Glad you brought this topic up.
The Frugal Gourmet got me into cooking big time. I loved his shows and books, and gave me a better understanding where the foods came from and how to prepare them. Julia Child may have started it, but Jeff Smith made it accessible, in a straight forward, no-fussy kind of way.
Besides Jeff and Julia, there were quite a few other cook shows I liked:
- James Barber (The Urban Peasant) - "Make the best of what you have"
- Martin Yan (Yan Can Cook)
- Clarissa Dickson-Wright and Jennifer Paterson (Two Fat Ladies)
- Alton Brown (early shows)
- The Iron Chef (original series)
- Justin Wilson - only saw his shows a few times
- Chopped - That show really grew on me
- Iron Chef America (ICA) - only a few chefs I deem worthwhile, won't mention names, you know who I'm talking about