Cooking seems to have developed into a major way of life rather than something that was necessary if we were going to receive sustenance to get us through our days. We look at television programs and see that almost every type of cooking is demonstrated - sometimes ad nauseam - to us, the ever watching viewing audiences. Let us look at what television cooking does for us and how it compares with the every day variety.

We see that all forms of cooking are portrayed as simply something we all could do in the blink of an eye. The need to really look at what is involved becomes very necessary, as we will see. Well dressed young men and women demonstrate their expertise, some showing us a small portion of meat garnished with a couple of vegetables which have been lovingly cooked and prepared. It is evident that their presentations are not geared for the husband, wife and three kids brigade. And if an honest observation is to be made, offering that meal would be looked at with a degree of consternation if only to think: is this all that's going to be served? What would you think if a builder, home from an extremely hard day on the site, was offered this miniscule treat for his evening repast? Expletives will be understandably left out here.

The thought of meat and three veg takes a completely different meaning when we look at how our television gourmets prepare their brand of "home cooking".

Let's first look at the ingredients they use. It immediately comes to mind that the range of sauces that are used in these culinary presentations would far outweigh anything mere mortals would have in their larders or refrigerators. Understandably, the budgets that are given to these food designers completely exceed any reasonable household budget.

It is fair to say that cooking and food in general, is all a matter of taste. How food is cooked is of great concern to the person who does like only the "meat and two veg". On that note, take an item of cooking that is commonplace now - garlic - this is used in almost every savoury dish we can imagine, with the possible exception of fish and chips.

Yet it isn't such a long time ago that many people would cringe at the thought of this item being included in any culinary offering - particularly in the British Isles. However, times change and so do tastes and the way we look at cooking certainly has changed over the last 20 years.

Although this is the case, it is to be hoped that the producers of these cooking extravaganzas will come down to earth and look at what "mere mortals" have in their kitchens. Utensils, valued at thousands of dollars, are not the order of the day. Nor are the different types of ingredients used in the dishes we are instructed how to cook.

Television cooking - indeed all cooking, is interesting and informative. We have to eat, so why not learn how to cook something a little more than the Sunday roast. It is after all entertainment and we need to see something pleasant as well as eat something pleasant.