Jamie Oliver’s New Show: A Culinary Dilemma

The Great Cookbook Challenge With Jamie Oliver is the latest show of the TV chef on Channel 4. In this show, aspiring cookbook authors strive to win a deal with his publisher, Penguin Michael Joseph. They have to make an impression on Masterchef judge and Evening Standard critic Jimi Famurewa, PMJ managing director Louise Moore, and Taverna cookbook author Georgina Hayden. Here’s how the first episode unfolded.

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Cookbook Challenges Make Excellent Television

The Great Cookbook Challenge joins the recent array of British television shows that transform craftsmanship into entertainment, especially the Great British Surfeit of Bees and Bake Offs. This is partly because of its natural intersection with other platforms like Instagram and YouTube. And it works effectively, blending the food judging aspect of Masterchef with a glimpse into the realms of food styling, recipe development, and publishing itself – aspects that most viewers have only experienced as final products. Famurewa, Moore, and Hayden form a powerful and more complementary trio of judges compared to, for instance, the Paul-Prue dynamic on Great British Bake Off or the Gregg-John push-pull on Masterchef, offering comprehensive insights.

It’s a Challenging and Conservative Category

Although named The Great Cookbook Challenge, it doesn’t truly represent the extraordinary breadth of the field. There’s a clear thread in the judges’ comments, and of course, Jamie Oliver’s presence, in what PMJ is seeking – marketable, bright, and “accessible” – but the question of “for whom” is never clearly answered beyond references to the “average cook”, whoever that might be. As the series progresses, this might change.

Jamie Oliver Appears in Good Form

Cookbooks and his television legacy have been Jamie Oliver’s source of income and salvation over the years when his restaurant empire collapsed. And The Great Cookbook Challenge combines them with immediate impact. Oliver presents his experience casually and offers quick tips to the contestants, along with the usual “cheeky humour” that Channel 4 deems necessary to have a content warning. (He calls someone a bastard for referring to him as their dad.)

But His Presence Is Both a Blessing and a Curse

So, Oliver is an affable and experienced mentor, a natural host. Most importantly, he is the best-selling British non-fiction writer of all time. His presence is a benefit to the contestants, living proof that this saturated and fiercely competitive market can offer fame, fortune, and a livelihood spanning books, TV, and online videos.

His presence also serves as a reminder that often, this is not the case. In the lead-up to the show, a Times report presented a staggering statistic: “More than 5,000 cookery titles were released into the UK market in 2020, but only 556 sold more than 100 copies and only 48 sold more than 5,000.” Oliver himself said, “You can’t look at me and think that’s normal because it’s so far from normal.”

This implies that putting his influence, Moore, Famurewa, and Hayden’s expertise, and an entire TV show behind one deal neatly expresses the paradox of the Great Cookbook Challenge. It presents the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in a world that countless authors long to break into, while revealing the numerous barriers and inherently conservative dynamics that push those authors towards risky chances like this one. When Oliver calls it “the opportunity of opportunities,” it’s both a celebration and a caution. This is it.

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