We don’t pay for tv so we don’t have the food channel, but I feel spoilt by the amount of foodie programmes on the free channels.

On TV in the last month or so:

Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey

Rick Stein eats in many of the South East Asian countries we plan on eating in very soon. It’s like watching a travel show written for hungry people just like me. Rick’s shows have a seafood slant on everything. I adore eating fresh seafood in Asia, so the seafood slant is fine by me! This series covered: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bali and Bangladesh.

Peta Unplugged in Marrakech

New Zealander Peta Mathias and her gastronomads on a culinary tour of Marrackech….just finished and replaced with…

River Cottage – Spring

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage winter season has only just finished and now we’re onto the spring series. River Cottage isn’t just about food, it’s also about sustainability and lifestyle. It’s about growing, catching, gathering as much as it is about cooking and eating. We would love to live River Cottage style for a year to see how it pans out. Minus all the rabbit eating of course.

Top Chef

Always good viewing. Inspirational stuff. Last night their quickfire challenge included duck testicles, duck tongues, emu egg and crocodile.

World Kitchen

New Zealander Nici Wickes travels the world to eat in specific cities, then recreates dishes at home.

…a huge advocate for demystifying cooking and her main focus with the show and her cookbook is to encourage people to cook more and to give them the confidence so that they find it enjoyable!

I find Nici Wickes really accessible, easy to watch and understand. This is a show that can be enjoyed by culinary retards too. This series covered Hong Kong, Oaxaca, Delhi, Kyoto, Jamaica, Osaka.

This series has just completed airing.

Masterchef

I’m not watching any Masterchef programmes. I don’t find them inspirational. The contestants are not knowledgeable enough and Hell’s Kitchen is much the same. After a few seasons of watching people humiliate themselves, it gets old. Top Chef is where it is at if you want to see good competitive cooking.

Are you watching any food on the box?