British cookery TV is in crisis. Once a staple of primetime viewing and a powerful tool for public health and education, food programming is now dwindling fast.
Following the recent Gregg Wallace and John Torode MasterChef scandals, media headlines have been lamenting the lack of good, new cookery TV shows being made. An analysis of the sector by the TV industry magazine Broadcast Intelligence revealed only 12 new cookery shows have been commissioned so far this year, down from 42 last year and a high of 100 in 2019.
This isn’t just down to problematic presenters – a broader shift in media consumption is also to blame. Nadiya Hussain has spoken out about being dropped by the BBC, and shorter-form content on TikTok has replaced some of the demand for longer-form cookery shows.
But the problems these shows can help to solve are not only still present across Britain, they are getting worse.
Celebrating quality food
We have rising obesity and diabetes rates, a seemingly never-ending cost of living crisis and, crucially, a broken relationship with food. As a nation we eat some of the world’s most ultra-processed diets, and there is a huge appetite for weight-loss drugs (which often create yo-yo dieting, rather than solving anything).
These are all issues that a new generation of engaging, educated food presenters should be solving. Let’s face it: most of the best-known TV chefs are of the older generation. You don’t meet many young Nigellas or Ainsleys nowadays. It’s been 20 years since Jamie Oliver’s School Meals campaign.
I recently attended the ‘Best Home Pizza Chef’ competition, which Properoni sponsors. It’s an example of a more measured and sensible approach to healthy eating: while we shouldn’t expect everyone to ditch tasty comfort foods in a desire for better diets, we should raise the bar. The competition is a celebration of quality ingredients and home cooking, over the fire (or pizza oven in the garden).
We need TV cookery shows, but they should be more about practicality, home cooking and inspiration about real foods and how they are made, showcased in a fun way, and less about the showmanship and extravagances seen on the likes of MasterChef and The Great British Bake Off.
Let’s see presenters teaching us how to shop wisely on a budget, what ingredients to look for, and how to make a packed lunch or healthy dinner in a hurry.
The desire is clearly already here: the current trend to churn our own butter or bake sourdough at home is here to stay. With too many UPFs in our supermarkets, consumers want to play a part in the manufacturing process, and eat foods with fewer, but higher quality ingredients.
If we want to rebuild our relationship with food, improve public health, and inspire the next generation of home cooks, it’s time for British TV to turn the cameras back on and start cooking again.
Tom Neumann, founder and managing director, Properoni
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