Let’s Watch, Talk And Read Food !

• Sous vide machine
• Broccoli
• Deconstructed Food
• Salmon Fish
• Souffle

Sounds like a recipe or something related to food ? Well yes, these are some of the terms that I came across through Food related TV shows or through web channels. Being a Foodie or a Food Blogger looking to explore food in any ways possible – electronic and print media play a big role in that direction.

Phew !! talking about food started hunger pangs …… chomp chomp ….biscuits devoured !! 

Coming back to my point, err..what was that – oh yes , so TV shows, online channels, books, movies, documentaries are mediums that help us to connect with food all over the world not just in an informative manner but also introduces to some of the weird stuff happening across. This write up is to share with you some of these mediums that I have come across and found it interesting, informational, outstanding or in some cases – strange !!!

Street Food Exploration

Here are some TV/Online shows that brings street food across the world closer to home

• Street Food Around The World

An interesting Television series which follows the host exploring street food around the world. A nicely presented and awesome content with some interesting facts regarding the street food local to the region. They come up with something different in every season and in India I believe Fox Life channel broadcasts the show.Here is a short you tube video on one of the episodes that covers the streets of Mumbai, India

They also have a YouTube channel – Street Food Around The World for those who do have access to this show on TV ! 

• Highway On My Plate 

Ask any foodie in India on their favourite  TV show and Highway On My Plate (HOMP) will be on top of that list.Rocky and Mayur, the hosts of the show and childhood friends are like household names for foodies in the country. The way they present the show and review the food is excellent. Though I have categorized it under street food, the focus of the show is exploring highway restaurant outlets as well as exploring cuisine local to the place the hosts are visiting. The show is currently being broadcast in NDTV Good Times Channel. Here is a short  snippet of the show sourced from the NDTV YouTube channel

Competitive Cooking/Reality shows

• MasterChef

Do I even have to describe this show ? !! MasterChef has been associated the world over with shows local to the geographic location. This reality show gives opportunities for home cooks to take their culinary skills outside of their homes and portray their talent to the world.The show takes competitive cooking to the next level with the winner of the show reaping some amazing rewards and of course the title of MasterChef which for any home cook is a dream come true. My favourite among these is Masterchef Australia ! Here is a snippet of the new season of Masterchef India show sourced from Star plus YouTube channel  ! 

• Top Chef

Another competitive cooking reality show, but here the folks competing are not home cooks rather they are aspiring chefs. There have been international adaptations of the show in some countries but it started off and is famous in US to a greater extent. Not launched in India still, hopefully in future they will. Here is one of the old promo’s of Top Chef Canada Season 3

Weird but Famous

• Cooking with Dog 

Its a Japanese cookery show ! Its a web based show ! Started off with focus on Japanese Cuisine and slowly     expanded to include international cuisine ! All seems good , then what is weird ? The show features Chef and Francis ! Chef is the Japanese lady who will prepare the featured dish of that particular episode and Francis narrates the process, still not weird ? Well, no one know’s the name of Chef, for some reason they have kept it private and Chef speaks only Japanese. Francis is a dog, to be precise, a poodle that narrates the recipe in English. Well obviously, the poodle could not speak so the narration in English was a voiceover. The Poodle seems very disinterested in the episodes. Though it started off slow, it gained popularity over time and today it’s YouTube channel has over 12 lakh subscribers ! Here’s the YouTube channel link – Cooking with Dog and one of the episodes

• Forme of Cury

  Sounds familiar ??? Don’t think so ! Well this is an Ancient English Cookery Book ! So what’s different ??  Forme of Cury meaning ‘Method of Cooking’ is written in Middle English which is an ancient form of English spoken during the 15th century. It contains around 200+ recipes. Some of these recipe’s are believed to teach the cook on how to make banquet worthy dishes. Though there are many versions of this book, the original version is believed to be in the form of a ‘Scroll’. The authors are believed to have been listed as the “Chief Master Cooks of King Richard II” – this is only for information and I am not going to go into the history of who King Richard II was , lets stop at the food for now !!

  The book can infact be purchased online. Amazon has this book priced at around Rs.2500.Here is an example of a recipe taken from the 18th century edition sourced from wikipedia

  SAWSE MADAME. XXX.

  Take sawge. persel. ysope. and saueray. quinces. and peeres, garlek and Grapes. and fylle the gees þerwith. and sowe the hole þat no grece come out. and roost hem wel. and kepe the grece þat fallith þerof. take galytyne and grece and do in a possynet, whan the gees buth rosted ynouh; take an smyte hem on pecys. and þat tat is withinne and do it in a possynet and put þerinne wyne if it be to thyk. do þerto powdour of galyngale. powdour douce and salt and boyle the sawse and dresse þe Gees in disshes and lay þe sowe onoward.

  In modern English:

  SAUCE MADAME. 30.

  Take sage, parsley, hyssop and savory, quinces and pears,garlic and grapes, and stuff the geese therewith, and sew the hole that no grease come out, and roast them well, and keep the dripping that falleth thereof. Take meat jelly^[b] and dripping and add in a posset; when the geese be roasted enough; take and smite [cut] them into pieces, and that that is within, and add in a posset and put therein wine if it be too thick. Add thereto powder of galangal, powder-douce and salt and boil the sauce and dress the Geese in dishes and lay the sauce onward.^[6]