Food TV personalities?

harpospeaking · Joined: 13 Sep 2005 Posts: 194 Location: San Diego, CA

I've never rented or bought DVDs of tv food personality shows. Can anyone recommend any good DVDs of cooking shows or chefs that were particularly good?
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madameshawshank · Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:11 am Post subject:

Nigella...for fun...I love the peeks into the pantry..the chocolate stash..the shelves of books..I love that she still feels life, even though her life has had tough tough stuff....I'd feel at home in the space...

any of the Rick Stein dvds...love his passion

have discovered Julia Child's programmes are now on dvd...that would be a hoot...one of my great food-related experiences was the oh so brief time I spent at the Smithsonian...Julia's kitchen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought I'd faint with joy. Those chairs...the videos on the shelves...the Julianess of it all.

isn't this a great time ~ to be able to enjoy such things..

hugs to you
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JM · Joined: 08 Jan 2006 Posts: 35 Location: Montreal, QC

If you are into Italian I would try and get Mario Batali's show "Molto Mario." He gives good historical and geographical contexts of the dishes he prepares, and he's got great cameo guests as diners...plenty from the Sopranos!

Bonnie · Joined: 19 Apr 2006 Posts: 14 Location: Cambridge, UK

For real salt-of-the-Earth, home grown, home cooked and good English culture, you should check out Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his River Cottage series. He's a quirky ex-chef that has set up a small holding/farm and restaurant in Dorset, UK and during the episodes, takes you on the journey from seedlings to table.

I love his style and the recipes he creates and often rent the DVDs to remind me of what I would love to do in the future.

I just wonder if he's available in the States.

Bonnie

P.S. This is my first post, so hi to everyone!
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melinda · Joined: 01 Oct 2004 Posts: 256 Location: Richmond, VA, usa

I like Jamie Olliver & Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa).....
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queenla · Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 2:48 pm Post subject:

I've just heard about 'cooking with louis' he is, apparently, a six yeay old tv cook. i haven't found him. Has anyone else?
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swan · Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 9:19 pm Post subject:

I like Nigella as well and actually never realised that there must be more on DVD...!I'll see what I can find here. I actually like to own them, they cheer me up when I'm not in the mood for anything at all...I do watch as much cooking on the BBC as I can.

Lexi · Joined: 07 Apr 2005 Posts: 21

I am definitely in agreement on the Jamie Oliver and Ina Garten Suggestions- Jamie is extremely entertainging and fantastic to watcha dn his food always looks unbelievable..Ina makes simple and delectable food..I have all her books, and she is always great to watch too..

I thouroughly enjoy Nigella too, of course- Giada deLaurentis' show is fantastic too- Everyday Italian, it's called..
in Canada we have some great Canadian chefs on tv too such as David Rocco and Christine Cushing..Bob Bloomer is fun too

Susan in Italy · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 37 Location: Milan, Italy

If I could have a DVD collection of only 1 cooking show, it would be The 2 Fat Ladies. They weren't on long, but they were great!

Barbara · Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 12:12 am Post subject:

Hi Bonnie and welcome. I love Hugh also.

I would recommend Rick Stein - both his seafood series and his trip through Southern France.
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jenjen · Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 4:02 am Post subject: iron chef

I am a huge Iron Chef fan, for technique and exquisite presentation!

Like Susan, I too enjoyed 2 Fat Ladies, but Iron Chef is my all time favourite.
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madameshawshank · Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 8:41 am Post subject:

jenjen ~ a few weeks ago family 'n a dear friend were sitting around the table discussing the idea of an Australian Iron Chef. Our daughter, at the end of a night of belly laughing, suggested a title ~ Corrugated Iron Chef. The ingredient was to be Meadowlea. (for those not in the know, Meadowlea is a well-known brand of margarine Wink

)
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"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson

robinorig · Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 3:58 am Post subject:

One of the best cooking shows (series) I've ever seen was Charlie Trotter's "The Kitchen Sessions"

http://www.charlietrotters.com/store/videos/product.asp?catID=3&productID=30

He is such an inventive chef, it's inspiring!

I do also like Ina Garten and how she pares techniques down to the essentials and still makes very elegant food.

For Italian, Lydia Bastianich is good. She's had several cooking shows on public tv http://www.lidiasitaly.com/index2.htm

and I like knowing the science behind the cooking from Alton Brown.

Jacques Torres had a fabulous show on public tv, too... (Dessert Circus)... don't know if they are still available, but the cookbooks are!
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Heather · Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 8 Location: Boston, MA USA

I love Alton Brown's DVDs from his Good Eats show. Many people wrote to him with questions about each show. After each episode on the DVD he answers some of the questions pertaining to the episode which is a really nice educational and personal feature about his DVD sets.

Franca · Joined: 18 May 2006 Posts: 94 Location: Worldwide

After all this time, Jamie Oliver is still my favourite. Aside from interesting receipes, he looks like someone I'd be happy to hang out with.

I used to like Rachael Ray, but I have no idea how she manages to stay so perpetually perky.
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