Cooking shows have increased in popularity over the past decade, and it’s worth investigating what has contributed to this rise in viewership. What is it about cooking shows that compels us to watch them? Some experts have provided insights into the psychology behind watching cooking shows, while many viewers have told us exactly what makes them so addictive.
Visual Imagery is Powerful
Let’s face it, looking at good food that’s visually appealing is something most of us love doing. Nowadays people page through cookbooks just to look at the pictures rather than to follow the recipes. Cooking shows deliver live-action cooking that takes you from a state of raw ingredients to an almost artistic finished product that looks… well, good enough to eat!
Cooking is a 5-Sense Process
It’s a well-known fact that cooking is one of the few things we can do that involves all five of our senses. How food tastes, looks, smells, feels, and sounds like while it’s cooking are all related to its appeal. Food photography is a massive industry, and now trends among experts and amateurs alike.
Many viewers of cooking shows are now creating their own shows, boasting their home cooking skills to anyone who’s willing to watch and learn something new. Combining their own cooking videos with scintillating audio descriptions and adding some free sound effects to enhance the experience, amateur cooks are gaining huge followings online.
Cooking is a Valuable and Praiseworthy Skill
Of course, countless viewers watch cooking shows to hone their own cooking skills. This not only improves their ability to prepare quick and easy meals for family but also serves to impress their friends and dinner guests.
More often than not, TV chefs have made us realize that good food can be healthy, too. Since food health is such a massive trend following the early 2000s obesity epidemic, watching cooking shows tells us that cooking with fresh ingredients can be tasty, too.
Eating Touches Our Childhood
There’s a deep psychological draw to cooking shows because our childhood memories are intrinsically linked to what we ate (and loved eating) as children. Many chefs believe that in order to make good food, you have to cook something that appeals to the inner child of a person; give them something that takes them back to happier days.
Experimentation is Fun
Cooking is all about experimenting with different flavors and equipment. Whether you yourself try out some of the dishes you’ve seen cooked by Jamie Oliver or Nigella or simply enjoy watching the experimentation process on shows like Chopped or Masterchef, experimentation has its appeal.
While some love watching others struggle through this experimentation process, others take on the challenge themselves and aim to achieve in the kitchen what others can’t. Since there are countless food combinations and methods of cooking to try, cooks have become the modern-day alchemists who experiment with what they love–food!
Looking is Calorie Free
To watch any good cooking show is to eat vicariously through someone else. That’s probably why each segment ends with, “Mmmm, that’s so delicious.” Every time someone takes a bite of their freshly cooked meal or dessert, it’s as if you’re enjoying it with them. Wishing you could taste that food yourself is a lot like imagining winning the lotto–it’s kind of fun! Not only that, but you don’t put on any pounds when someone else is doing all the eating.
Competitive Cooking Draws a Crowd
Whether it’s professional sports, reality shows, or simple gaming, we’re all drawn to competition in one way or another. Cooking shows have combined the joy of cooking with competition in ways we never imagined two decades ago. From shows like Chopped and Masterchef to more dramatic ones like Hell’s Kitchen and Nailed It, competitive cooking has delivered huge entertainment value to food lovers across the globe.
But even those who are not that into cooking admit to watching these types of shows. The competitive element adds a strong appeal, and many viewers who were once apathetic to cooking have found a love for food shows they never had before.
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Final Thoughts
It’s easy to see why food shows are so popular and why those dishes tempt us to try our luck in the kitchen. From fond childhood memories of our parents cooking to improving our own skills in the kitchen, there’s a lot to be gained from the cooking shows that so faithfully entertain us.