February Blog Post

Maria Rios

COMM 160

February Blog Post

The lectures in class this month have introduced me to new ideas and made me think of concepts in a way I have never thought of them before; specifically, food TV and the way it plays in our culture. When I was in younger, somewhere around elementary and middle school, I would come home to watch TV. The show that I looked forward to watching the most? Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee. That is what I looked forward to after school, not whatever cartoon show was on (although I did love my cartoons). Also, if I managed to wake up at seven before school, I would catch an episode of Barefoot Contessa. Then I would finally get some homework done, probably eat some dinner, but had to get the TV back at night. My night TV show routine would consist of none other than Iron Chef America. I would sometimes have to fight my family (not literally) to let me watch one more hour of the Food Network Channel. I was obsessed and intrigued with cooking shows, but I thought it was just because I loved cooking when I was younger.  

As stated in the article “Out of the Kitchen, onto the Couch”, people love watching cooking shows, but yet, no one is really cooking anymore. I personally remember watching these shows and becoming inspired to recreate whatever it is they made. These shows were influencing me, my culture, and my food preferences. The language the cooks on the show use make you want to cook whatever it is they are cooking at home. Whether it was the weird sound effects they were making, or the descriptive language they were using, it made you hungry. The cooks are also characterized to be these awesome at-home chefs that made you feel like you actually know who they are. However, even though cooking shows are increasingly popular, “the amount of time spent on food preparation in America has fallen” while dining out is rising.

            I fully believe people are dining out more because more people are working outside of home than ever before. The average person has about a 40-hour work week. In order to save some time for themselves at home, they get food that is already prepared but watch cooking shows while they are eating it. According to an article on Time magazine titled “Why You Should Feel Even More Guilty About Eating Out at Restaurants All the Time”, restaurant prices rose an over age 2.7% over the course of a year while grocery store prices fell about 0.5%. Restaurants know that people are busy and would prefer to eat out versus having to make their own food. A shift in our food culture is happening, where more people are eating out more and cooking at home less, and restaurants are taking full advantage of this. We love our cooking shows, but yet, we don’t really like to cook anymore.