The cooking show is as old as television itself. But why do we like watching the making of a meal that most of us will never cook, let alone eat? Dirty Furniture’s jam-packed video essay is a rollercoaster ride through the history of the genre, at once a staple of television viewing and a hotpot of shifting perspectives and sociocultural values.

• Massimo Bottura
• Julia Child
• Martha Stewart
• Nigella Lawson
• Rick Stein
• Andrew Rea