7 years ago, as a bachelor just starting out on his own, Brian didn’t see the point in getting cable television. It’s expensive, he was a first year teacher and he had a computer with internet access. Who needed cable? At the same time, I was spending afternoons on my parents couch, watching hours and hours of Food Network. Prior to our marriage, I expressed my concern about living without conventional television, especially since we live in an area that doesn’t really received signals via antenna. But Brian encouraged me to give it a try and, after nearly 5 years of marriage, I’m happy to say I’ve found plenty of ways to get my food entertainment fix.
The system isn’t perfect. Sometime I have to wait months for episodes or seasons to become available. Sometimes episodes of food reality shows never appear on my queue. Sometimes things expire or disappear without notice. But for the cost, I’m not complaining.
It seemed only fair to share some of the “free” food entertainment I’ve enjoyed without cable. This is by no means an exhaustive list of everything available, but is a collection of some of the shows I’ve really enjoyed over the years. As both Netflix and Hulu are easy to search, I’ve also left off links to the specific shows and I’ve decided not to comment here about how many episodes of each show are available and whether they are watchable on other devices, as those are subject to change regularly.
Netflix Streaming Television Shows
A Netflix streaming account is required to watch these shows. As you probably know, what’s available on Netflix changes fairly often. You can access these shows by searching or by going into the Television category and then clicking on Food & Travel
David Chang’s The Mind of a Chef
Kitchen Nightmares
Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen
No Reservations
Take Home Chef
Netflix Streaming Documentaries
Kings of Pastry
Somm
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Forks Over Knives
Food, Inc.
Food Matters
As with Netflix, the availability of these shows varies based on contracts and what shows’ seasons are currently active. The entire collection of food shows available on Hulu can be viewed here.
Good Eats
Iron Chef America
Farmed and Dangerous (the new series from Chipotle)
Next Food Network Star
Top Chef
The Taste
Hell’s Kitchen
Master Chef
The Chew
No Reservations
Other Sources
Of course, there are a lot of places for food entertainment besides the previously listed big players. Below are a few of my favorites, but I know there’s a lot more out there. If you have a favorite food related video site or YouTube channel, please share in the comments!
PBS Food – including episodes of Julia Child: Cooking with Master Chefs and The Victory Garden
Serious Eats contributor James Boo’s Vimeo page, featuring the 1 Minute Meal series “on the intersection of real food and real culture in NYC.”
Vegan chef and cookbook author Isa Chandra Moskowitz’ playlist on the Breville YouTube page
Full episodes of Food Networks shows on ulive.com and the Food Network website.
I’ve been loving mind of a chef this year. It’s really interestings and the episodes are the perfect length to watch while you are waiting for something else (dinner to finish, downton abbey to start on pbs, someone to come home from work etc)
We loved the David Chang season, but I haven’t seen much of season 2. I do love that it’s short though…sometimes it’s hard to find time to fit in the hour and a half that it takes to watch The Taste!
I’ve heard such good things about Jiro Dreams of Sushi, but now I really want to check out Somm!
I’d love to read your review!