AS A young child on quiet no-school mornings, I used to flip through the television channels. Cartoons had quickly lost their novelty on young me. Instead, I would click the remote control to the Asian Food Channel. I found myself intrigued by watching people scrambling and narrating through their immaculate, fully equipped kitchens. Every careful move thoroughly explains to you how to roast a chicken properly, how to emulsify a salad dressing, and how to boil pasta al dente.
I was absolutely astonished by “Nigella Bites” on the Asian Food Channel, a show hosted by none other than the fabulous Nigella Lawson. Her specialty is British home cooking. She would throw mussel shells into the sink from a distance. She had no utter aversion toward frozen, canned, or processed food. She would also constantly remind you that fat-free is less than ideal.
This was realistic home cooking, one free from the refinement and formality of fine dining. One of my favorite parts of the program was the end credits, where there would be clips of her in the middle of the night sneaking a snack from the fridge. A scene far too familiar for those, like me, who have bedtime cravings.
As I have grown older, I delight in the presence of Nigella Bites for free on YouTube. It is my ultimate comfort show, one I watch when I would like to tune out from all the stress. I like it because it reminds me of my mother in the kitchen. Not that she cooked what Ms. Lawson did, but because my mother spends a lot of time in the kitchen. Cooking and cooking and cooking. Perhaps it’s because Ms. Lawson is a mother, too.
There is something comforting about seeing a mother in the kitchen. Because when the mother is cooking in the kitchen, everything is fine, nothing hurts. All is well.
In more recent months, I have gotten into the habit of watching food-centric travel YouTube videos while exercising. This way, I get a little satisfaction from the sight of food but without the caloric intake. But how badly I wish I could sample food through the TV. How great would that be?
A recent food show find of mine is a YouTube channel, “Blondie in China,” where Amy Lyons, an Aussie content creator, takes us through her Chinese food adventures. She travels from region to region and displays the variety of Chinese cuisine beyond the usual classics. It makes me want to be more explorative about my food choices.
I can’t help but be curious about the mouth-watering sights of dishes like Nanjing’s roasted duck, Harbin’s sweet and sour crispy pork, and Changchun’s mashed potato noodles. The more I learn about cuisine from these videos, the more I learn that food is not just sustenance.
Food has depth. It has layers of history and culture ingrained into it. One advantage that Ms. Lyons has is being fluent in Mandarin. There is an edge in knowing the local language. When you communicate in the same language, you immediately have this connection, this common ground with the locals.
In that way, interactions are more profound. Conversations are more fluid. Ms. Lyons includes talking with the locals, be it restaurant owners, cooks, or friends, as a major element of her food adventures. As a viewer, I then get to understand more of the people, their backstories, and the effort and passion that goes into the food they make.
With the knowledge that food has this significance to people, I am more open to exploring new food. Because if they hold it in such high regard, then that would make it worth trying.
Another show I cannot seem to quit is “The Backpacker Chef,” where Paik Jong Won, along with three actors, accomplishes their mission of providing a catering service to different groups of people, like kindergarteners, varsity students, firemen, cancer researchers, and so on.
We are taken along the brainstorming, the shopping, the prepping, and the cooking that they do throughout the show. What I find most fascinating about this is that with each catering mission, Mr. Jong Won’s team’s cooking skills improve more and more. They also have to be resourceful as there are occasions when they have underestimated the amount of food it takes to serve a large number of people.
Being the cooking genius that he is, Mr. Jong Won usually saves the day and whips up a completely new dish out of nothing. I have now gained more appreciation for people who work in the food industry, be it fast food, fine dining, or anything in between.
It’s not easy. It certainly takes a lot of physical strength as well as mental agility and technique. Nothing but respect for those in the food industry. It is a laborious feat.
And so, I wish this moves you to explore food shows. I don’t see any harm in it. The benefits are cooking wisdom, a curiosity for culture, and, let’s face it, cravings.
