As an American, I often mourn the fact that I can't tune into the Food Network every day. They have such a wealth of great programmes, and WHYOHWHY don't they set up in the UK, or sell all their shows to someone? Today, for instance, we could be enjoying Essence Of Emeril (Emeril Lagasse, amazing Portugese-American chef, famous for his emphasis on Creole/Cajun, and for shouting "Pork fat rules!". A man welcome at my table, any time.) or Bobby Flay's Boy Meets Grill special on beer and bratwurst. (Flay is the Don Corleone of BBQs and grilling), or Alton Brown's Good Eats episodes on puff and choux pastry, back to back! (Alton mixes food and science in a charmingly hokey manner). And that is just today. A small portion of today.
Trust me, after 20+ years in London, I'm more European (or mockney) than American, and not prone to wailing about how everything is better in the USA. Quite the opposite. Most stuff is better here. It's just cheaper in the States. But, seriously, in terms of food television, the Brits have got to get their act together. I love the food cum porn of Nigella Lawson or Nigel Slater, and the mate-y enthusiasm of Jamie Oliver or Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Masterchef (the proper one, not that cotton-wrapped cod-celebrity nonsense) is great entertainment. A bit sick of Gordon Ramsey, though you have to admit he's good value. Don't get me started on James Martin. Occasionally, one of the networks (the BBC and C4 mainly) deliver a great programme, but too often they are relying on gimmicky ideas to compensate for the lack of on-screen charisma of the celebrity chefs and presenters. We are entering the food television equivalent of the music business in the Seventies: an upper crust of elite, tired old hacks, trying to milk some juice out of the bloated excess that their careers have become. It's about as exciting as Yes, In The Round. Or more precisely, as exciting as a water-sodden loo roll. But... I digress.
The UKTV Food channel is co-owned by BBC Worldwide and Virgin Media Television, and most of the programming is comprised of shows dredged up from the BBC archives and hacked up by a 10 year old to allow for the insertion of copious advertising.
Old series of Masterchef, episodes of Ready Steady Cook featuring ingredients that were removed from the shelves years ago for health and safety reasons - that sort of thing. A bit of dear old Keith Floyd drinking his way across America in 1988 if you're lucky. This is the sole, dedicated food channel in the UK. They do produce original programming, but not enough and not of high enough quality.
New British Kitchen is presented by John Torode (celebrity chef and Masterchef judge) and Hardeep Singh Kohli, who is... errr, a writer and producer, mostly of shows about gambling. Okay, that's a bit unfair. He's actually very enthusiastic and charming, and clearly likes his food. Far be it from us to ostracize a fellow gannet. In fact it is Kohli's personality that shoulders most of the presenters' burden in the series.
The raison d'etre of the series to to explore the influences of different ethnic immigrant communities on British cooking. The presenters visit Caribbean, Polish, Jewish, Filipino, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Greek and Korean communities to discover how they coped with a lack of ingredients when they originally settled here, how they adapted their recipes, and how important their cuisine is to their sense of culture. Local guides provide a tour of food shops, restaurants, bakeries and family homes, and then it's back to the studio kitchen for a selection of recipes.
Having seen the Greek (Palmers Green, London) and Filipino (Earl's Court, London) episodes, I can safely put my cynicism aside and advise you all to turn your dials (or in more modern parlance, programme the PVR) to catch the series. Part documentary, part cookery programme, New British Kitchen explores a subject not yet touched upon in any depth by television. Undoubtedly, the British have truly had a food renaissance in the last 20 years. No longer is frozen pizza the height of domestic culinary excitement. Brits are cooking, buying quality ingredients, considering provenance, and rating restaurant eating as worthy an outing as opera or theatre, in numbers that are unsurpassed in their history. But what hasn't been examined is the impact that the influx of various ethic groups has had upon the British palate, or indeed how that has been an influence on, or indeed the very catharsis required, for our renaissance. Many column inches have been devoted to examining why curry is the national dish of the UK. Copious shelf space and airtime has been given to the very worthy, and necessary task of rediscovering true British cuisine, and indeed to reinventing it. I think the time is ripe for exploring some of the ethnic cooking that has helped awaken and diversify the British sense of taste.
New British Kitchen addresses that gap in the market rather well. While Torode confines himself to a bit of celebrity cheffing around in the studio kitchen, Kohli gets stuck in, visiting each of the ten communities and literally getting his hands dirty. In Palmers Green his local guide is food writer and TV presenter Tonia Buxton, who takes him to visit specialist Greek food stores, a bakery where they are shown how to make olive bread, and a delicatessen where Kohli helps to make koukes -- sausage shaped tubes of bulgar wheat stuffed with pork mince. (This made me think about where the idea for corn dogs must have come from! I sense a controversial Wikipedia editing session coming on.) Other recipes covered include spanakopitta (spinach and feta cheese pie), keftedes (pork meatballs with potatoes and vegetables) and kleftico (lamb stew). The UKTV Food site carries two recipes from each episode, which is nice - but why not carry them all? Some audio commentary and very useful video recipes are also available, so I mustn't be too hard on them. Kohli is charming and humble, putting all of the show's guests at ease. A pleasure to watch. Poor old Torode is a bit stiff and too eager to demonstrate his own cheffiness by pre-empting some of the studio guests, but I guess that is why he always needs a sidekick like Gregg Wallace or Hardeep Kohli to liven up the proceedings.
All ten half-hour episodes are showing repeatedly on UKTV Food now, and I will be setting the recorder to catch them all, as I recommend you do. 9pm is the prime-time slot, but they are repeated during the day. If the UKTV Food site was easier to navigate, I'd give you the times, but I haven't got all day. There's food to be eaten! Hint hint.
