Why This Matters: Shows focused around food and family offer viewers a comfy respite from the contentious cultural mood.
Family cooking shows, which see families competing to craft and serve a better dish than the clan across the way, are suddenly hotter than a Viking Professional 5 Series oven. Family Food Showdown started on Food Network March 3, and Dinner Takes All breaks bread on BYUtv beginning March 20. The Big Family Cooking Showdown is on Netflix, and Family Food Fight, hosted by Ayesha Curry, will run on ABC.
Cleve Keller and Dave Noll, whose Keller/Noll created the competing chefs series Chopped on Food Network, created Dinner Takes All, a mix of cooking competition and food trivia. They hope the rookie show captures the best of both family TV and food TV. Our hope is that our show embodies everything that family programming means, said Noll.
Dinner Takes All features two teams of five family members who build their best Sunday dinner, including an entr e, three sides and a dessert. Family members are also quizzed on their knowledge of food. Winning families get a year's worth of groceries or cash. Kelsey Nixon hosts. Between the cooking competition and the food trivia games, Keller calls it an incredibly hard show to host.
"Family Food Showdown"
Valerie Bertinelli hosts Family Food Showdown, which features three rounds of cooking challenges and two families doing culinary battle. Each episode sees the top family take home $10,000. Food Network is on board for 13 episodes.
We look for standout families with really strong culinary chops, engaging stories, challenging situations with high stakes, Food Network president Courtney White said, along with some valuable takeaway information, and of course, beautiful, delicious food.
The Big Family Cooking Showdown is a BBC series with two seasons on Netflix.
ABC announced Family Food Fight last summer, but has not divulged a premiere date. Based on an Australian format, the series will have eight families sharing a kitchen and fighting for a $100,000 prize. Host Curry, who also hosted Ayesha's Home Kitchen on Food Network, said at the time, Cooking is such an important part of my family life, and I can't wait to find others from across America who share that passion for creating delicious dishes and have great stories to tell.
Hail to the Chef
While the family angle is a fresh one, food programming has of course been around nearly as long as television has. Unlike shows about, say, motorcycles or fishing, everyone can relate to food. We all eat, said Walter Podrazik, co-author of Watching TV and TV curator at the Museum of Broadcast Communications. Many of us cook. We all know someone who cooks extremely well.
Some say the seemingly endless strife bouncing about in our nation, much of it brought on by political in-fighting, makes food programming and family food programming in particular a good fit in 2019. Podrazik refers to such programming as, fittingly, comfort food.
People are rediscovering the fun of family, the reassurance of family, he said.
Speaking of fun families, Phil Rosenthal created hit comedy Everybody Loves Raymond, and then shifted to food programming. I'll Have What Phil's Having ran on PBS in 2015 and Somebody Feed Phil, a reimagined take on I'll Have What, debuted on Netflix in 2018.
Rosenthal said he pitched a family cooking show to several networks around 15 years ago. His Family Recipe concept would have two families prepare a signature meal, with one family sampling the other's meal and a winner named. No network bit.
Rosenthal calls food the great connector in our society. We all have to eat, and we usually eat with family, Rosenthal said.
He added that food programming almost always goes down easily. In this peak TV era of dark characters and at times convoluted story lines in our popular dramas, foodie fare is easy background music, Rosenthal said. It's a subject we all know and love.
Time, and the Nielsens, will reveal just how much demand there is for family cooking shows today.
For her part, Food Network's White is optimistic about Family Food Showdown, which she likens to a big family event say, Thanksgiving or a reunion where it's all hands on deck in the kitchen, for better or for worse. Those fabulous food gatherings that are the heart of family, White said. To see those real dynamics of families play out during cooking challenges is incredibly entertaining.
Why This Matters: Shows focused around food and family offer viewers a comfy respite from the contentious cultural mood.
Family cooking shows, which see families competing to craft and serve a better dish than the clan across the way, are suddenly hotter than a Viking Professional 5 Series oven. Family Food Showdown started on Food Network March 3, and Dinner Takes All breaks bread on BYUtv beginning March 20. The Big Family Cooking Showdown is on Netflix, and Family Food Fight, hosted by Ayesha Curry, will run on ABC.Subscribe for full article
Member Exclusive
Get Access to Our Exclusive Content
Learn MoreAlready subscribed? Log In
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
28/01/2026
Marshall Electronics launches the CV420-27X, its next-generation ultra-high-definition (UHD) IP camera, at ISE 2026 (Stand 4N900). Engineered for modern IP-base...
28/01/2026
Grass Valley has announced that Television Mobiles Ltd. (TVM), one of Europe's leading independent outside broadcast providers, has carried out a major refu...
28/01/2026
AI, graphics and virtual software power new production capabilities
FOR-A is bringing remarkable new technologies to FOMEX, the Future of Media Exhibition (ex...
28/01/2026
Continuing a longstanding collaboration, Riedel Communications and Nordic media technology company Media Tailor have once again joined forces to deliver a state...
28/01/2026
Pebble has appointed Paul Nagle-Smith as vice president for customer fulfilment, strengthening its senior leadership focus on customer delivery and operational ...
28/01/2026
Cloud playout solutions provider, Veset has announced that leading Mexican broadcaster, TV Azteca is using Veset Nimbus on AWS as a disaster recovery (DR) playo...
28/01/2026
Ensuring it can keep pace with a rapidly evolving live sports market, Balkan broadcast facility provider MVP Most Valuable Production has upgraded its flags...
28/01/2026
Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the cloud solutions provider that powers and protects life online, and Yospace, the leader in dynamic ad insertion tec...
28/01/2026
The renowned Reykjavik City Theatre (RCT) recently underwent a major intercom system upgrade using Clear-Com solutions. This milestone project utilizes Clear-C...
28/01/2026
Luxembourg, January 26, 2026 - SES S.A. ( SES or the Company ), a leading space solutions company, acknowledges the credit rating action announced by Fitch to...
28/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/01/2026
28 01 2026 - Media release Screen Australia refreshes Market & Audience approach...
28/01/2026
Boston Conservatory Orchestra Premieres a New Piano Concerto by Peter and Leonar...
27/01/2026
Click for Japanese version
Tokyo, Japan - January 27, 2026 - Akamai Technolo...
27/01/2026
L-R: Jonathan Cuchacovich, Sonia Kennebeck, Alan Fischer, Daeil Kim, Andrew Sta...
27/01/2026
Today, Spotify is proud to support our partner Backline, an industry-leading men...
27/01/2026
With nearly 29 million monthly listeners and clear momentum on Spotify, Net n Ve...
27/01/2026
January 14, 2026
We are proud to share that 25 Ontario, First Gulf's commercial project located just two minutes from our head office, has been recognized ...
27/01/2026
January 22, 2026
First Gulf is excited to share that a full-building lease has been secured at 625 Bronte Rd in Oakville, part of Bronte Station Business Park,...
27/01/2026
January 23, 2026
First Gulf continues to demonstrate its commitment to high-performance, sustainable real estate with 351 King Street East achieving BOMA BEST ...
27/01/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
27/01/2026
Nielsen will continue to drive growth and provide local audience measurement
in...
27/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
27/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
27/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
27/01/2026
Amagi Media Labs Limited, the only cloud-native SaaS provider offering end-to-end solutions across live production, content preparation, distribution, and monet...
27/01/2026
Miri Technologies Inc. today unveiled its V410 live 4K video encoder/decoder for streaming, IP-based production workflows and AV-over-IP distribution. Designed ...
27/01/2026
The Paul E. Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell in Massachusetts has chosen Ikegami cameras for incorporation into its broadcast-quality television production facili...
27/01/2026
SipRadius, specialists in secure, low latency media transport, will show the pro AV community its end-to-end solution for high quality content distribution and ...
27/01/2026
Hiltron will highlight the fruits of its 45-plus years of experience in satellite communications system integration and product development at the annual GovSat...
27/01/2026
Klvr will demonstrate how its Charger Pro solution is delivering cost reduction and performance benefits for live entertainment and pro AV markets at ISE 2026 (...
27/01/2026
Amino, a global media technology leader in enterprise video and digital signage, today announced that its Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2026 booth (4N700) wil...
27/01/2026
ANI, India's leading news agency and a major content provider across the Asia Pacific region, today announced a significant expansion of its long standing p...
27/01/2026
Independent analysis confirms faster encoding, lower CPU usage, and improved perceptual quality compared to CBR and CRF
VisualOn, a leader in multimedia playba...
27/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
27/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
27/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
27/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Pinterest
Bluesky
Email...
27/01/2026
New agreement for uninterrupted UHF connectivity for Australian Defence Force through 2033, With Options Extending to 2041
Luxembourg, January 13, 2026 - Satel...
27/01/2026
Tuesday 27 January 2026
SNL UK creative team expands as Pauli Lovejoy, Annie Ha...
27/01/2026
Back to All News
When It Feels Real, Is It Still a Lie? The Art of Sarah' ...
27/01/2026
Back to All News
That Night premiering on Netflix March 13
Entertainment
27 January 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
DOWNLOAD THE KEY ART
DOWNLO...
27/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Revealed the Future of Mexican Stories Coming in 2026
Entertainment
27 January 2026
GlobalMexico
Link copied to clipboard
Among t...
Why This Matters: Shows focused around food and family offer viewers a comfy respite from the contentious cultural mood.
