And earlier this year the same company that owns the Food Network launched the Cooking Channel. The Cooking Channel describes itself as "an entertainment brand dedicated to today's passionate food lover."
FAITH LAPIDUS: Cooking programs began on radio. They moved to TV in the nineteen forties. Those early shows were targeted at housewives -- women whose job was to stay home and take care of the family.
Yet, interestingly, Kathleen Collins says those programs were mainly seen by men. This was before most American homes had their own television. Men saw the cooking shows on TV sets at their neighborhood bar.
Then, in the nineteen sixties and seventies, Americans became more interested in gourmet cooking. Television chefs like Julia Child helped teach people the fine art of French cooking. That was very popular at the time.
Julia Child wrote cookbooks and hosted television's "The French Chef." She died in 2004.
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STEVE EMBER: Today, Americans watch a new generation of TV food personalities along with kitchen competition shows. Cooking shows now aim for a much wider part of the population.
And Kathleen Collins points to another difference. These days, she says, people watch cooking shows largely for entertainment instead of education. Cooking shows offer an ingredient missing from other programs.
KATHLEEN COLLINS : "People also get a connection to food, which is something that's very comforting or pleasurable to them, and that's something that I don't think will ever go away."
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