I will go back to the finale of Top Chef next week when I get the notification that it’s waiting for me.
multijimbo 