Some PBS stations currently run a BBC mini-sitcom called "Posh Nosh", which originally aired five years ago on the BBC. It's a send-up of cooking shows. The presenters are Simon and Minty Marchmont (played respectively by Richard E. Grant and Arabella Weir), a snobby husband-and-wife pair of restaurateurs (their restaurant is called "The Quill and Tassle") . Each episode, which runs about 15 minutes long, shows Minty and Simon tackling a recipe, from paella to a revamped form of fish and chips. Richard is a closeted homosexual, and Minty uses verbs like "disappoint" or "annihilate" in place of standard culinary verbs like "drain" or "fold". They only select the finest (re: most expensive and most elitist) ingredients, and look down on people of lower stations in the culinary world, even their own viewers. In one instance, Minty advertises a Quill and Tassle cookbook, which she says is available in paperback "(for those) who are not serious".

The show is quite funny and a perfect send-up of culinary shows, which can border on the self-congratulatory and snobbish. Which leads me to the grande dame of snobby cooking shows, Bravo's hit series "Top Chef", currently in its fifth series. I've watched the show for most of its run, and while it does make for good television, I hate watching the show so much. Here are some reasons why:

1. The chefs are, for the most part, devoid of any redeeming personality. They come across as sneering, elitist assholes with no depth. It seems that their whole lives are devoted to cooking, to the point that they know nothing else. There is a fine line between dedication and outright snobbery.
2. The judges are just as snobby, with the exception of presenter/co-judge Padma Lakshmi and former Queer Eye Ted Allen. Everyone else has a huge rod up their ass where food is concerned. If the ingredients aren't exotic or prepared in fancy-shmancy ways, it's not on. They have unreachable standards of cooking.
3. The prizes are rather whack. In fact, there is no real goal here. On American Idol, contestants compete for a recording contract. America's Next Top Model has a modeling contract and a Cover Girl contract for the winner. Survivor and the Amazing Race have $1,000,000 as the prize. To be fair, Project Runway doesn't have a concrete goal, but it is suggested that the $100,000 as part of the prize package (which includes a car as well among others) will help the designer who does win, launch their line or re-launch their line, as both relative amateurs and seasoned professionals have won PR (which is designed to search for the next great fashion designer). On Top Chef, on the other hand, the goal is rather fuzzy. What the hell can a spread in Food & Wine Magazine and a stint at a food and wine festival bring? Another culinary reality show, The Next Food Network Star, has a series contract for the winner. What exactly have Harold Dieterle, Ilan Hall, Hung Huynh, and Stephanie Izard gained from winning Top Chef that could give the show some legitimacy? It seems that one of the flaws of Top Chef is that the show is not looking for the next great chef. 

I'm still going to watch the rest of Top Chef, but unless things change majorly, I won't be a fan.