The 9 Greatest Food Shows No One Seems To Remember

Cooking shows have been a part of the TV landscape for almost as long as television has existed: The first one, "Cook's Night Out," aired on the BBC in 1937. Food shows have helped introduce millions to different cuisines and cultures, and given viewers an inside look at real restaurants. 

There are many world-famous food shows with vastly different vibes, from Julia Child's "The French Chef" to Gordon Ramsay's "Hell's Kitchen." But not every good show is remembered for years to come, and there are a lot of forgotten examples that were great in their time. Some may even still hold up today.

These forgotten greats span a number of pioneers, from the first black woman to host a cooking show to two early leaders in introducing Asian cuisines to American palates. Some feature well-known chefs of today in their earlier forms, including Ramsay on the cusp of greatness. One even has a surprisingly memorable name for a show no one seems to remember today.

In this 1996 BBC series, Clarissa Wright and Jennifer Paterson ride a motorcycle and sidecar together through the United Kingdom (plus one episode each in Ireland and Jamaica) and cook no-frills dishes together using local ingredients. The unusually fat-positive show became a massive hit and was syndicated to the Food Network in 1997, expanding its audience to America. But Paterson also became one of the first Food Network stars we sadly lost when she died of lung cancer in 1999, which also ended the show.

"Boiling Point" was Gordon Ramsay's very first TV show, a five-episode documentary miniseries that showcased the opening of his first (and now flagship) restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, in 1998. This was the world's introduction to him, though Ramsay was already known on the culinary circuit, hence the show's documentation of his quest to win a third Michelin star. Although he failed on the show, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay did win a third star in 2001 — and has kept it ever since.

If Ina Garten thinks it's fine to use store-bought ingredients when making a dish, Sandra Lee arguably took it to the next level on "Semi-Homemade Cooking." This 2003 series ran for 8 years, and followed Lee's 70/30 rule: Using 70% store-bought goods and 30% fresh to put together a delicious meal. Some recipes may lean too much on processed foods for today's audiences, but it did win two Daytime Emmy Awards and was quality pandemic-era viewing for making boxed and canned foods taste better than expected.

"Great Chefs" is a New Orleans-based cooking show franchise that first aired in 1981. Covering a vast range of sub-shows, diving into the Great Chefs of various cities, regions, and cuisines, it covered over 1,000 different chefs in its approximately two-decade run. It's notable for capturing several extremely famous culinary names earlier in their careers, including Bobby Flay, Daniel Boulud, and Emeril Lagasse.

The 1978 show "Yan Can Cook" starred chef Martin Yan as he introduced Western audiences to the then-unfamiliar flavors of Chinese food. Yan reassured viewers that the unfamiliar food was easy and fun to cook with his signature catchphrase, "If Yan can cook, so can you." It became one of the most-watched cooking shows in history, having reached an estimated two billion worldwide viewers during its lifetime.

"Cooking Live" didn't win as many accolades and records as some of these shows, but chef Sara Moulton accomplished a significant feat with every episode: Cooking a dish from scratch live (not pre-recorded) while also interacting with the studio audience and taking viewer phone calls. And according to The New Yorker, it earned high praise from the beloved celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who fondly referred to Moulton's program as an "old guard, real chef cooking show."

"Louisiana Cookin'" was an early 1980s PBS show hosted by Justin Wilson, a chef and humorist from southeastern Louisiana. Wilson walked viewers through cooking Cajun food with a big personality, a bigger Louisiana drawl, and plenty of jokes throughout. Although people dispute whether Wilson was ethnically Cajun, he knew the food, and his show is part of why people are familiar with it today.

"East Meets West" was an early hit for Food Network, with chef Ming Tsai focusing on Euro-Asian fusion dishes to help audiences become more familiar with Asian ingredients. But despite winning a Daytime Emmy in 1998, Tsai became one of the Food Network stars who faded from the spotlight when the network began to pivot away from instructional cooking shows. But Tsai, who got into TV to teach cooking, disagreed with this shift and left Food Network in 2003.

This long-forgotten 1949 public television series starred New Orleans chef, author, and restaurateur Lena Richard. "Lena Richard's New Orleans Cook Book" was one of America's first cooking TV shows, and the very first one hosted by a black woman, an especially notable feat in the Jim Crow era. On this live show, Richard taught viewers how to cook more refined food twice per week until her death ended production in 1950.