LOL! Yes, I can't abide TV show 'chefs' who do all you mentioned Carol! It's truly silliness to me as well. Also, nail polish. I don't want to see pink or red flecks of flaked off nail polish in my food (or clear, which I can't see). And home chefs or anyone, please do not pet your pet while cooking... drop them a bite and I'm fine, but don't let them lick food from your palm then put your hands back in the meatloaf. I don't need to hear how 'clean' animals mouths are, I've smelled my own dog's breath, and I watch my cat lick...

I don't consider myself a germaphobe but I always wash my hands and brush my nails prior to cooking - and quite often while cooking. My hair is long, so I knot it up and secure it with a pen or pencil. And roll up my sleeves. I keep a small jar on the counter to put jewelry in (and that's only if I've been been 'out' and go to the trouble), but most the time I am only wearing my wedding band, which I do leave on at all times. If DH double-dips I don't cringe anymore, after all, we do 'swap spit' - but double-dipping is reserved when it's just the two of us.

I don't wear an apron, but if I'm working with dough I'll wrap a clean dish towel around my waste. I think that's mostly to protect my clothes though!

The only other TV pet peeve I have is when someone takes a bite from a fork and scrapes their teeth across the tines, lips not touching... it's as if they are so afraid of food. But that may be me being weird.

Oh yes! I forgot about the not scraping everything out of a bowl. That always bugs me too!

And tbh, I don't always wear an apron either - usually only over clothes I do not want to spatter food on, or working with hot oil, or doing a long session in the kitchen - like holiday cooking.

If I were doing a TV show, though, and wearing fancy clothes, I'm fairly certain I would wear a nice apron.

Haha - the no lips thing may be so as not to disturb lipstick...?

I almost never watch those shows, but when I do, and there is more than one person in the kitchen, I hate the inane babble that they invariably share--"Oh, look how pretty that egg is resting on the flour." must say something worth nothings.

As for aprons, I intensely dislike wearing them. I don't like how they look, or feel, or how they make me feel. I requested a chef's coat as a gift, and love it! It is a cool-wearing one, with mesh in the back. So comfortable, and I don't feel as if I'm dressed for Halloween. All that for about $25 from amazon. [Or free if you get it as a gift. ;) ]

Yes, not scraping the bowl cleans can really bug me, too. I realize they're filming and under time constraints, but it's hard not to notice. Or, the cook will instruct to add a couple tablespoons of something when it looks like a good half cup. What about when their hands are covered with oil, sticky dough, etc., and they open the oven or fridge w/o washing their hands? Probably the time constraint issue again.

I agree the stupid babble can be annoying. Also, just once I'd love to hear a negative response when someone tastes something. I watched The Kitchen a couple times and they went overboard with all their "delicious" feedback for each other. Then there was that ridiculous canned applause. Couldn't handle it.

I am so happy not to be the only oddball concerning Lidia's bangles - don't get me wrong I love her and her show but from day one that has bothered me. I also go ballistic when a chef cracks an egg on the edge of a bowl or cup, etc., instead of on the flat counter or table surface, bound to break off small pieces of eggshell into the bowl. Yes the wiping of hands on an apron or towel instead of washing in the sink with soap and water after handling raw protein gets me and also reaching into a dish of salt or seasonings with the fingers to get a pinch of whatever, are they really going to re-use the rest of that for something else? And to top it all off today a cooking show that I really like on PBS - Greek something - and I almost heaved when she broke an egg into a bowl and there was this really large glob of blood on it and she actually started beating it with the fork, I was soooohhh upset!!!! Do they not have any editing budget here??

I must be the real oddity, because none of those things bother me. I know I'm never going to eat that food so I don't care what they are doing to it. I think it's silly to dress in heels and jewelry to cook, but I also realize that it's TV and it's not real. I just shake my head and think that I'd sure know better than to do that. (grin) However, Paula Deen's propensity for constantly licking her male guests just made me grind my teeth until I quit watching her altogether.

I also notice the eggs broken on the edge of bowls and cups, but not because of possible shells. I remember watching Jacques Pepin who said you should always crack an egg on a flat surface to avoid driving any contaminants into the egg itself. That made sense, so I remember that.

A blood spot in an egg isn't harmful and doesn't hurt the egg or anything the egg is used in, so that wouldn't bother me either but you'd think on television they'd want everything perfect. Plus they usually have everything measured out so you'd think they'd have already cracked those eggs. A blood spot is simply a burst capillary in the yolk sac or ovary of the hen. It can be a result of the hen's age, diet, many things. If it bothers you, scoop it out. I admit I take them out with a spoon if I'm eating the egg for breakfast, but leave it in if I'm baking with that egg.

Annie

"However, Paula Deen's propensity for constantly licking her male guests just made me grind my teeth until I quit watching her altogether."

OMG...YES...that and so many other things, such as that cackle of hers. I still remember the day I saw her use glazed donuts for hamburger buns. Just NO!

The amount of SALT they use! Especially Giada and Rachael!

I know I'm rather salt sensitive due to my taste buds being fried by an infection, but that got me to go almost salt free.

The amount they use, though is NOT a pinch, but handfuls!

Want to take bets on their blood pressure #s?

I am always bothered too when they don't scrape all the batter out of the bowl. Might be due to time constraints, but sometimes they do scrape with a spoon when a spatula would be so much faster.

Every once in a while I see a show where they taste for seasonings, then use the same spoon to stir. They may pour it in the trash can when the camera is off, but still bothers me.

Ina's a salt lover, too. I always cut back with most of her recipes.

I just dont like the over the top, about to pass out reactions to tasting the food. Nothing, I mean nothing, tastes that good.

Remember, folks, these are shows and rarely involve real cooking. The cooking for the reveal is done (sometimes by assistants) off camera. The one with real cooking was Sara Moulton's old call in show. I loved that show. She was really cooking, with steam and splatter and an apron and her hair tied back.

The rest of them are just tossing around ingredients so they can talk about what goes into the recipe, and most of those will be thrown out later because they're have been sitting around too long, cross contaminated, etc.

The scraping the food off the fork with the teeth, however, is something I've done. They're trying to keep their makeup from smudging. Eating in stage makeup is a whole different thing from normal life.

OTOH, my pet peeve of this kind is the dirty hands. I don't mind if they touch all the ingredients that are going in the pan together anyway, but then they pinch the salt, or whatever. GROSS. I won't even touch the bottle without washing my hands. Occasionally, I have to, and then wash the bottle. The contaminated towels are nearly as bad. Ewwww.

I don't watch cooking shows any more, on account of having pretty much stopped watching TV. But there was a time when I watched so much cooking on TV, the kids made fun of me - and then started watching themselves.

Some of the shows showed real cooking. For example, the "Iron Chef" series and similar cooking competition shows. Okay, those had professional chefs with trained assistants and every piece of equipment possible. But they were really cooking, and they'd cut themselves, drop stuff, mistime things, improvise, and do everything you'd do in your own kitchen - just much better and far faster.

Others were "produced" but still pretty no nonsense and practical. "Secrets of a Restaurant Chef" was one of my favorites. No silly jewelry or talk show babble about gimmicky recipes, just cranking out straight-up restaurant type dishes. I can forgive how for a slow cooked dish, the finished version always magically appeared in the oven barely after the original dish had been placed into that same oven.

And then there was my favorite of them all, "Saint Alton Brown" as DD named him. Totally not real cooking - except the first season of episodes that he filmed in his mother's kitchen. But so entertaining and informative. The "Sweeny Todd" episode about meat pies that may or may not have been made from human flesh was to, um, die for.

plllog, I used to watch Sara all those years ago. I think her show was one of the first I watched on FN. I still remember someone calling in when Sara was squeezing the liquid out of spinach with a kitchen towel. The caller told her to use a potato ricer instead. I've been doing it ever since. Sara would always get a little ruffled with the sound of any kitchen appliance...blender, food processor, mixer, etc. I always wanted her to relax since it was all just part of the process.

Boy-O-Boy....better stay out of my kitchen!! LOL! I use my hands to break up canned tomatoes, pinch out salt measure many things in the palm of my hand....but I do try to remember to remove jewelry before getting elbows deep in dough....and I never EVER lick a guest!

I use my hands often too, but I rinse/wash them off at the sink often, between activities.

Hands are the best tools for lots of things. They even make good bowl scrapers.

My favorite tv cooking shows were Jacques Pepin's, after that I liked Martha Stewart's show, and she would have good guests too.

I actually rarely watch cooking shows these days for the very reasons we've listed - too much cringe-worthiness. Hubby watches them, so I see them 2nd hand, or sometimes I stop to watch a random streaming show.

Anybody else remember Graham Kerr, The Galloping Gourmet back in the day? He was so irreverent and funny - and did a lot of drinking on camera too!

LindaC, NEVER? Are you absolutely sure you have never licked a guest? (grin)

John, I agree with you on Alton Brown. Elery used to tease me "there's your heart throb, don't miss it". Evey Bud loved watching Alton Brown with me because he could keep him entertained. I used to always watch America's Test Kitchen on Saturday morning at 11 am, but it's not the same without Chris Kimball dressed as asparagus or whatever.

I got rid of most television a couple of years ago, now we have an antenna which gets my local channels and a Netflix account. Elery and Mother watch "regular" TV like Blue Bloods (Mother LOVES Tom Selleck) and PBS. Sometimes I watch Create, which is the PBS channel here. I remember when cable TV first started and they said if we paid for TV we wouldn't have to watch commercials. Ahem. Now they have entire channels of infomercials.

We also do not have any cell phone connection out here, so there is no watching of movies on the telephone or whatever. Elery does use the wifi connection via the very tall antenna on our roof, which provides out internet connection but I haven't figured that out yet because I just don't care enough, LOL. I'd rather talk to the cows than stare at my phone, so we have MagicJack, which is a VOIP connection, and Netflix. We often get that little round circle in the middle of Elery's movies but it doesn't seem to bother him. I have whole seasons of Alton Brown and ATK on DVD, I ought to buy a DVD player, I suppose....

Annie

On an episode of Julia and Jacques, they were tasting a dish in progress. Both mentioned something about a spoon they have with a little spoonlet at one end or trough or something that let you taste from the stirring spoon without touching the bowl of the spoon. They both said how much more sanitary that is, blah blah, then Julia proceeded to taste from the stirring spoon. She was so real! I think I saw Jacques roll his eyes.

Like Annie, I don't have satellite anymore but that's because I think the prices are ridiculously high for what few shows I watched. I use to watch a few Cooking shows and cringed at a lot of the unsanitary things the cooks did. The most disgusting to me was Guy Fieri with all his heavy chunky jewelry on his hands and wrists. Gross!

Madonna

bcskye, along with the chunky bangles, Guy Fieri is so hyper and gives me a major headache.

Of course I use my hands in the kitchen : ) I wash them first, of course, as I'm sure everyone here does. I don't find anything wrong with using your hands - often it's a requirement.

Oh, I loved watching the Galloping Gourmet! He was so funny! He was one of my first experiences in cooking shows, along with Julia Child.

Alton Brown fan here too... and Anthony Bourdain (who often couldn't wash his hands in some of the areas he visited... ). Ina Garten was my favorite. She always looked so pleasant, always smiled, always spoke with a calm voice... and I adore her recipes. Guy Fieri gives me a stomach ache and a headache - agree about his hyperness!

I rarely watch anything now... not much on unless I'm just missing it. Top Chef but they are showing more 'drama', less technique now. I used to tape all the dessert shows I could find as I was making so much for friends' occasions. I don't really miss them...

I have Garden Web Cooking now : ) : ) : )

Wow, I sure don't get the Alton Brown love at all. I don't watch much (no TV) but stream some things and and switch off instantly any time he appears. His measured, affected speech just seems so phony and unlistenable to me.

I watch MasterChef mostly because nothing else is on TV. What gets me, (and they never say anything to them), is the females with the long hair. They listen to the instructions, then whip the hair back and put into a pony tail WITHOUT WASHING THEIR HANDS before cooking.

I've always said the best kitchen tools are your own two CLEAN hands and good knives.

It's definitely interesting how opinions differ with these TV cooks/chefs. I can't deal with Rachael Ray. Like Guy F, she also gives me a headache. That nervous giggle is like nails on a chalkboard. Is she even still on TV? I haven't seen or heard anything about her in a very long time.

Exactly, CLEAN hands. It's the egg (raw chicken, raw pork, etc.) crusted hands in the salt pig that I object to. Very few eggs are actually infected with salmonella or whatever but if it's enough for the government to have a cow over poultry, it's enough for me not to be putting my eggy hands all overy everything. I use 7th Generation dishsoap, which is milder on my skin than many handsoaps. It's in a pump you operate with the back of your hand, though if I've been elbows deep in meatloaf, I may still have to wash the pump.

I usually use food service gloves for things that are too icky, partly to save my hands, partly to keep my hands warmer, and when it's something I'm going to be in and out of I use the baggie kind rather than the latex kind so I can slip my hands in and out and leave the gunk on the gloves. I'm more worried about cross contamination and putting bad stuff where it shouldn't be than the food, really. I'm not the one cleaning most of the time, and I try to be aware of where I'm putting likely contaminants and spatter.

I'm not an oversanitzer, and I suppose the bacteria will die on the salt in the salt jar, but I'm still not doing it. It grosses me out, and it's a bad example for professional cooks to set on TV.

The hair band thing doesn't bother me that much. These people on TV look well washed, and I don't think touching their hair is a big deal. They'll have a lot more bad bacteria from touching the doorknobs, food packaging, etc. People generally don't get sick from hair in food either. Hair in food is just gross. Sweat is surely a bigger issue, especially after it has rolled down a face gathering what it may...

May I introduce a non-hygiene peeve? I have hated perfect little identical squares and sticks of vegetables since they first became popular. They're not pleasant to eat. I much prefer a more rustic cut, where the food is allowed to have round bits. While I'm happy with the "cooks the same" of even sizes, especially in restaurants where they need to make as much as possible automatic, but I also like if there's a little variation in the cook. Not raw to mushy of course! But if one piece of onion or carrot is a little crunchier and another is a little softer, that just makes the eating a more varied experience. It's not good if it's a noticeable mismatch! But a little variation in size and cook is better, in my opinion. My casual polling of people I know says most of them agree with me. :)

This might give you more heebie jeebies. I used to watch Floyd on Food whenever I could (about 20 years ago, I think), and I remember one soup he made that took over a day to make and was an authentic English country recipe using local herbs. When the soup was finally done, he tasted it, said it was horrible, and through it out. This was from a series in which he went around England collecting local recipes, many of which were not good.

Floyd doesn't even bother with tasting spoons - he sticks his finger in, licks it, and then sticks it in again.

I admit that Guy Fieri is a PITA, but he certainly stepped up during our fires here in Santa Rosa in 2017 and last years Paradise fires! He cooked non-stop for the first responders and others at no cost to anyone but himself! He actually got some hero award just recently.

nancyjane, thank you for telling us about this. I wasn't aware, and from now on I'll have a far different take on Guy than before. Dolly Parton, not a chef but most definitely made fun of (and she pokes more fun at herself than anyone) has done more for our area than anyone, from scholarships, to college money for all graduating seniors, to financial aide during our fires... she has a huge heart and an open pocket-book/wallet when it comes to those in need in her hometown area.

Chloebud, have you yet to see Rachel Ray's tv commercials for her dog food??? : ) "Inspired by the kitchen of Rachel Ray"... She must've needed more money, I'm thinking.

Lars... is this a new trend... using one's clothing to wipe food off on? No, wait, that kinda reminds me of DH as he eats chips when I'm not looking.

Seriously, couldn't he find a faucet as some point to do that! Ew!

2Many, yes, I have seen her dog food ads but it's been quite awhile. Occasionally I've seen her cookware at places where it's marked down (such as Tuesday Morning). I can remember almost laughing out loud when I saw someone buying one of her "garbage bowls" at Kohl's.

nancyjane, I did hear about GF's help after the fires. Major kudos to him for that. He's likely a great guy, great chef, and you also have to credit him for doing so well after winning that Food Network show. Certainly not many winners of that show (which is kind of lame IMO) have done as well. I just can't handle watching him. I've never seen Guy's Grocery Games, but am 200% sure I don't need to.