Here’s the best cooking show on television | Opinion

Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems).

Remember when Julia Child’s “The French Chef” was the only cooking show around?

Maybe you don’t, since it was in the 1960s and 1970s.

What about “The Frugal Gourmet” (1983 to 1997); “Cookin’ Cheap,” (1981-2002); “Gourmet Cooking” (1977-1995); or “Yan Can Cook” (1982-present!)? Or “The Happy Homemaker”? (OK, that’s a trick question; that was the title of Sue Ann Nivens’ — Betty White’s — cooking show on the “Mary Tyler Moore Show.”)

Up until the early ’90s, that was about it; there wasn’t much more in the way of televised culinary arts.

Then, in 1993, the Food Network was launched and the number of cooking, baking and restaurant shows exploded like eggs in the microwave.

There are now more than 550 food-related shows listed on the Food Network’s website alone. Five hundred and fifty. Julia would be so proud.

Today,  across broadcast, cable and streaming platforms, you can watch episodes of:

• “America’s Test Kitchen” (the science behind cooking plus product reviews? fab);

• “Barefoot Contessa” (elegant and foolproof recipes — and, yes, I stole the title from one of her cookbooks);

• “Hell’s Kitchen” (too harsh for my taste);