Closing the Gap Between TV Food and Real Food

Food is highly entertaining, no doubt about that, and television is perhaps the best medium to really show how to cook something, outside of joining a class. But as many others have pointed out, as food has soared as entertainment, viewers' cooking skills have continued to decline.

In a highly recommended post over at Civil Eats, Mollie Katzen (author of the seminal Moosewood Cookbook) discusses this dichotomy. She says:

The gap between celebrity and real food being cooked is huge. People are watching TV, but there’s so few people cooking good, honest food. That is the stuff of daily life. If you know how to cook you’ve got a skill. Long after the TV’s off, you’re still going to need to eat.

This statement made me think of a proposal Marc R. has over at Ethicurean, challenging Top Chef to take up the ultimate challenge: school lunch.

With school lunch being debated on Capitol Hill, "Top Chef" should get in on the action and focus some kitchen challenges on school meals. One challenge could have each contestant try to cook a collection of delicious and healthy meals (breakfast and lunch) that spend less than $1 on food per meal. Another might be to cook in a real school, perhaps H.D. Cooke Elementary School, the setting of The Slow Cook’s excellent multi-part series on school meals, or use the actual school kitchen staff as assistants, though this one might be getting a bit close to the upcoming Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution on ABC. The contestants could also integrate ingredients from local farms with USDA-provided material.

Washington and the school lunch community also offers plenty of interesting possibilities for guest judges: First Lady Michele Obama, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Chef Ann Cooper (the "renegade lunch lady"), or a room full of cute and opinionated schoolchildren.

What a terrific idea! It would be one small step in making television food real for the ultimate judges: kids. But here's a thought on the ground rules: no pizza, fries, hot dogs or cupcakes. If you're wondering, What's left for kids to eat? That, my friends, is the heart of the problem.

- Samuel Fromartz

Comments

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[Marc]

Thanks for noticing and writing about my post. Although a reality show won't "fix" school lunch, it could help build momentum for change.

Another area where TV chefs could improve is food safety. On numerous occasions I've seen a TV chef chop up some raw meat, wipe off the cutting board with a towel, then use the same board and knife to chop something else (like herbs for the garnish). Since many of them have restaurant experience and food safety training, you'd think they would know better. I know that time is tight on the program, but they could use the opportunity to remind the audience about appropriate practices (different cutting boards, frequent washing, etc.).

[Anna]

Keep in mind many schools don't even have cooking facilities anymore. School lunches are sometimes prepared at a central facility, packaged individually, then trucked to the schools. The neighborhood schools in our suburban district in San Diego County have a small prep room with coolers and microwaves, not kitchens, Tthe individually packaged items are placed on hot and cold carts and wheeled outside for the lunch line "buffet". The "cafeteria" is a sunshaded picnic bench area adjacent to the playground.

And as bad as the school lunches are (fast food burritos, burgers, bouncin' nuggets, and so on), sometimes the lunches brought from home are no worse. Lunchables and the equivalent are common. In fact, one mom I know sends Lunchables daily, and on "no lunch trash day" opens a Lunchables at home and transfers the contents into a reusable plastic storage container. Sigh.

Not enough parents really care or know the difference, I fear.

[Mindy Kapit]

I enjoy your blog. I am a healthy cooking coach and the author of my own clean food blog, icookclean.com. This week much of my focus, along with that of my readers, has been on our children. I believe good eating habits must start at home with the parents, who need to live by example and provide good choices for their children to make. The excuses, "I am so tired from work" and "I don't have time to prepare healthy meals" will no longer fly in the face of what our country's eating habits have turned into. I have devoted the entire week of blog posts next week to interviewing children ages 4-13 to see where they stand and what they have to say about this stuff. I invite you to check it out, it should be quite entertaining and probably a bit embarassing for their parents!

[Medical Advice]

i like watch how to cook.i learn a lot how to cook..the time have ocassion thay have to prepare recipe.