These days, chefs, cookbook writers and all other manner of food professional are called upon to do a lot more than cook. They need to be business people. And lord knows they are under a great deal of pressure and are presented with myriad opportunities to do television.
Some choose what used to be called the boob tube to get away from cooking (Rocco Dispirito), some between cooking (Elizabeth Falkner), and some manage to do a surprising amount of it while still cooking (Tom Colicchio, Hubert Keller, Chris Cosentino, Mario Batali, etc.). A lot of it is stir and dump (cooking demos all day), many are competitions (Top, Iron, Master and maybe eventually Cranky Chef), and the rest are trying to be fairly classic behind-the-scenes or travel shows. They’re all now staples of television, even in the daytime time slots, where The Chew replaced All My Children.
For every appearance, the food pro has to make a few fundamental decisions: Is this for practice? To promote a book or a restaurant? To earn spokesperson fees? To build public visibility? Sometimes it’s fun or funny, sometimes informational or entertaining. And sometimes it’s just plain silly or downright embarrassing.
My first TV gig was in 1980 when a local station came to the Oakville Grocery to do a quick piece on the newly popular pink peppercorns that turned out to be slightly toxic to some folks. I had them do a close up of my hands scooping up hundreds of dollars worth of what in fact agitated a fairly common allergy in a portion of the population.
Since then, I’ve done this and that. For a couple of years I was a regular guest on The Real Story on CNBC, co-hosted by Soap star Linda Dano, when we where both considered young. One Thanksgiving I did 22 live minutes on CNN. I sat in an empty room at 30 Rock Center in New York and talked to a blank screen. For 22 minutes. Live.
Perhaps my crowning moment was a series of appearances on a morning show shot in the legendary Saturday Night Live studio where I burst through a kitchen door and “prepared” (as in, threw together) a meal against a sports clock. I was The Sixty Second Gourmet. I’m still embarrassed.
I had a very local Sonoma County based show – The Food Show with Clark Wolf – designed to feature the folks and foods of farm country (until the station got sold) that has evolved into a not for profit video series, The Sonoma County Food and Farming Project.
For a while I’ve wanted to do something broader and larger but really didn’t want to do something based on a set of television values that didn’t translate into my real life. I’ve seen too many Top Chef winners think they have what it takes to open their own restaurant, and then flop painfully. In fact, their skills had more to do with looking good on TV and being able to win a high pressure contest – similar but so not truly related to the world of restaurants.
So it is with great pleasure that I’m now approaching a show built on one of my favorite traditions. According to the wisdom of two late, great women who really cooked — Marion Cunningham and Edna Lewis — some of the best food in restaurants comes from traditions of home cooking. I’m hosting The Big Dish on KOFY TV, a new show where regular folks will compete to see if their favorite family recipe can end up on the menu of a big time Bay Area restaurant. It’s simple, fun and much of what I’ve been doing for years: turning food we like into some part of a good business and maybe even a delightful evening.
So the next time you chefs dream about television or are pressed to appear on a reality show, don’t worry about trying to be the next Julia Child. It’s been done, and she was perfect. Be who you are and be the person you wish to share. Make sure you have something real to offer, and don’t worry too much if you get some casual, even slightly embarrassing, experience along the way.
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