Country of origin USA Picture format Black-and-white Final episode date 18 May 1947 Genre Cooking show | Original network NBC First episode date 30 August 1946 Presented by James Beard Audio format Monaural | |
Running time 15 minutes
30 minutes (April–May 1947) Original release August 30, 1946 – May 18, 1947 Similar Faraway Hill, Lights Out, The French Chef | ||
I Love to Eat was a live television series on NBC which aired from 30 August 1946 to May 18, 1947, and was a cooking show hosted by chef and cookbook author James Beard. When the show started, each episode was 15 minutes long and presented at 8:30pm EST on Fridays, immediately before The World in Your Home at 8:45pm. However, this was later changed to 30 minutes (April–May 1947) as more complicated recipes were demonstrated and prepared. Little else is known about this series.
Episode status
This Borden-sponsored program opened with a sketch of Elsie, the famed Bordon cow. Then James Beard, appearing behind a kitchen counter, took over to demonstrate the preparation of some of his unique dishes for the live television audience.
No footage from the show remains, since methods to record live television such as kinescopes were not invented until 1947. However, an audio recording of one episode survives. As documented in the Library of Congress archives, the audio recordings of episodes from I Love to Eat (as recorded from live TV broadcasts over WNBT-TV in NY in 1946-47) include a 1947 episode featuring a ski report and ski luncheon discussions by Beard. This is followed by prolonged live commercials from Borden including Elsie the Cow as show sponsor, while Beard recounts his dream about Elsie as part of the show.
The show is believed to be the very first network cooking show. It was the successor to the Radio City Matinee (May 1946) program, which featured fashion, culture, art and cooking segments (including chefs George Rector and James Beard) and For You and Yours (successor show starting in June 1946, also featuring Beard in the kitchen), all on WNBT-TV in New York. Some cooking demonstration programs had preceded it on local TV pre-war broadcasts of 1939-1941.