Cooking shows have always been a part of the TV diet. But in recent years cooking shows – crossed with the madness of reality tv and gaming shows – has become a whole need breed of televised craziness.

I think the whole madness started with Iron Chef:

It was TOTALLY over the top and removed from “normal” cooking. It pleased poor people as well as gastro snobs.

Programs like Top Chef and Hell’s kitchen are often rude and more like a soap than a cooking show. It’s no longer about food, but just competition and kicking someone’s arse.

It all Big Brother these days: people watching other people living and doing their job. Social porn at it’s worst and nevertheless very successful, because everybody can relate to it.

Where are all the TV shows were you could learn something or get inspired? Where are the TV shows that show the better side of humanity instead of nasty competitions and slimy fights? Don’t we have already enough of that?

But I guess such shows are a relief to many suppressed viewers, because they can “identify” with those onscreen bastards and act out their fantasies while wasting their lives in front of the telly …