Food TV
I have just reviewed the line-up of spring/summer food shows on the BBC. I am mostly excited about what's going to be on.There's a fantastic series on called The Hairy Bikers - these two ex-hippie dudes travel the world by motorcycle (or scooters when necessary) and every so often stop to prepare local specialties on the roadside. I love them. They will taste anything and stop at nothing to experience the true culture of the locale. They are fat and as the name suggests - hairy with unkempt beards. They often refer to their past overuse of recreational stimulants, in their Northern English lilts. What I really like about them is that they visit local markets and really comb through them showing you where they get the ingredients for that day's cooking. (None of the magic used on most cooking shows where little dwarves behind the scenes are shopping frantically, dicing veggies and marinating meat so the presenter can look casual cooking a curry in the middle of a tea plantation). The Hairy Bikers are shown doing all the work themselves. And they are pretty good cooks.
Saturday Kitchen hosted by Antony Worrall-Thompson is back with fresh episodes following a few weeks of re-runs, rehashed and segmented shows and the winter Olympics schedule. Saturday kitchen shows re-runs segments from some o the most famous cooking show hosts of all time. Keith Floyd, Rick Stein, Gary Rhodes. I shall resume my own Saturday Kitchen 'schedule': get up early, do my marketing with Bunny Dog, do my work-out and be ready to do chores in the house so I can watch the show, then chores in the garden or other planned activities. Fascinating hey?
After Saturday Kitchen, there's another cooking programme on. Usually it's hosted by a pretty good chef. Starting Saturday it will be Bill's Food - hosted by Sydney restaurateur Bill Granger. The BBC website describing his new series finally does justice to the simplicity of Bill and Bill's cooking. BBC uses words such as; basic, simple, everyday, normal, easy, simple, basic, easy, simple, plain etc etc. Of course - this guy is a huge celebrity in Australia and films his show from his amazing house overlooking the most expensive Sydney area beach property.
Bill Granger's claim to fame is scrambled eggs. Really. One of his restaurants has people lined-up around the block for fluffy, creamy scrambled eggs with chives or something. Someone should tell the Aussies that they can buy eggs at the supermarket....
I do get irritated with people seem to make their living so easily and are canonised for doing the bare minimum. He's really just a shadow of Delia Smith with a nice house and blond hair. At least Delia Smith knows she is teaching the basics and doesn't pretend that what she does is ground-breaking. Bill, we can all go to China town and get a Peking duck to shred and add to package noodles - but thanks for the brilliant recipe idea.
The last Bill's Food I saw, he actually made granola. Toasted oats, seeds, dried fruits (bird food) and stuff thrown on a try and in to the oven. That's it. He then showed on TV how to swirl 6 crushed Raspberries in to a bowl of yogurt. 'Not too mixed - it should be like ripple ice cream'. Ok Bill, I'm taking copious notes.........Then he said 'Raspberries may seem a bit extravagant for kids, but you don't have to do it often'. Well Bill, if that's extravagant to you then... - oh never mind - geez. Give me that sunny yellow and baby blue-painted house on a cliff overlooking the Sydney harbour furnished by an upscale Ikea-like store and let me cook something REAL on TV dude!!
There's a slew of new and interesting food related shows on. One of the more entertaining (to me) is Eating With. The show spends a half hour with a celebrity and travels through their personal food history and eating relationships. It's clever and interesting. Last week, Cilla Black (a very popular home-grown singer in England) revealed that during the war she became fond of sliced orange rubbed with an Oxo stock cube for flavour. The deprivation of wartime and rationing helped her develop a taste combination that seemed so decadent and rich to her as a child - and it's still one of her comfort snacks. Eating With chronicles the food people grew up with and follows their evolution or sometimes, non-evolution from those influences. Tonight's episode features the son of Camilla Parker-Bowles (AKA the Duchess of Cornwall) (AKA Charles' Wifey). He's a food writer and it should be interesting to see if he learned any thing from his mother.
Off to scan the stalls of the Gypsy fruit vendors down the road from the office. Want a springy, sweet, fresh snack to eat at my desk....
posted by Brussels Confidential @ 11:39 AM
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