FOOD AND MEDIA – THE COMBINATION IMMEDIATELY CONJURES UP THE luscious curves of Nigella Lawson as she flirts with the camera, looking straight at us, the wide-eyed, open-mouthed and hungry viewer. For those with other tastes, there's Jamie Oliver, whose ‘mockney’ expressions became part of our vocabulary – ‘pukka’, ‘scrumbly-bubbly’; cool ways and cool food made him the young woman's favoured piece of crumpet. His dishes are simple, and in fact rarely require a recipe – a list of ingredients would do – but he managed to do the unthinkable when he bumped Delia Smith from her position as queen of the kitchen. Delia taught us how to boil an egg and if her turn-on appeal was limited to those with a penchant for schoolmarms, at least no one starved from lack of instruction. In between Delia and Nigella came Nigel Slater, of ‘real food’ fame. Slater was one of the first TV chefs to get down and dirty. He licked and sucked and made eating alone look sexy, if messy. Welcome to the world of food porn.

I've been hooked on food TV ever since The Two Fat Ladies roared onto the screen. Once television food moved out of daytime programming and into the glossy values of primetime I've been watching, feet up on the sofa, glass of wine nearby, and pen and paper in hand. I take notes. I buy the cookbooks. Even stranger, I also cook from the recipes. If the commentary in the media is to be believed, it seems that I'm a lone cook amongst the watchers.