Food shows deconstructed (or why Nigella works)

Now who doesn't like a good food show ? (question not directed to audiences consisting of certain better halves who only watch CNBC TV 18 and consider Discovery Travel and Living a waste of time). Food shows have come a long way from the cookery shows of the 90's a-la Sanjeev Kapoor and Tarla Dalal's step by step precise instructions delivered in monotone over cable channels of yore.

Enter, for example Nigella's kitchen. Measuring cups be damned, this is a world of eye-balling ingredients and grabbing fist-fulls of the greenest greens, or the juiciest fruit, all of this enhanced by a camera lens that suitably contrasts food against a bokeh background. In short, your dream kitchen.

There is a subtle reference to Nigella in the book "Julie & Julia" where there is a description of a "chilly blonde kitchen dominatrix" with "soft-core images of the glossy haired author sinking her teeth into a juicy strawberry". Perfectly apt, and probably reason enough for certain male audiences to watch her show. But for certain female audiences with purely food-related proclivities, who after a generation of watching their mothers/neighborhood "aunties" jot down Tarla Dalal's instructions, "food porn" (as described by Anthony Bourdain) comes as a refreshing change.

For Indian audiences with no access to Food Network or other TV channels that we watch in the hope of inspiring the budding chefs within us, shows like Nigella's Kitchen, Rachel Allen's Bake, and the like have more than made up for that latent need. And how could you not root for Nigella when she throws all caution to the wind and douses her chicken with sticks of butter, or when she guilt-lessly gets up in the middle of the night and raids the fridge for a midnight snack? Not really what the doctor ordered, but ohh so so enviable.

Now a special mention of that baap of all travel shows, Highway On My Plate. From roadside dhabas to culinary meccas like Karim's in New Delhi, food is profiled with honesty and enthusiasm. No great camera work here, and no air-brushing. Here are two "healthy" men, not exactly crusaders of good health and low fat, eating their way through idlis in Chennai and biryani in Lucknow, and in the process, managing to give humble street food the respect it rightly deserves. Why count the calories when you can have a deep fried kachori dripping with ghee?

From kitchen goddesses to highway foodies, food and travel shows have come to stay. Say goodbye to Tarla and the gang, and welcome Rocky, Mayur, Nigella and the brigade.

Statutory warning: Food shows are conducive to weight gain. Rocky claims that between Mayur and himself, the two have to have "gained 45 pounds or 20 kilos since we started shooting for Highway on my plate"