The Great Cookery Turn Off.

Having got back into a bit of TV watching after a nine month lay off, I find myself a little disturbed by the extent to which the schedules are dominated by cookery programmes. Objections listed here:

1. There are too many of them.

2. The presenters are all too full of themselves and over-the-top to have anything to do with the real world.

3. The ratio of effort:output seems to me to be scandalously unbalanced.

4. I find the sight of people stuffing food in their mouths more than a little disgusting, especially when they then open those mouths to make ooing and cooing noises and indulge in shallow hyperbole like a bunch of untrained thespians, and most especially when the thing they’re shoving into their mouths is a piece of dead animal (often with its blood still evident.)

5. I associate the epicurean principle with privilege, pretension and the darker side of decadence.

6. There are millions of people in this world lacking even the basic means of sustenance. There are children dying of hunger. Being grateful that we have enough to eat is fine, but making shallow entertainment out of the fact strikes me as disrespectful.

7. I’ve never been into posh food. My taste has always been for the simple little delights like a handful of unsalted cashew nuts or a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich.

8. I get hot under the collar when I see how much washing up they’re making.

9. I’m adding a nine because I dislike eights.