The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of TV Cooking Shows

Like so many others at the moment, I have eagerly been tuning in to watch the new Masterchef  Professionals series. As I sit and watch, bemusing the skill and flaws of the contestants and commenting on how I would do things differently, I often wonder if we are taking the magic out of food. Is the over analysis of our dining experience ruining the simple pleasures that we can take from food? To make a simplistic comparison, magicians are wonderful to watch, but once you realise how they have done their tricks you can no longer truly enjoy them.

So exactly what are these shows doing to our industry? I'm sure that we have all discussed the exposure that the shows are giving to dining  and possibly the influx of new staff who now decide that cooking is their life long ambition. Now more than ever we also have to deal with the "informed diner" many of whom want to know exactly what cooking processes are involved in their dish and exactly where the products were sourced from. But knowledge is power and comes with responsibility and so many people who watch these shows and are starting to immerse themselves in the gourmet consumer world  are critiquing and disecting our dishes and dining experience without fully understanding all the intricacies of running a successful kitchen.

Often they lack the understanding that the foods that they are buying have to be costed and have to be financially and laboriously viable to be able to put them on the menu. If they want food with such flair and locally sourced, organic, free range ingredients and impressive plating, the cost has to match that and the restaurant also has to have sufficient customers to continue producing that food. Too often we hear people bemoan the fact that there are no decent restaurants or places to eat around, but then we see great eateries go under or change their niche due to lack of customers.

I feel that this all links back to the one central issue, the media are doing a great job of glorifing our industry and what we do but they fail to look at the viability side of it. The food we are shown is often self indulgent and not subjected to the constraints of time, customers, ingredient costs and staff ability. This is understandable because after all, who wants to sit and watch a chef cost out his sous vide of scotch with truffled celeriac puree and lobster roulade. Surely the media also has an obligation to acknowledge all the behind the scenes work that goes into making a successful eaterie and not just promote the idea that if you do good food you will be successful.

 We also have to acknowledge the great things that these shows have done for the industry. Without these shows, so many of us wouldn't have access to some great ingredients or be able to put some of the more interesting dishes on our menus. These shows drive innovation and normalise untraditional ingredients, methods and food, which allows us to diversify and experiment more on our menus. Suppliers are beginning to stock more exotic ingredients at more competitive prices and we get the benefit. 

The final gift that these shows give is a gift for our ego, we have truly been turned into the rockstars of the worker world, and rightly so! We work hard, give up so much and put all our emotions and personal lives aside to give the customer a memorable experience. We don't get to say that we save lives or keep the community safe or that we are nurturing the education of the next generation, but a piece of ourselves goes out on each of those plates, a piece of our pride and our self worth. We give these things willingly and it is nice to be acknowledged for that.  

The Rise and Rise of Street Food (Holy Truck and Taco batman)

Food trends are funny things, they grow and evolve at a staggering rate, throwing kitchens and menus around the country into a frenzy to try and keep up with the new emerging trend. These trends usually start in the upper echelon of world or Australian dining culture, white tablecloths, haught prices and a feel of exclusivity. Whether it is the rebirth of French cuisine and cookery, the fusion of Asian and European cuisine into modern Australian cuisine, the snout to tail revolution or the birth of molecular gastronomy, these trends appear and then slowly filter down from the top through to the restaurants and hotels and finally into the café’s, pubs and catering companies.

3 years ago this evolutionary path of food was turned on its head with the rise of Street Food, it has risen from the bottom and now effects the trends of the nations finest and most cutting edge establishments. It is a cuisine forged from pure necessity, born in the ramshackle carts of South America and the market kitchens of Asia. Gritty, smoky, cheap dining that promises so little and delivers so much.

Adelaide is embracing this trend more and more each day. The imposing line up of office workers and locals infront of the Burger Theory Truck or La Cantina every lunch time is a true testament to the food that they prepare. Restaurants can boast all they want of modern decor and funky art work, but can they truly compete with scoffing a blue cheese, pancetta and Angus beef burger while sitting on the grass in the sun? But as we watch the pubs and restaurants begin to embrace this style of food, we have to wonder, is the point of street food lost when we sit in a leather dining chair surrounded by Italian designer lighting. In these establishments, street food is being chained to all the constraints of other restaurant cuisine that should have never be applied to such a free spirited genre. The soul and theatricality of the food is being lost while it is put in the wrong environment

Finally, I could not write this without failing to mention one of my favourites, Lucky Lupitas. They are one of the restaurants promoting street food in Adelaide who is getting it all so right. From the mismatched glasses and crockery to the rickety tables and casual staff in jeans and non matching T-shirts, everything is perfect. There is no overstated pomp or intricate plating and you won't walk out with an empty bank account, it is a constant buzz of chatter and laughter and the smells that waft from the open kitchen send a promising hint of what is to come. Smoked corn cobs that are chargrilled, spread with chipotle mayonnaise and sprinkled with parmesan, this is what I dream of and Lucky Lupitas delivers. They harness exactly what makes street food great, they embrace the noise, the smoke and the grit and with that acceptance comes the soul of street food. They pay homage to the roots of their  food and remain a shining example of the unstructured love, chaos and passion that is at the very heart of this cuisine.