Top Chef and Taste Traditional Foods as Trends
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Abstract
Arguably Bravo’s Top Chef has become television’s most popular reality competition program related to food. Despite the mainstream or lowbrow connotations that are often associated with reality television, Top Chef retains at least a veneer of sophistication that is typically associated with the gourmand—haute cuisine is the object of the game, and food is to be respected. However, in an episode from the most recent season, the Top Chef judges challenged the show’s “cheftestants” to rethink a number of food “trends,” despite these foods’ significant histories and arguable importance as traditional foods. This paper examines the paradox created by Top Chef, a mainstream television program, as it creates value judgments about traditional foods by reframing them as trends. The program’s judgments about taste and class are considered, and an examination of the concept of “omnivorousness” as a potential explanation for this paradox is offered.
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