PBS' cooking shows better than FoodNetwork's IMHO

[tullius]

Of course you don't get as many shows on PBS & many of them are very old, but I like the chefs (& for the most part they are chefs not just cooks) better. Plus I'm just not that big of a fan of the competition shows. I'm more interested in technique & food history than the supposed drama & personality clashes.

Favorites are Jacques & Julia (together or alone) Lidia's Italy, Avec Eric, America's Test Kitchen, New Scandinavian Cooking & Rick Bayliss. Old favorites I haven't seen for awhile include the Jeff Smith's Frugal Gourmet, Yan Can Cook & a hilarious Cajun whose name escapes me at the moment.

Of course you don't get as many hours of programming but with digital now some stations devote one of their signals to "Home" which is typically cooking, gardening & handyman-type shows. I've lived in 5 midwestern states & all have devoted at least one weekend daytime to cooking shows.

[KarenB]

Your lucky. I don't have any access to cooking shows. Your right the best are based on technique. When I lived in the city I liked Emeril because he explained. Too many are concerned with appearance. Nothing like watching Julia and a cup of flour! That's my kind of chef. Stuff everywhere and the point was good food. Food channel lacks variety. Repeat after repeat. I do get a local station and sunday afternoon one of the pro chef's from the college does an hour show with 2 students. It's really good for information.

[ImissTexas52]

Favorites are Jacques & Julia (together or alone) Lidia's Italy, Avec Eric, America's Test Kitchen, New Scandinavian Cooking & Rick Bayliss. Old favorites I haven't seen for awhile include the Jeff Smith's Frugal Gourmet, Yan Can Cook & a hilarious Cajun whose name escapes me at the moment.

Could you possibly be referring to Justin Wilson? He was indeed fun to watch and listen to. I used to love hearing him pronounce "onion". It came out as "awn-yun" or something very close to that. He also used to use wine for himself and his recipes. Funny, funny man.

[tullius]

Yes of course! Thanx.

[Cassie-Jane]

I really agree with you PBS does offer good cooking shows!

[Clove]

Of course you don't get as many shows on PBS & many of them are very old, but I like the chefs (& for the most part they are chefs not just cooks) better. Plus I'm just not that big of a fan of the competition shows. I'm more interested in technique & food history than the supposed drama & personality clashes...

I agree that PBS has always had better content in their shows that any network or cable provider, but they certainly could not have filled the airways with 19 hours of good quality food and cooking programming, seven days of the week. IMHO, neither can Scripps.
There is a new (3/31/2010) cable channel that Scripps Networks launched called the Cooking Channel to replace their "failed" Fine Living Network. On my cable system, they just replaced FLN with the Cooking Channel, on the same cable channel number.
My point in mentioning this is that on this channel, they are re-running the Julia Child shows (PBS produced) from the 1970's, The Galloping Gourmet from the 1980's and a whole slew of (newer but still re-runs of) "Cooking" shows from the BBC and the CBC. For the most part, these newer shows are cooking shows that have never run on US TV or are re-runs of older episodes of FTV shows like Mario, Emeril, Sara Molton, Giada, Rachelle, et al.
They are also re-running shows that they had previously bought from the BBC, like Nigella Lawson (now Saatchi) series.

[gaileybird]

I am enjoying all of the ethnic food shows on this new cooking channel. Keep thinking I will try some of the Indian food but haven't so far. gaileybird

[Clove]

... Keep thinking I will try some of the Indian food but haven't so far...

When I first started out cooking, I tried many different ethnic food styles.
After a few years of varying nationality's food cooking, I found my spice cabinet filled with many dried herbs and spices.
As these spices loose much of their potency a few months after opening, I looked them over and found that there was 1/2 teaspoon missing on this and 1/8 of teaspoon missing on that. I had dozens of bottles of hardly used, but now almost flavorless herbs and spices.
That's when I decided to concentrate on one (or a couple of similar) ethnic cuisines.
Now I go through my spice cabinet 2 or 3 times a year. Much more cost effective and flavor effective for us.