On the Line: Format,Cooking and Competition as Television Values

Abstract

Through an in-depth look at the history of US food television, this essay elucidates the extent to which contemporary television relies on the structural (and narrative) logic of the format. Focusing on contemporary food television's radical evolution with the introduction of competition programmes and formats, the essay accounts for the move away from female-centred, domestic ‘How-to’ cooking programmes in favour of restaurant-set competition shows that highlight professional, high-stakes performance, criticism, stress, and risk. This shift from the aspirational aesthetics of ‘Gastro Porn’ to the psychological endurance of what I (albeit playfully) term ‘Culinary S&M’ illustrates how contemporary cooking competition programmes in the multi-platform media marketplace help re-align cultural meanings of food, pleasure, taste, identity, labour and consumption.