Television: Recent Developments

Contemporary food television materializes at the convergence of three histories—that of early U.S. how-to and educational broadcasting; the steady and significant influence of lifestyle television (with roots in British hobbyist TV); and, more recently, U.S. cable narrowcasting aimed at niche audiences. The majority of this programming coheres around three broad stylistic categories, including the classic instructional “stand and stir” format, the wide-ranging rubric of reality television, and the documentary-inflected food culture show with its focus on history and trivia. Thus, recent food television has effectively blended entertainment, information, instruction, and expression of personal lifestyle. Cooking shows’ how-to roots have merged with a heightened televisual focus on aesthetically driven production values and an advertorial landscape that assists viewers in the acquiring of cultural capital.