Food isn’t just something we eat—it’s a story we tell and a culture we celebrate. Over the years, television has played a huge role in shaping how we view cooking. From high-stakes kitchen competitions to culinary adventures, these iconic shows didn’t just showcase food; they defined it. Here are 15 iconic TV shows that shaped food culture as we know it.
15. Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives
As a step to complete Guy Fieri’s comfort food empire, one of his iconic shows is Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, where he explores different local establishments as he drives around America. Fieri visits different diners, drive-ins, and dives as he interviews the owners and cooks, while sampling their menu.
14. The Food That Built America
If you love fun facts and history, then you would enjoy The Food That Built America. It’s a documentary series that delves into the development of popular foods or restaurants in the US. It focuses on relevant timelines and brand competitions with commentaries from culinary historians, business experts, and food enthusiasts. It’s the perfect show for every food lover out there.
13. The Bear
If you’re up for some culinary psychological comedy drama, then The Bear is the show for you. It’s like Grey’s Anatomy but in a fine dining restaurant. It follows a young chef who returns to his hometown in Chicago to manage his family’s sandwich shop following the demise of his brother. He has to find the balance of running a small business, family dynamics, and his dreams.
12. Cake Boss
Let’s talk about cake and pastries, as this show is what every baker around the world watches. Cake Boss is centered around Buddy Valastro’s family bakery called Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey. The show focuses on how they create edible art cakes and a little bit of drama here and there among their family and employees who work around the shop.
11. Julia
If you’re a fan of Julia Child, then this series is for you, as it gives you a peek at what it took for her to be the icon that she is. The comedy drama show is based on the life of Child in 1960s Cambridge, Massachusetts, during the production of “The French Chef” show. Sadly, the series was cancelled after two seasons, but you can still stream it on HBO Max.
10. Kitchen Nightmares
If you’ve doomscrolled on different social media reels, chances are you’ve seen Gordon Ramsay lash out at different restaurant owners. Well, that entertainment was brought to you by Kitchen Nightmares, where in each episode, Ramsay visits failing restaurants to help them out. The aim of this show is to make a complete 360-degree turn of these failing restaurants in just one week. Months later, he’s visiting these establishments again to see how they are doing.
9. Iron Chef America
Iron Chef is based on a Japanese cooking show with the same name, produced by Food Network. Just like the original Japanese program, each episode features a challenger chef who will compete against one of the show’s resident “Iron Chefs” for a one-hour cooking competition. The competition will be based on certain ingredients and sometimes with a theme.
8. The Great British Bake Off
Diving into another baking show, this British baking competition is about a group of amateur bakers who compete against each other. The show features rounds to impress judges with their baking skills, with one contestant eliminated in every round. Meanwhile, the winner gets to be selected among three contestants who get to qualify for the finals.
7. Chopped
If you love reality-based cooking game shows, you’ve probably seen Food Network’s Chopped. It’s a show hosted by Ted Allen, where four chefs compete against each other to win the $10,000 prize. In each episode, there’s a three-round contest where the chefs get to attempt to create an unusual combination of ingredients into dishes and are evaluated by the judges.
6. Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown
If you love food and documentaries, then you’ll love Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, which premiered on CNN back in 2013. In every episode, Bourdain travels around the world in places where tourists wouldn’t go. He explores each place’s cultures and, of course, dives into their cuisines to introduce them to the world.
5. Good Eats
Here’s one for those who like a good mix of science, history, and food. Yup, it’s a food for the brain show that is hosted by none other than Alton Brown. In this show, Brown explores the different science and techniques behind cooking and provides a good dive into food history. Each episode features a theme, which can be about a certain ingredient or technique, as they focus on familiar dishes that you could make at home.
4. Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations
Anthony Bourdain would never say no to travelling to different places to explore their culture and food. Originally aired on the Travel Channel, No Reservations is a show hosted by Bourdain as he visits different countries and cities for their culture and cuisines. It’s actually the same format as his previous show on Food Network called A Cook’s Tour.
3. Emeril Live
We may credit the ultimate “BAM!” and “Kick it up a notch” catchphrases to the cooking program that helped establish today’s Food Network. Emeril Live first aired in 1997, as it paved the way for the celebrity chef culture. In each episode, Emeril Lagasse demonstrates gourmet cooking to a live audience with a live band and special guests to try his dishes.
2. Hell’s Kitchen
Probably one of the famous reality cooking show competitions out there, Hell’s Kitchen is a series hosted by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. Aside from its noteworthy internet memes, each season showcases chefs who compete for the job as a head chef of a restaurant as they work in the kitchen of a restaurant set up in a television studio. The series is also notable for Ramsay’s explosive anger towards the contestants, proving that it really is hell inside a restaurant kitchen.
1. The French Chef
Long before different cooking shows started to emerge, there was The French Chef by Julia Child. It’s regarded as one of the first cooking shows on American television, with its pilot episode airing on July 26, 1962. In The French Chef, Child introduced French cooking in the country during a time when they were considered as expensive at restaurants. The recipes that were used on the show were from the book “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” which Child co-authored.