When English author Geoffrey Chaucer popularized the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt” in the late fourteenth century, I know he wasn’t thinking about food television, but that’s only because he didn’t live long enough to experience the tropes of the genre. Watch enough Food Network or explore the more culinary pockets of Hulu and Netflix and it will start to feel like every ingredient is secret, every kitchen is cutthroat and every cook is your competition.
Granted, I’ve spent a lot of time over the last couple decades watching food television (like a lot), for both work and pleasure. However, the same thematic elements that caused pioneering programs like “Iron Chef” to crackle with electric energy when it debuted in the United States in 2005, like themed dishes and a countdown clock, have been recycled and repurposed again and again, and just like a kitchen knife guided to make the same cut over and over, they’ve grown duller over time.
