World

magpie approach to the countries he visits. Further tothis, and unlike most mainstream holiday programmes,the beautiful images of developing countries which arepresented on cookery programmes tend to include morelocal people at work and leisure. The cookery shows alsoincluded comments on local culture and history,providing a broader portrayal of the countries covered. Itis an important point that both holiday and cookeryprogrammes provided for some viewers very positiveimages of the developing world which countered thenegative portrayals of other television output.Cookery programmes follow a variety of formats.Ready Steady Cook is a game show. Dishes is similar to BlindDate, with a focus on food. Sophie Grigson takes a moreinstructive approach in her cooking programme. Theseprogrammes appear on our screens throughout the dayand on into peak viewing times in the evening. Duringthe sample period, a variety of food and cookeryprogrammes were broadcast across the five terrestrialchannels. On Channel 5, Nancy Lam had the earliestcookery programme shown at 0900 on Fridays. Channel4 had a daily mid-morning slot for Here’s One I MadeEarlier, as did BBC1’s Can’t Cook Won’t Cook, shown onMondays. Ready Steady Cook was broadcast daily at 16.25on BBC2. Others were shown during peak evening times:BBC2’s Sophie Grigson’s Herbs was shown at 1930 onWednesdays, and The Food and Drink Programme onMonday at 2030. Channel 4 offered the new programmeDishes, at 1800 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and thecookery programme which was shown at the latest timein the sample, Ramsay’s Boiling Point, at 2100 onThursdays.Matthew Fort argues in The Guardian newspaper thatthe proliferation of cooking on television is symptomaticof the rise of cheaper factual programming, driven asmuch by the economics of production as it is by audiencedemand. He comments:The viewing figures for virtually all TV food programmesare actually dropping, even for perennial favourites suchas Ready, Steady, Cook and Can’t Cook, Won’t Cookand the Food and Drink programme... Prestige seriessuch as Rick Stein’s latest (his fourth) are no exception.(The Guardian, 4.3.99 p.17)With diminishing audience shares, new tastes andideas are constantly required to add variety to such awidespread television genre. The developing world haslong provided opportunities to try alternative cuisines.Ken Hom’s former Chinese cookery series being anearlier example, Nancy Lam arriving later with the‘oriental cookery series’ Nancy Lam on Channel 5. For themost part however, recipes from developing countries aresprinkled intermittently across cookery programmes.During the sample period for example, a number ofprogrammes were advertised as including recipesoriginating from developing countries: Antony WorrallThompson cooked a Thai chicken curry on BBC2’s Foodand Drink Programme on 11 January, while Sophie Grigson’sHerbs on BBC2 on 17 February the recipes includedVietnamese-style pork.SAMPLEWhere individual recipes have come from developingcountries, they are usually demonstrated without anyadditional reference to the country of origin. So this studywas limited to series which combined food with travel. Forthe purposes of the sample, Rick Stein’s Seafood Odyssey wasthe only relevant programme. This series visited the placesand flavours that have influenced the chef’s cooking overthe years. However, given that the audience studyindicated that cookery programmes are an importantsource of images of the developing world, this researchalso included Ainsley’s Big Cook Out, which was broadcast inAugust and September 1999. In this series, Ainsley Harriottravelled across the Americas, starting in Canada and theUS, then continuing through Mexico, Brazil andArgentina. The last three episodes were therefore includedhere, providing an unusual opportunity to analyseportrayals of South American countries. One of theappealing aspects of these programmes combining traveland cookery is that they provide the viewer with a visualfeast combining enthusiastic presentation, sumptuouscooking, stunning scenery and in the case of Ainsley’s BigCook Out, an interesting and varied selection of musicalaccompaniment.RICK STEIN’S SEAFOOD ODYSSEY AND AINSLEY’SBIG COOK OUTPart of each of Rick Stein’s programmes was filmed in hisrestaurant back in Cornwall, where he woulddemonstrate recipes based on ideas he had collected onhis travels. Stein would continue the programme fromhis foreign destination, linking the source of hisinspiration to the dishes presented at home. The travelsection of Rick Stein’s Seafood Odyssey on 12.1.99 was fromGoa, where the presenter prepared prawn caldene andspicy Goan lobster. On 16.2.99, he was in the coastalresort of Hua Hin in Thailand. Both Goa and Thailandwere portrayed as exotic, with shots of beautiful beachesand colourful market scenes. This quirky chefcommented enthusiastically on the appeal of eachcountry, with particular reference to the differences heperceived between these developing areas and home.DFID – July 2000 111