Food reality television is a genre of reality television programming that considers the production, consumption and/or sociocultural impact of

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...

. Reality food television emerged as a recognisable sub-genre in the 1940s. Historically, food reality television sought to educate viewers on matters of food. Early programmes such as ''Elsie Presents'', ''The Diane Lucas Show'' and '' Cook's Night Out'' imparted 'specific, practical skills' on the viewer, and provided ad-lib commentary on matters of

homemaking Homemaking is mainly an American and Canadian term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping, housewifery or household management. It is the act of overseeing the organizational, day-to-day operations of a house o ...

, home entertaining and motherhood. As the genre evolved, and the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

channel launched, food reality television sought also to entertain. Programmes such as ''

Great Chefs Great Chefs is a franchise of 656 televised cooking shows ( +13 cookbooks), that began with thirteen half-hour programs produced for PBS nationally, entitled "Great Chefs of New Orleans" by John Beyer and John Shoup in New Orleans. Later PBS se ...

'', ''Boiling Point'' and ''A Cook's Tour'' combined the factual information of their ancestors with the personal and confessional nature of unscripted

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

. ' Delia's "how to cook" gave way to

Nigella ''Nigella'' is a genus of 18 species of annual plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native to Southern Europe, North Africa, South Asia, Southwest Asia and Middle East. Common names applied to members of this genus are nigella, devil-in-a-bush o ...

and

Jamie Jamie is a unisex name. It is a diminutive form of James or, more rarely, other names. It is also given as a name in its own right. People Female * Jamie Anne Allman (born 1977), American actress * Jamie Babbit (born 1970), American film and te ...

's "how to live" This 'factual entertainment' function has persisted and unifies food reality television's contemporary subgenres. These subgenres include documentary-style, adventure-travel, game show and cooking-as-lifestyle. According to critics, food reality television has had a significant impact on food production and consumption behaviours. Food reality television has been linked to a decline in culinary practice in the home, the development of culinary taste and the transition of food from 'necessity' to '

hobby A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, playing Sport, sports, or pursu ...

'. Food reality television has been praised by critics for creating opportunities for 'real people' and removing barriers to

healthy eating A healthy diet is a diet that maintains or improves overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients such as protein, micronutrients such as vitamins, and adequate fibre and food energy. A healt ...

. Food reality television has been criticised for its inescapability, and promotion of

overconsumption Overconsumption describes a situation where a consumer overuses their available goods and services to where they can't, or don't want to, replenish or reuse them. In microeconomics, this may be described as the point where the marginal cost of a ...

History

Food related entertainment, like other lifestyle consumer goods, is susceptible to changes in taste and consumer demand. Since its inception in the post-war period, food reality television has evolved from the occasional instructional programme to an abundant and wide-ranging genre. Julia Child portrait by ©Lynn Gilbert, 1978

Julia Child portrait by ©Lynn Gilbert, 1978

1930–1960

Food reality television evolved from cooking segments heard on the

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and homemaking advice offered in women's

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

s. Early programmes were considered ‘educational’ in the sense that they prepared the predominately female viewership for their domestic and homemaking duties. Television hosts performed skills and techniques that may have been difficult to learn by listening to the cooking segment of the

, watching live demonstrations in

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

s or reading magazines. Television directors used close up shots to aid the education process and showcase the real-time cooking process. Early studio sets were constructed to resemble middle-class home kitchens. Studio kitchens were fit with appliances, cabinets and counters,

kitchenware :'' For a record label, see Kitchenware Records'' Kitchenware are the tools, utensils, appliances, dishes, and cookware used in food preparation, or the serving of food. Kitchenware can also be used in order to hold or store food before or aft ...

and occasionally, running water. Television hosts such as Diane Lucas,

Margaret Fulton Margaret Isobel Fulton (6 October 1924 – 24 July 2019) was a Scottish-born Australian food and cooking writer, journalist, author and commentator. She was the first of this genre of writers in Australia. Fulton's early recipes encouraged A ...

and Edith Green were positioned as ‘ordinary housewives’. According to de Solier, they were relatable and personable. They entertained viewers with stories of the men in their lives, their children, everyday social relations and the identifiable struggle of having ‘much to do and so little time to do it’. They adopted a warm and conversational tone, as if they were neighbours, sisters or close friends. The act of cooking was presented as laborious. Television hosts imparted family-pleasing

recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe. His ...

s and time saving techniques on the audience in an attempt to reduce their daily load.

1960–1980

Following the 1960s, food reality television saw an increasing number of hosts with the intimacy and familiarity of their predecessors, but with newfound

celebrity Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

status and expertise. Examples include

Delia Smith Delia Ann Smith (born 18 June 1941) is an English cook and television presenter, known for teaching basic cookery skills in a no-nonsense style. One of the best known celebrity chefs in British popular culture, Smith has influenced viewers t ...

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cooking teacher, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, '' ...

and Fanny Craddock. According to Kathleen Collins, these hosts rejected the family-pleasing and time-saving recipes of previous programmes. Instead, they offered viewers more elaborate and time-consuming recipes. Lori Brost states that television hosts presented cooking as an art form that was worthy of time and attention, rather than a chore to rush through.

1980–2000

Food reality television exploded and diversified during this period. The number and variety of programmes and audiences increased. Out-of-studio and adventure-travel programmes began to emerge during this period. The ‘reality’ nature of programming was heightened by the introduction of popular

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

tracks, handheld cameras, and observational and voyeuristic style framing. The explosion of the food reality television genre has been linked to the launch of the

. The

was the first cable network to deal exclusively with food. The

has also been credited with changing the direction of programming from a didactic format to an entertainment-driven format.

2000-now

The food reality television genre has adapted to meet the needs of the

post network era The post-network era, also known as the post-broadcast era, is a concept that was popularized by Amanda D. Lotz. It denotes the period that followed an earlier network era, television's first institutional phase that started in the 1950s and ran ...

. The post-network era has altered the way in which food reality television is produced and promoted and, the manner in which viewers engage with content. A rise in on-demand services and mobile device viewing have provided viewers with greater access to international food programming. In the post-network era, audiences are smaller and homogenous, programming is nicher and content is available to view at the audience's convenience. Short-form content has proliferated in the post-network era, with platforms such as

Youtube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

and

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

catering to viewer demand for snackable and shareable entertainment. Views for food-related content, such as recipes, food diaries and cooking demonstrations, have increased 170% year-over-year on Youtube. Videos with the hashtag #TikTokFood have conjointly accumulated 25.2 billion views on TikTok.

Subgenres

Food reality television is a diverse genre that encompasses a variety of different

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...

programmes. These programmes can be classified into

subgenres Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

according to their dominant features and styles. According to scholarly consensus, food reality television's subgenres include documentary-style, adventure-travel, game shows and cooking-as-lifestyle. 백종원 한돈 추출

Documentary-style

Food reality television's documentary-style subgenre is characterised by its 'hard value of information and realism'. Participants are 'real people' with a relationship to food, programmes are filmed in natural living, working and educational environments and events evolve naturally, from narrative contexts. Leaning on their expertise, the television host transmits cultural and health knowledge to the participants and viewing public. Documentary-style programmes often emphasise the personal transformation and subsequent success of the documentary participant. Examples of documentary-style programmes include ''

4 Wheeled Restaurant ''4 Wheeled Restaurant'' () is a South Korean reality cooking show. The show presents various Korean chefs cooking in the country their cuisine originated from. The aim is to open a food truck and see if their cooking is accepted in the origin c ...

'', ''

Baek Jong-won's Food Truck ''Paik Jong-won's Food Truck'' () is a South Korean cooking-variety program which was broadcast from July 21, 2017 to December 29, 2017. It is a spin-off of the cooking-variety program ''Baek Jong-won's Top 3 Chef King, Paik Jong-won's Top 3 Chef ...

'', '' Chef School'', ''Food Inc.'', ''Grandma's Restaurant in Samcheuong-dong'', ''Jamie’s School Dinners'', ''Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares'' and ''

Super Size Me ''Super Size Me'' is a 2004 American documentary film directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day period from February 1 to March 2, 2003, during which he ate only McDonald's f ...

''.

President Barack Obama with Anthony Bourdain at Bún cha Huong Lien Restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam

Adventure-travel

Food reality television's adventure-travel subgenre focusses on foreign and exotic food experiences. Adventure-travel programmes are often shot on location and are hosted by chefs or

food critic The terms food critic, food writer, and restaurant critic can all be used to describe a writer who analyzes food or restaurants and then publishes the results of their findings. While these terms are not strictly synonymous they are often used int ...

s. The host 'strays away from the normal culinary path' in search of the most exotic food experiences possible. In the non-cooking segments, adventure-travel programmes present images of

communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place (geography), place, Norm (social), norms, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Identity (social science), identity. Communiti ...

in ways that emphasise their uniqueness and cultural richness. The natural landscape, local accents, local

produce Produce is a generalized term for many farm-produced crops, including fruits and vegetables (grains, oats, etc. are also sometimes considered ''produce''). More specifically, the term ''produce'' often implies that the products are fresh and g ...

and community feasts are often accentuated. Programmes typically feature trips to street vendors and food markets, home cooked meals and

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

crawls with local guides. Examples of adventure-travel programmes include ''A Cook’s Tour'', ''Bizarre Foods'', ''

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives ''Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives'' (often nicknamed ''Triple D'' and stylized as ''Diners, Drive-Ins, Dives'') is an American food reality television series that premiered on April 23, 2007, on the Food Network. It is hosted by Guy Fieri. The show o ...

, Elizabeth Chong’s tiny delights,

Gourmet Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by refined, even elaborate preparations and presentations of aesthetically balanced meals of several contrasting, of ...

'' and ''

Man v. Food ''Man v. Food'' is an American food reality television series. It premiered on December 3, 2008 on the Travel Channel. The program was originally hosted by actor and food enthusiast Adam Richman. In each episode, Richman explores the "big food" o ...

'.''

Game show

Food reality television's game show subgenre is characterised by its competition format. Participants, amateur or professional, compete in culinary challenges with a rigid set of guidelines and a time limit. The participants are often focussed on defeating the other participants and obtaining the cash

prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

. Charley Packham states that game show programmes borrow heavily from the

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

ing genre. The competitiveness and rivalry of participants is emphasised by the starting line up of participants and judges, the wide angle shots, running commentary and participant testimonials. The ratings of participants are often based on the

taste The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste (flavor). Taste is the perception produced or stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor ...

, innovativeness and presentation of their culinary creations. At the end of the episode, the ratings are totalled, and the winner is announced. Examples of game show programmes include ''Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook'', ''Chopped'', ''Come Dine with Me'', ''

Cook Representative ''Cook Representative'' (), also known as ''National Chef Team'', is a 2016 South Korean cooking-variety program starring Kim Sung-joo, Ahn Jung-hwan, Kang Ho-dong, Choi Hyun-seok, Sam Kim, Lee Won-il and, Lee Yeon-bok, is the spin-off of ''Pl ...

, Dotch Cooking Show,

Go Fridge ''Go Fridge'' (), also known as ''Play, Fridge'', is a Chinese cooking show produced by Tencent Video. The rights were bought from South Korean television series '' Please Take Care of My Refrigerator''. Formats Seasons 1–2 In each episode, ...

Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle bui ...

'' and ''

MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with the UK version in July 1990. The format was revived and updated for the BBC in February 2005 by executive producers Roddam and John ...

''.

Cooking-as-lifestyle

Food reality television's cooking-as-lifestyle subgenre celebrates food preparation, cooking and eating. Cooking-as-lifestyle programmes emphasise the sensuous qualities of food. Food and hospitality are presented as luxurious, indulgent and gratifying consumption activities. Sandie Randall states that 'food is presented and handled in ways which are very tactile'. Close up shots of

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...

s preparing raw ingredients, extreme close up shots of sauces being poured and accompanying descriptions of

and smell, ''‘it’s so rich and warm’/ ‘the smell is just wonderful’,'' aim to evoke pleasure in the viewer. Cooking-as-lifestyle programmes position cooking as an enjoyable and satisfying activity for the chef themselves. Cooking-as-lifestyle programmes often end on a communal meal, on themes of family, friendship and connectedness. The chef is often presented as 'having a good time'. They are frequently captured laughing, cracking jokes and enjoying the fruits of their culinary labour. Examples of cooking-as-lifestyle programmes include '' Chef's Table'', ''

Cooking with Dog ''Cooking with Dog'' is a Japanese cooking show web series. It premiered on YouTube on September 9, 2007. The show features a Japanese woman known only as "Chef" who prepares the featured dish of the episode while her toy poodle Francis (via voi ...

'', ''

Essence of Emeril ''Essence of Emeril'' (1994–96, 2000–2007) is a Food Network show hosted by chef Emeril Lagasse. In each episode, Emeril shares with his viewers some of his 'kicked-up' recipes, similar to those on ''Emeril Live'', but with a far calmer d ...

'', ''

Huey's Cooking Adventures ''Huey's Cooking Adventures'' is an Australian television series featuring chef Iain Hewitson. It screened at daytime on Monday to Friday throughout its run on Network Ten, including most recently at 4:00pm. It also airs on the subscription tel ...

'', ''

My Family Feast ''My Family Feast'' is an Australian television program hosted by chef Sean Connolly. The show first screened on SBS in 2009 and features the lives and cooking traditions of Australian migrants and their families. The show is partly a cultural pr ...

'', ''

The Naked Chef ''The Naked Chef'' is a BBC Two television cooking programme starring Jamie Oliver. It originally ran for three series plus three Christmas specials, and was produced by Optomen Television for the BBC. The show was Oliver's television debut, an ...

, Raja Rasoi Aur Anya Kahaniyaan'' and ''

Yan Can Cook ''Yan Can Cook'' is a Chinese oriented cooking show starring Chef Martin Yan that featured recipes for stir fried foods and an assortment of various other traditional Chinese meals and cooking techniques. The series first aired in Calgary, Alberta ...

.''

Social and cultural impact

The ubiquity of food reality television

Food reality television has come to occupy a central role in popular culture. Broadcast television offers viewers a minimum of 12 hours of designated food programming each week. Entire television channels are dedicated to food programming. Australia has

Lifestyle Food Lifestyle Food (stylised as Lifestyle FOOD) is an Australian pay-TV food channel, solely dedicated to food, wine and restaurant society. The channel is a subsidiary of Lifestyle, which runs 24 hours a day on the Foxtel. On 19 September 2016, ...

, Canada has the

Cooking Channel Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by Food Network, a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media Group (31%). The channel is a spin-off of Food Network, broadcasting p ...

, China has China Food TV, France has Cuisine TV, Italy has Alice, the United Kingdom and Ireland have

Good Food Good Food was a cookery channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland, latterly as part of the Discovery, Inc. network of channels. The channel originally launched on 5 November 2001 and relaunched in its final format on 22 June 2009. ...

and the United States has the

. The rise of streaming services, such as

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service prim ...

and Stan, and social media networks such as

and

, have provided viewers with greater access to international food programming. The seemingly unlimited range of food programming has given risen to the modern phenomenon of binge-watching. Isabelle de Solier states that ‘it is now possible to watch food television all day, every day’. According to Ampere Analysis, Chinese, American, Mexican and Argentinian viewers the most likely binge-watch programmes, with over 60% of each nation's television audience stating that they frequently watch multiple episodes of the same programme back-to-back.

The decline in culinary practice

Food reality television has been associated with a decline in culinary practice. Lizzy Pope states that a decreasing number of Americans are cooking in their homes. According to Eliane Glaser, 'only one in five viewers tries a recipe after watching a chef on TV and only one in seven buys new ingredients’. Michael Pollan states that cooking has shifted from an obligation to a

spectator sport A spectator sport is a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its competitions. Spectator sports may be professional sports or amateur sports. They often are distinguished from participant sports, which are m ...

. The act of cooking appears to have been replaced by the act of viewing. Anthony Bourdain likens food programming to pornography, stating that viewers watch people do things that they have no intention of doing themselves. Contemporary food programming separates the viewer from the realities of cooking. Food writer, Matthew Fort, states that viewers turn on their televisions, tune out and defrost their frozen pizzas. According to Kate Frost, audiences are happy watching celebrity chefs create ‘elaborate dishes from fresh, exotic ingredients, while their own plastic-packaged supermarket ready-meals circle sweatily for three minutes in the microwave’. Viewers devour televisual offerings in place of the sustenance of real food.

The development of culinary taste

Food reality television has been attributed to the development of culinary taste. According to Isabelle de Solier, food programming 'educates in aesthetics' and imparts 'pragmatic culinary knowledge' on the viewer. Food reality television provides viewers with essential culinary knowledge and taste knowledge of 'ideological food preferences'. Food reality television has democratised dining out and provided viewers with the skills and taste knowledge necessary to participate intelligently and impress others. Isabelle de Solier states that food reality television can be understood as a form of fruitful leisure, as viewers invest their spare time in acquiring 'culinary cultural capital' and bettering themselves with culinary knowledge.

Praise and criticism

Praise

Food reality television is praised for spotlighting small businesses, showcasing real talent and, providing non-actors with the opportunity to tell their stories. Food reality television is also praised for removing barriers to healthy eating. Samantha Lane states that 'celebrity chefs promote basic cooking practices, which could address obstacles such as lack of skills and lack of confidence with a range of ingredients'.

Jamie Oliver James Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants. Oliver reache ...

and

Iain Hewitson Iain "Huey" Hewitson (born 4 October 1948), is a New Zealand-born chef, restaurateur, author and television personality who moved to Australia in 1972. He is best known for his television involvement with Network Ten. He was also the face of sup ...

have both been praised for providing viewers the recipes and skills necessary to cook healthy, affordable and family-friendly meals. Food reality television has also been praised for bringing topical food issues, such as sustainability, obesity and ethical practices, to light. Casey Ryan Kelly praises food reality television for its preoccupation with

foodways In social science, foodways are the cultural, social, and economic practices relating to the production and consumption of food. ''Foodways'' often refers to the intersection of food in culture, traditions, and history. Definition and historical ...

, as this sheds necessary light on the social, cultural and economic practices associated with food production and consumption.

Criticism

Food reality television is criticised for its promotion of

. According to Lilian Cheung, repeated exposure to junk food and beverage marketing and the mindless eating associated with binge-watching television, creates unhealthy eating habits. Amy R. Eisner-Levine states that viewer entertainment is derived from watching people fit giant

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

es in their mouths, rejoice over a mouthful of rich

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, are som ...

and scoff six-pound

burrito A burrito (, ) is a dish in Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine that took form in Ciudad Juárez, consisting of a flour tortilla wrapped into a sealed cylindrical shape around various ingredients. The tortilla is sometimes lightly grilled or steamed ...

s in no time at all. Insufficient attention is given to the negative health effects of televised food. Amy R. Eisner-Levine states that 'the larger, the fattier, the sweeter and the greasier the food is, the more it is deemed desirable’. Lizzy Pope states that the overconsumption portrayed in food reality television may validate unhealthy eating behaviours and set cultural norms. According to Nancy Lee,

celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...

s encourage audiences to aspire to their indulgent lifestyle aesthetics. Lizzy Pope states that watching TV hosts prepare and consume indulgent and enormous dishes might set cultural norms. Food reality television is criticised for its inescapability. The plethora of food programming is unavoidable. According to Joan C. Henderson, the proliferation of food programming could leave the viewer disenchanted and bored. Annette Hill holds viewers liable for the explosion of food reality television, stating that viewers create demand for food programming and, justify its existence.

List of programmes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Food Reality Television Series Television genres

History

1930–1960

1960–1980

1980–2000

2000-now

Subgenres

Documentary-style

Adventure-travel

Game show

Cooking-as-lifestyle

Social and cultural impact

The ubiquity of food reality television

The decline in culinary practice

The development of culinary taste

Praise and criticism

Praise

Criticism

List of programmes

See also

References