Cookery class

The other day there were four cookery programmes in prime time on the terrestrial channels. Why? What on earth makes this subject of such relentless fascination? At least on the similarly ubiquitous antiques shows you can look at the antiques. But so far you can’t taste the food, though no doubt they’re working on that as the next big thing after 3D. Instead of buying HD-ready televisions, we’ll get oven-ready sets. ‘Press the red button for venison in a raspberry coulis, or the blue button for turbot in a beurre blanc…’

The latest is Out of the Frying Pan (BBC 2) in which contestants who didn’t quite make it on Raymond Blanc’s The Restaurant try to succeed in the real world, or in a world as real as anything surveyed by camera crews ever can be. James and Alasdair were celebrated on The Restaurant for being talented but liable to tremendous screw-ups.