Cooking shows

Have you ever flipped through the channels and landed on The Food Network? I have! I have stopped to watch the Barefoot Contessa carelessly throw perfectly chopped incredients into a beautifuly shiny Kitchen Aide mixer in a pristine spared-no-expense kitchen. The whole time I find myself being lured into a false sense of security with a dose of "Yes! I too can be a professional chef" and "That looks so easy! I am sure I could do that!" I give it a try and my kitchen resembles a D-Day explosion, the color/texture of the food looks a little off, and the stench could possibly warrant a visit from a Haz Mat team!


If you watch the shows closely, you will see that the "Chefs" actually don't do the grunt work of cooking. There is a nice person who cuts and organizes the ingrediants into neat and orderly bowls. The bowls are strategically placed around the area that the "Chef" is cooking so it just looks like everything is so organized! Also, the appliances and cooking utensils needed are always conveiently laid out. Then there is an empty trash can/bucket/bowl conviently set up to collect shells or what not that occur during the show. The "Chef" always proclaims, "This is so simple! It takes no time at all!" Yeah right! It is that simple when everything has been laid out for you so nicely and all you do is dump ingrediants into a skillet and mush it around with a wooden spoon! The rest of us have to find, buy, chop, prepare, use way to many spoons and bowls, read the recipe, and empty the trash before we add the by-products of cooking into the trash. And in the end we have to CLEAN IT UP! My 30 minute meal is more like a 60-90 minute meal!


This post might seem like a boycott against cooking. Not at all! I actually strive to cook more and become better at it! I envy people who can whip up a delicious meal with only 4 ingrediants in their fridge. I tend to fall in the domestically challenged category. I just feel that cooking shows are unrealistic! Make the "Chef" entertain/feed a baby while they cook a "deliously fast and simple" meal and then I might start to believe them!


I think Bridget Jones (my favorite movie of all time!) says it best,"I have a sneaking suspicion that I am a genious in the kitchen!" Hah!