In these days of mass media and social media, there is one topic which has come to the forefront of society. This topic is food.
Food has become a major industry. Not the fact of buying, selling and eating., but the fact of the celebrity which now surrounds food.
How many TV chefs have emerged over the last decade? Answer : too many to mention.
And why the huge growth of the TV chef? I have several theories about this.
1. Food, like everything else which is placed in front of us by different media, has become sexy, and sexy now sells anything and everything.
2. The chefs themselves have joined the growing list of celebrity somethings. Everyone has to be a celebrity or people have no interest in them.
3. People like to feel superior, a cut above the rest. The mere fact is that most people don’t know the ins and outs of food, but they want to feel special. So they watch programs about food and try to impress their peers.
4. Cooking reality programs. There are so many shows now devoted to this cause. Masterchef being the principal one. This show only serves as a reminder to all people, who want to either, become famous(not necessarily for cooking), or want to open their own business, and want the financial and celebrity backing to set them on their way, that they are mere mortals, and the judges are gods, whose sole purpose is to belittle them and keep them in their places, while delivering the occasional compliment, just to keep the viewers on their side.
- Food shows. There is also a plethora of food show presenters, who travel to different places tasting different types of food, and try to couple that with the comedic or sex appeal attributes of the presenter. While there is nothing wrong in the concept of these programs, the frequency and intensity of them have overwhelmed most of the viewing public.
Have we got to the point where we need so much coverage about something which is a basic necessity? After all, we need food to survive, and we can enjoy the things we eat, but has society reached a point where food can generate such ‘frenzy?’
There is a saying that “too much of a good thing is bad for you” I think that we have reached that point with the combination of food and TV.
