I moved to a new apartment recently and decided to leave my Paleolithic non-digital TV behind with no replacement planned. Mind you, this is after several decades of never living without a TV. This is someone who has always loved TV and who wrote a book about TV cooking shows. Friends and family were startled (even angry) when I mentioned my courageous streamlined lifestyle choice. “You won’t survive a minute,” they warned. “And what will you do?” Well, I’m happy to report I’m doing just fine and don’t miss the big old thing at all. As many of you have already discovered, you don’t need a TV to watch TV. It’s right there on the Internet, just like everything else in the universe. Hulu.com is my new best friend. And you know what’s on the Food Network site besides recipes and celebrity chef photos? Full-length TV cooking shows.

And speaking of TV and food on the Internet, you might have heard about Gordon Ramsay’s “Cookalong Live” which, like so many UK TV shows, is reportedly making its way to US TV soon. You can watch short training videos on the website and bits of the show episodes on You Tube and elsewhere. The Channel 4 website apprises viewers of all the ingredients and gear they need to be prepared to actually cook along with Chef Ramsay. Very clever!

However, I cannot resist reminding you that 13 years ago Sara Moulton began hosting “Cooking Live” on the Food Network where she literally cooked a dish live from start to finish – I mean peeling the garlic and washing her hands and everything. And all the while she would take phone calls from viewers at home who were (allegedly) cooking along with her. They, too, had been prepped with get-ahead ingredients. Both Ramsay’s and Moulton’s shows promote(d) home cooking. Moulton didn’t have multiple cameras on set (or the truck driver’s mouth), but her show was a mainstay at the Food Network for five good years. Let’s not forget our foremothers!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 4:34 pm and is filed under news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.