Families put their reputations to the test, relationships on the line and decades-old recipes in the firing line, when they come up against each other in a head-to-head cook off.
The blurb captures the essence of this show fairly well, if with a pinch of predictable hyperbole. If you’ve seen the original British Masterchef and are dumbstruck by its transformation into our local version, then perhaps you can imagine this as a British My Kitchen Rules, with the added stipulation that the pairs must be from a single family. It’s low-key competitive cooking, with most of the drama being in the promotional para above. Paul Merrett and Amanda Lamb are the judges and their job is to choose between the pairs competing each episode. Each pair has an hour to prepare their three course menu; the winning pair is sent on the next round.
In the episode I watched, two sisters from Surrey, with a “traditional English food” background competed against a mother and daughter, who talked about their Iranian-Armenian heritage. The three course menus each side put up were fairly dull and the most-commented upon aspect of the competitors seemed to be how calm they were. The result was close to a tie – the judges were underwhelmed by both teams and, for a while, it seemed that they were reluctant to see either team again.
Will I watch Family Food Fight again? With Lifestyle Food as my background viewing, I wouldn’t turn it off or switch over, like I would for Good Chef/Bad Chef, but I’m not linking it and wouldn’t be distraught if I never saw it again. The concept is a bit ho-hum and needs something to lift it. Whilst it is good to see a food show where the emphasis is not on manufactured tension or interpersonal drama, this only works if the food is interesting which – at least in this episode – it wasn’t.
Family Food Fight is on Lifestyle Food on Mondays at 8.30pm.
