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Entry #6

Cooking Shows Offer The Best In Reality Competition Television

Posted August 17, 2011, 12:00am by Aaron Brown

Ever since the turn of the century, reality competition shows have made a huge impact on television audiences. Original shows like Big Brother and Survivor paved the way for the genre in the United States when they burst onto the scene in the year 2000, spawning a wide variety of competitive shows over the next ten years.

It may comes as a bit of a surprise, however, that another country was doing the reality competition thing to perfection back in 1992. Iron Chef debuted in Japan and might deserve a great deal of credit for sparking the reality competition subgenre. Not only did America present the show in dubbed English back in the 90's, but they have also created a spinoff of the show titled Iron Chef America that currently runs on Food Network.

Part of the reason for bringing this up is to express my thoughts on why I believe that cooking shows offer the best in reality competition television. Compared to other reality competitions, these shows seemingly offer the least amount of drama and tend to focus mainly on performance. While these shows are typically edited to provide some sense of drama for the viewer, they normally boil down to which food tastes the best, which food is presented the best, and which chef navigated through a variety of challenges to prove they are the best chef in the competition.

Not only that, but viewers like myself find that cooking shows provide a quality learning experience. I have gained a better knowledge of food and cooking techniques from watching reality competition shows over the past few years, which has given me a better appreciation for the food I eat.

What reality cooking shows should you be watching?

The Top Five

5. Chopped (Food Network)

The show features four experienced chefs competing in three separate challenges, with the lowest performing chef getting eliminated before the next round. The chefs are given specific and sometimes random ingredients that must be included in each dish and are then evaluated by a panel of experts. There is a lot to be learned about food and the cooking process from this show, plus it's a show that you can watch or record randomly without having to follow an entire season.

4. MasterChef (Fox)

MasterChef is the Gordon Ramsey-led entry that makes its way onto the list after two seasons on Fox. It pits home and amateur chefs into a competitive format with a variety of challenges, who are then judged each week by chefs Ramsey, Graham Elliot, and Joe Bastianich. The judges are highly critical but do a solid job of providing commentary that helps the audience better understand the cooking process being shown by the competitors.

3. The Next Food Network Star (Food Network)

Next Food Network Star brings a variety of chefs in to compete for the prize of a cooking show on Food Network. In addition to competing in a variety of cooking challenges, the competitors are also judged on their ability to perform in front of a camera. The show provides an interesting mix of cooking and performing that sets it apart from other reality cooking shows on television.

2. Iron Chef America (Food Network)

Iron Chef America does a solid job picking up where the original left off, with Alton Brown providing humorous and thoughtful commentary and top-rated chefs like Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto, and Mario Batali competing against a lesser-known challenger in the making a three-course meal. Each show has a secret ingredient that must be included in each dish, while a panel of guest judges evaluate each course and pick an overall winner. Viewers get to see a variety of cooking techniques without a ton of editing with the chefs under intense pressure to cook in a set amount of time. This is also a show that benefits from allowing viewers to watch without having to follow an entire season.

1. Top Chef (Bravo)

Top Chef sets the benchmark for this subgenre, with high-quality chefs competing for a cash prize and notoriety. The award-winning show is a clear number one on this list, claiming an Emmy for Best Reality Competition in 2010. The difference in this show compared to most others is that the chefs have an exceptionally high skill level and the challenges they compete in each week are extremely difficult. The show recently featured an All-Star season with previous challengers coming back to compete. If you can only watch one show on this list, make sure it's this one.

Other Options:
-Top Chef Masters (Bravo)
-The Next Iron Chef (Food Network)

Technically, these two shows could slot into the top five, but since they are spinoffs of shows already on the list, I'll keep them out of the "official" top five. If you like the original show, you will probably like these too.

Shows To Avoid:
-Anything involving desserts, unless you are partial to them
-Hell's Kitchen (too much drama, swearing, and yelling and not enough quality cooking or learning provided)
-Worst Cooks In America (I just don't want to watch low-quality "chefs" compete for anything)

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