Full 15 years ago, Mrs. Tefta - who later became a character and all the shows she went to identified as "Mrs. Tefta's cooking", whatever the name - brought the cooking show as its own format for the first time. However, over the years, similar shows like that of Ms Tafta first to Telenorba and then to News24 and Report Tv, were transformed into another form.
A cooking show, where generally relatively simple recipes were served to the midday housewives, was then transformed into a spectacle built on the competitors' competition.
Remember here the editions of Masterchef Albania, where under the guidance of names like Renato Mekolli, Sokol Prenga, Gëzim Musliaka or Fundim Gjepali, the cooking show was built according to popular American formats. At the center were no longer the simple recipes for housewives, but the races between the young bosses vying to bring the most special dishes.
In this case, the cooking show was a form of talent discovery, such as "The Voice" or "The X Factor", where some names like Alfio Rrotani or Indrit Cela then built their show as "Salt and Pepper" on In Tv or "The Challenge of Cooking" on Tv Klan. After the success, Masterchef was also built in the format for children, broadcast on ART.
Likewise, "Who Comes To Lunch" last season on Tv Klan invited famous characters to the show, who did not necessarily know how to cook. Even in this case, the show focused on interviews and harassment. In fact, such a form has been practiced before and has proved successful in "For lunch with me", a rubric curated by Blerina Bombaj in "Albanian Sunday".
Cooking shows have not only turned spectacular through competitions, or "pink" shows through the presence of celebrities, but are recently replacing talk-show shows. After all the fuss last year, "Hell's Kitchen" started the second season again and turns out to be one of the most watched programs on Top Channel.
Set on a prime time schedule, Hell's Kitchen is currently a replacement for talk-show programming, which seems to be working as long as Chief Renato's (excessively deliberate) screams arouse interest.
On the other hand, Ora News has embraced the "parody" format of cooking shows, with humor at the center. In "Kafsho" boss Titus and Herion Mustarafaj can know everything but cook. However people follow it because in one way or another, it is fun.
So influenced by important culinary names such as Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay, who transformed the kitchen into a spectacle, it is noticeable that slowly cooking shows on Albanian television have been transformed.
