TV shows can teach us a lot, you know. From entertainment to education, from comedy to drama, factual to documentary, it can evoke many emotions within whenever we as a family unit sit down every so often each week to watch our ritualistic TV show that everyone in the family is eager to watch from week to week. While it is always different from person to person, and from family to family, what the family unit can all agree on is the fond memories the TV show will impact upon whomever watches it. In this case, and in relation to the title of this blog, the cooking shows that we watch can inspire us all, not necessarily to cook like Curtis Stone, Gordon Ramsey, Jamie Oliver or even Heston Blumenthal, but hopefully to cook, to be creative in the kitchen, and to maybe express a hidden talent or two, in a way that could be as beneficial to the family as it would probably be to the person cooking.

I can remember watching a fair amount of cooking TV shows when I was younger. From Huey’s Cooking Adventures and Ready Steady Cook to the beloved now axed SBS dubbed The Iron Chef, it is the cooking shows of the past that led me to be on the path to where I am today, cooking on a regular basis for family and friends. And while I haven’t really been watching that many cooking shows lately (the latest season of Masterchef that I watched was Season 3, where mum of three Kate Bracks won first prize), what I have received from watching cooking shows in general is a chance for myself to unlock some creativity deep down that could only manifest when I am let loose in the kitchen. It is when we realise that cooking can be as much therapeutic as it is enjoyable and fun for everyone involved, we can hopefully be encouraged to eat more in the home and less outside. Home cooking, though not for everyone who experience a busy working lifestyle, is just as much a satisfying moment during the day and can bring with it much reward and satisfaction.

Food for me has brought up so many memories along with it. I can remember way back to when I was five, and how I wanted to be a chef when I was older. While at the age of 25, I’m not necessarily a chef, I am cooking way more now than I was when I was younger, which is always a plus. What we remember when we’re younger with fondness can give us comfort today, and hopefully impetus and encouragement for tomorrow when we make pertinent decisions about where we may head in, 1, 2 or even 5 years’ time.

While I may not be able to cook like Heston, Jamie or Gordon, these TV celebrity chefs have certainly inspired many to explore the kitchen and what it holds for the creative cooking spirit in each of us, myself included. If it wasn’t for the down-to-earth TV shows that make cooking not only welcoming but also rewarding, I’m sure many blokes, maybe myself included, would still be in front of the TV watching the latest rugby league, AFL or cricket match, while holding the remote control in one hand, a beer in the other, and feet rested high on a cushion while the wife, mother or someone else explores the kitchen for us. While this scenario may sound stereotypical, my point is this- TV shows, and especially cooking TV shows have made cooking more appealing again. While there may be more cooking TV shows now than TV as a whole can handle (Kitchen Nightmares, Hell’s Kitchen, Ready Steady Cook, Masterchef, Iron Chef, Top Chef, The Chew), what the typical cooking show has done for humanity in a general sense is to make mankind much more resourceful. Cooking, while painstaking when it comes to washing and cleaning up, is a rewarding task, and with the advent of TV shows like Masterchef and the like, we can continue along the avenue of being creative in the kitchen for months and years to come.

What past-time of yours is your favourite? Is it cooking or something else? Which cooking TV show that is on currently inspires you the most? Would you say you are an average cook or an exceptional cook? Which cooking dish that do don’t know how to cook right now would you love to learn within a years’ time? Let us know in the comments. Til next time.