With a little help from the chefs...

One of my favourite programs on television a couple of years ago was a cooking-travelling program called Two Greedy Italians, with Gennaro Contaldo and Antonio Carluccio. I think there also was a sequel to it. The two guys are close friends and of course great cooks and that together with the fact that they were travelling trough Italy, meeting the "real people" and the local recipes made the series very entertaining and never failed to put me in a good mood.

Antonio Carluccio

I don't think I will be alone if I say that I have noticed an unprecedented bloom of cooking programs on television the last five years at least. There are competitions for amateur and for professional chefs, baking competitions, very quick meals, very healthy meals, top models turning into chefs, Parisian meals, exotic meals, how to make your favourite takeaways, Michelin star chefs sharing their secrets, chefs travelling around the world, chefs on almost all the morning programs and so on and so on. The exposure, expansion and success of the culinary profession must be one of the highest in the last few years. People are addicted to these programs and they have claimed a large portion of airing time on TV and of course shelf space with the accompanying books in bookshops.
What do these cooking programs owe their huge success to? Is it that the British people were not exposed to interesting food and needed this injection of inspiration? I don't think so, as apparently cooking shows are blooming in other European countries and in the States too. Is it maybe a secret need for the domestic and for making tasty food from scratch for your family? Maybe its the fact that food is a primary need which makes it a universal theme that attracts most of us? Or a health craze has lead more people to want to cook "proper food"? Or does it come down to some great characters with lots of passion and dedication to what they do, getting out there and starting something that more young chefs and individuals aspire to?

I don't have a clue, but I was thinking there is definitely something to be learnt  from the phenomenon of the cooking program. Is there any way this could happen to Art for example? What would the equivalent of the culinary success be for Art on television? Would a half an hour program of artists talking about their work be of any interest to anyone. Would someone have to show viewers how to make something that could be easily tried later at home to get them more involved, and would an artist even want to do that. (after all some of these chefs are true artists and they don't hesitate to show you how they make a recipe). Or is Art (or rather artists) above all this, above television, or simply do not need it. You would probably have thought the same about elite cuisine 20 years ago, but they have cracked it. So would the only airing time for Art on TV be the new amazing Manet show or a tour around a major museum. Chefs have even tried and some times succeeded in changing food habits and perceptions in society through television. I am one of the people that actually deeply dislikes TV, but it is one of the best ways to get across to people and the chefs have used it in the most productive and successful way for their profession. I just wish there was an Artist out there that could come up with an imaginative, creative and new way of using TV for the exposure and expansion of Art and Art practice in this modern society.  

Unfortunately, I am not this person, but I had a little culinary help to a series of 3 landscape collages I made through the space of two summers. In Greece, cheeses, salami, bacon and such things are cut or sliced and wrapped for you in a certain typical paper, printed with food images and the name of your grocer's or supermarket. I used such a paper by photocopying and enlarging it because I love the vivid colours of the prints and the poor quality of the marks on them. I could never use these colours myself if I was mixing them, because they are so vivid they don't come naturally to me. But in these collages I have to use what I have been given from the wrapping paper. If you look closely you can see a salami or two.

The original wrapping paper