I’ve learned so much about food and cooking from watching cooking shows on television. As a teenager I would watch and long to be able to make the kinds of recipes being shown; dreamed of having a fancy kitchen, a professional mixer or food processor. Kathleen Collins has made a very detailed study of how those shows have changed over the decades of television history, and how those shows have influenced those of us who like to cook and eat.

The history of television cooking shows is much longer and richer than I could have imagined. Some of the earliest shows sound like some of the crazy Food Network shows on now. And it is interesting that throughout the entire history of cooking on television, here has been a voyeuristic quality and also a  vicarious quality. In other words, we love watching others cook thins we know we will never cook ourselves. And yet I think a regular viewer of these shows learns about cooking and technique, much like watching someone cook in a kitchen , but because television cooking shows are such controlled and “chopped up” presentations, they do not teach how to plan a meal, how to cook a whole meal or party so all the food is ready at the same time. They never teach you about cleaning up, or planning your shopping and menus so you don’t have a lot of waste.

Food is entertaining becuase it is part of all of our lives, and have used the cooking shows to help live  out and shape our fantasies of the ideal life. Collins does a great job of showing how these shows have excelled at that and captured the moving target of the American Dream over the last fifty years.

Gone With the Wind (1939), is the big classic here, and while much of the movie is a drama of Scarlet O’Hara, there scenes of wounded soldiers, guns, death, devastation enough to show the impact of war.

Wings (1927). A silent movie about World War that won the very first picture of the year Oscar. I love the sense of emotion that comes through the dated acting style, and the way the movie shows loss of innocence of young men who become soldiers.

Mrs. Dalloway(1997). Based on the 1925 novel by Virginia Woolf, this film is excellent at showing the everlasting efects of war on soldiers and nonsoldiers alike. The soldier who cannot come to terms with his war experiences is a theme often repeated. For those that like this, I highly recommend reading Virginia Woolf’s novel Jacob’s Room, one of my favorite novels of all time that also deals with the theme of World War I.

Since You Went Away(1944). A family copes with home life after their father (and the oldest daughter’s fiancee) go off to war. Somewhat leodramatic, but the heart of the movie captures the sense of loss, sacrifice and uncertainty that seems to characterize World War II.

Coming Home(1978). Jon Voight and Jane Fonda in what is probably the most honest look at the effect of Viet Nam on the military that served there, and their loved ones.

Of course it was not all intellectual  because as the credits were rolling the guy sitting next to me in the theater was confused as to why Mary, Queen of Scots had been executed. “Was she Spanish?” he asked.