My Kitchen Rules
By Catherine D
How has My Kitchen Rules affected the way people approach food?
My Original Opinion
My Kitchen Rules has a positive influence on the general public as it encourages individuals to think outside the box, all the while the cooking show provides techniques that may become valid in day-to-day cooking such as removing bones from fish or a specific way to cook chicken while ensuring the flavours and moisture continues throughout the cooking process. Cooking shows such as My Kitchen Rules promote healthy eating and experimenting with a wide variety of foods. Some teams on My Kitchen Rules use gourmet food, such as Duck, Snails and Chateaubriand. Each individual serving of food in the show resembles some part of the chefs life story, MKR chefs often reflect their story in their meals. The audience are also often interested by the amount of effort cooks put into their dishes. Manu Feildel and Pete Evans are famous chefs and currently are judges on My Kitchen Rules, adding an influence to viewers.
How has the show impacted the average viewer?
According to the survey results below, majority - 66.67%- of those who were surveyed believe My Kitchen Rules is influential on aspiring cooks while 33.33% do not think the show is influential. Some viewers believe the show is a starting point in their career, which is why they audition for the opportunity to expand their cooking and experiences. Another question asked in the survey is “Do you approach food differently after watching My Kitchen Rules”. There answers varied from “I can see there is a lot of potential with the simplest of recipes so yes, I approach food differently” to “No, I do not watch the show therefore it makes no difference on what I cook.”
The article below "Did cooking shows create a generation of foodies", written by Alison Cooper, supports my opinion as she believes that a new generation has been made to love eating and cooking food. She also talks about how cooking shows in general have "created more interest in organic and locally produced ingredients, fine dining and homemade dishes..."
Article
Did cooking shows create a generation of foodies?
Article by Alison Cooper
“…Thanks to cooking shows (and the Internet) there are millions of people who now identify themselves as foodies, but perhaps "food TV enthusiasts" would be a better description. A lot of the interest isn't so much in cooking as it is in the experience of eating -- and also watching reality show competitors complete tasks that are pretty much impossible to replicate at home. Food lovers can still learn how to cook a classic beef bourguignon, for example, but they can also watch Adam Richman trying to finish the world's biggest hamburger on "Man v. Food" or Anthony Bourdain of "No Reservations" chowing down on rattlesnake and alligator. To be fair, cooking shows have certainly created more interest in organic and locally produced ingredients, fine dining and homemade dishes, but today's audience is a far cry from the one Levy and Barr were writing for in 1984.
In a word, yes. The explosion of cooking shows has created a new generation of foodies -- and also redefined the word. So what does "foodie" mean today?” (HowStuffWorks 2014, viewed 5th February, 2014)
What message is the show trying to portray to the viewer?
Purpose of My Kitchen Rules:
The survey results below suggest majority of people surveyed believe that My Kitchen Rules has been created to make a profit from people viewing the show - which is the main motive behind creating the show. Other suggestions include entertainment while other people also believe that My Kitchen Rules was created to promote how to use a variety of food to entertain people and broaden their knowledge about food and skills in the kitchen.
"The friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers." (Dictionary.com 2014)
My Kitchen Rules portrays hospitality. Instant restaurants are created by each team in which the contestants are served a 3 course meal. Some of these meals are successful while the other meals may be a disaster. The main message that MKR portrays is the encouragement to experiment with new ingredients and new techniques in the kitchen.
Best & Worst Chefs So Far - 2014
To Conclude
Primary Source Bibliography
SurveyMonkey 2014. Survey Monkey. Viewed 5th February, 2014:
Secondary Source Bibliography
Dictionary.com 2014,. Hospitality. Viewed 5th February, 2014:
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hospitality>
Energy Times n.a. Channelling a Healthy Diet. Viewed 5th February, 2014:<http://www.energytimes.com/pages/features/1106/cooking.html>
HowStuffWorks 2014, HowStuffWorks “Did cooking shows create a generation of foodies”. Viewed 5th February, 2014:
<http://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/tv-and-culture/cooking-shows-create-foodies.htm>
Modern Cooks 2014. The Popularity of TV Chefs and Cooking TV Shows. Viewed 5th February, 2014:
SelfGrowth.com 2014. How Cooking Shows Influence The “Common” Kitchen. Viewed 5th February, 2014:
<http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/how-cooking-shows-influence-the-common-kitchen>
Travel + Leisure 2014. The influence of TV Cooking Shows. Viewed 5th February, 2014:
<http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/the-influence-of-tv-cooking-shows#>
Yahoo 7 My Kitchen Rules 2014. Recipes by meal type – My Kitchen Rules – Official site. Viewed 5th February, 2014:
<http://au.tv.yahoo.com/my-kitchen-rules/recipes/course/#page1>
YouTube 2014. Sunrise: Biggest MKR disaster ever. Viewed 5th February,2014:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szS0nXcvaSA>
YouTube 2014. Sunrise: MKR mums get top score. Viewed 5th February,2014:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILSSzIQNpTY>