Out of all possible illustrations of having your cake, but not eating it too, the best (or the worst) is dished out from live/recorded/edited kitchens of national television. As the bacon sizzles loud enough to smell, and onions are chopped at sonic speed, everyone at least for once wishes they could attempt the same at home.
And that’s what the magic of food programming is all about. A genre that debuted in India with the advent of cable TV in the 90s and for long was carried forward by its lone torchbearer Khana Khazaana now has more takers and even more viewers. Apart from the local channels, it was various international channels like Discovery, AXN, Star World and TLC which gave it a much needed shot in the chicken breast, by bringing several popular foreign food shows to the country.
Sanjeev Kapoor is the chef and presenter of Khana Khazaana, which has been on air for the past 17 years and still continues to generate TRPs. For him, talking, cooking and looking good in the kitchen at the same time is an integral part of this profession. As he goes to explain the difference between cooking on TV and inside the kitchen, he says, “You have to offer confidence and comfort to the viewer, generating the belief that they could make it as easily too, of course while retaining the wow factor.”
And passionate cook and research analyst, Saurabh Giroti agrees. Speaking about Sanjeev and his style of cooking, he says, “He attempts to reform meals so that they reflect acceptable nutritional levels and encourage healthy eating habits. Each mouth-watering recipe is presented in a manner that is easy to understand and prepare. Even the tips and last minute details are always useful and insightful for day-to-day usage,” he says.
As cooking slices from being a necessity to a hobby, both for men and women, people are increasingly interested in learning new techniques for not only Indian but international cuisine as well.
Bobby Chinn, who hosts several travel-cum-food shows for the TLC channel is of the view that one needs to be extremely focused while cooking for an audience. “Though it’s a shoot and there are possibilities of re-takes, a good presenter knows how to direct the camera to the magic of food. It’s the whole experience of cooking, the noises, sights and sounds, which he must recreate to bring alive the moment for an audience. And these days with so much travel involved with the job, one always picks new methods to make it more useful for the audience,” he says.
Despite the soaring glam quotient of the job, Aditya Bal, former model who hosts shows for NDTV Good Times, feels that it is the cooking which should be most important and rest all, secondary. “I have been a self taught cook and after I discovered my passion for cooking, I have always been on the look out for apprenticeships with various kitchens throughout the country. In fact, I have even worked for almost three years in a restaurant kitchen in Goa,” says the host who thinks that he needs to earn his stripes after putting in the required years to be addressed a skilled cook.