# Does anyone remember this cooking show of yesteryear? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 27, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400 "2006-05-27T01:53:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/1 "2006-05-27T01:53:05Z")
This show was running in the '80s, (I have a dim recollection that it had been running for some time, perhaps into the '70s.) I can remember seeing it when I was home sick or in the summer. The host was a very snobby looking fellow, with a British accent and stiff manners. He was large, tall/stout and older. He had a jowly face with a large nose. His show emphasized sophistication. I believe he had a rivalry with the Galloping Gourmand if I recall correctly. (He would refer to the show with a _sniff_ and a disparaging comment.) I remember one particular episode of this show fondly because he had Cab Calloway on to show how to make barbeque ribs (of all things) properly. He was engaging Cab in coversation, and brought up _sniff_ heavy metal music. It was quite apparent that he looked down his nose at the genre and thought it had no class at all. Cab Calloway said words to the effect of “I love heavy metal music. Man, those cats are so crazy, so expressive. They are great!” It floored the host. Does anyone know the show I mean? I’d love to be able to buy that episode just to watch the horrified expression quickly replaced by feigned polite interest again. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/2 "2006-05-27T02:08:20Z")
Adding, I did try searching to see if I might find the name of the show with no luck. That is why I posted this thread, hoping someone might know the name of the program. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/3 "2006-05-27T02:15:51Z")
Could it have been [David Wade](http://www.popmatters.com/columns/gibron2/051104.shtml)? ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/4 "2006-05-27T02:20:21Z")
I don’t think so. 😕 This fellow was as snooty as David Wade, but he wore a “butler tux”, and had a British accent. His face was also about as jowly as a bloodhound’s face. I don’t think Central Kansas would get a cooking show that was local in Texas would they? I am thinking the show ran on PBS though, so maybe. Hmmm… ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/5 "2006-05-27T02:32:37Z")
[The Anal Retentive Chef?](http://snltranscripts.jt.org/88/88panalchef.phtml) ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/6 "2006-05-27T02:41:03Z")
No, it wasn’t a farce. This fellow was in earnest, and though very prim, and snooty his recipies weren’t all that bad. (At least at the time I didn’t think so, but I was a kid, probably around twelve years old.) His focus was on living well and eating well, and he actually had the pull to get celebrity guests. I don’t think he was as verbose as David Wade, he used the word “saute” for browning etc. I’d say he wasn’t a pretender like David Wade seems to have been. I can remember the same station also showed Wok with Yan (I really liked watching Yan cook.) and The Frugal Gourmet, and the Cajun Chef in later years. ---
**Author:** ![AveDementia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@AveDementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AveDementia)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/7 "2006-05-27T03:14:27Z")
Do you see him on [this page](http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/chef_biogs/)? ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/8 "2006-05-27T03:18:49Z")
No, he was old enough to count Cab Calloway as a peer, (I cannot remember which was the senior of the two, but they were from the same approximate era.) he is probably dead now. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/9 "2006-05-27T03:32:34Z")
I take that back, Cab Calloway was the senior of the two. The host was old enough to remember Cab’s music as he grew up. (He was about sixty to seventy I believe.) ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/10 "2006-05-27T03:57:29Z")
Another memory is that the host would be filmed with his jacket off and rolled up sleeves when he was actually cooking, and he wore an immaculate white apron at such times too. He had an enormous, long rather pointy nose with big nostrils if that helps. He habituallly sniffed, almost like a snuff user. I wish I could give which region his accent was from. It was an “upperclass” sounding accent, but natural sounding not overdone. I do not know if it is what is known as BBC British or not. It was like the accent Jeremy Brett has when in the role of Sherlock Holmes. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/11 "2006-05-27T13:47:50Z")
We can probably rule out Justin Wilson … ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/12 "2006-05-27T13:52:45Z")
Graham Kerr? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/13 "2006-05-27T14:53:36Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > We can probably rule out Justin Wilson … I gar-awn-tee! ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/14 "2006-05-27T14:57:18Z")
Johnny Craddock? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/15 "2006-05-28T00:19:56Z")
[Craig Claiborne](http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/bioc3/clai1.jpg) [James Beard](http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/CollectedInfo/images/james_beard.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/16 "2006-05-28T01:38:11Z")
**Homebrew** , not Graham Kerr. I mentioned that host of the show I was inquiring about mentioned him dismissively. **aruvqan** the image of James Beard looks a lot like the host I remember. Did he have a very clipped way of speaking, so that the instant you heard him you thought “upper class”? The main thing I recall though, is that he was quite a snob (but not irredeemable) and that is why I got a chuckle out of the show in which Cab Calloway sang the praises of the stagemanship to be seen by heavy metal artists. Reading the Wikipedia [article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Beard) about him, it doesn’t say if he was a snob or not, though I get the impression James Beard probably wasn’t. Perhaps it was a persona he put on for the camera though, complete with accent? It doesn’t mention if he had a special persona for his show. (Maybe I filed it away as a British accent, when it’s really the very proper diction that people like Eleanor Roosevelt used when speaking? I don’t think that is the same as Standard which actors used is it?) The show I watched was in color though, and it was in the 80s when Ozzy etc. was popular with some. Maybe he did a little show for PBS that has escaped mention on Wikipedia? ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/17 "2006-05-28T01:48:34Z")
Hmm, another thought. How well was James Beard the last years of his life? Would he have filmed a cooking show at that point in his life? I would have been about 11 or 12 when I saw the episode I mentioned, that would be 1983-84. James Beard died in 1985. Was there anyone else who took their cue from James Beard to make a cooking show? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/18 "2006-05-28T01:51:00Z")
Julia Child? Well, she _looks_ kind of like a man … ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/19 "2006-05-28T03:19:26Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > **Homebrew** , not Graham Kerr. I mentioned that host of the show I was inquiring about mentioned him dismissively. Yes, you did. For some reason, though, I had _Frugal_ instead of _Galloping_ in my head thinking instead of Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400/20 "2006-05-28T03:21:59Z")
[url=“[http://www.uktvfood.co.uk/?uktv=tv.series&seriesID=1557](http://www.uktvfood.co.uk/?uktv=tv.series&seriesID=1557)”]_Floyd On Food_? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-remember-this-cooking-show-of-yesteryear/358400.md?page=2)