Families get cooking in new reality show
Vancouver- shot Family Cook Off is billed as Iron Chef for non- professionals
Entertainment Tonight Canada reporter Kim D’eon’s usual turf involves celebrities and their handlers.
When I reach her by phone in Toronto, she’d earlier been interviewing Jordan Knight of New Kids on the Block. “They’re back together. He’s the lead singer,” she says, while someone in the background editorializes: “The hottest one!”
And she’s working on a story about Oscar fashions from years past.
“You know, the more iconic, crazy fashions, like Cher’s dress in 1988.” ( Remember the dress that barely was?)
You’ll see her Thursday, March 1, in a show of a very different temperament. Family Cook Off, a Food Network Canada show, was shot in Vancouver, showing off Vancouver’s best profile. ( The 12 half- hour episodes were shot in August.)
She hosts a cooking competition pitting families against families, as does Alton Brown of Iron Chef America, only she’s not balding and is much more radiant.
“It’s a fun change of gears. I get to be more of myself in this. It takes me back to the CBC days working on a youth show. I was goofy and I was around family and kids,” she says.
Also on deck ( it is; it was filmed off Stamp’s Landing on a waterfront deck), are Vancouver’s Anthony Sedlak ( The Main on Food Network Canada and American Cheesesteak Co. chef) and Trish Magwood ( Party Dish, on same network) as the food judges.
In each segment, families square off, cooking a main dish and dessert. D’eon provides commentary. (“Is that turmeric you’re putting on there? Don’t they need to speed it up?”) and the judges judge.
Families form a team of four ( doesn’t need to be nuclear; it’s a mix of grandparents, parents, kids, cousins, siblings, step- families). Each family splits into teams of two, one team cooking the main dish in 20 minutes, the other making dessert with the same time limit. The winner takes home The Golden Frypan trophy plus $ 1,000 worth of groceries.
“It’s pretty cool,” says Sedlak. “I describe it as Iron Chef for non- professional cooks. But the thing that resonated with me most is there’s lots of love in this show.” There’s also drama. “In one episode, one of the families was a clear winner after the main courses were done,” D’eon said. “They thought they had it in the bag. But their dessert went south in a serious way. There’s definitely some highlevel competition and edge- of- the- seat moments.”
D’eon loved observing the family dynamics. “It was a nice feeling to be surrounded by feelings of love and happiness even though they were in a competition. They were happy to be together. Some families hadn’t seen each other in years. My favourite moments are at the end of each episode. Winners or not, everyone hugs.”
That’s what executive producer John Ritchie hoped for.
“We didn’t set out to do just a show about food and recipes but about family dynamics under time constraints. It’s not deep but it is about people and that’s what draws people in.”
Force Four Entertainment ( Cupcake Girls, Human Cargo, Village on A Diet) received “several hundred” responses to a casting call for families and 20 were chosen.
“Canadians stopped being as shy,” he says. “And you’d be surprised. The proportion of very good cooks under the time constraints was very high.”
The show follows a successful Australian model, shot against Sydney Harbour.
It’s not just the food that impresses. The camera loves the waterfront, mountain and millionaire real estate backdrop and can’t resist ogling the scenics.