Launching with the end line “We have fun with food”, Good Food appeals to a broad audience searching for food inspiration by targeting upmarket 25-44 year olds who are food lovers rather than hobby cooks, as well as serious foodies. With 80% of its schedule made up of brand new commissions and exclusive acquisitions – including Optomen’s Market Kitchen, Cactus TV’s Rachel Allen: Bake!, IWC’s James Martin’s Brittany, plus Ace of Cakes, Dinner Impossible and Oliver’s Twist – Good Food features all the biggest names in food, including Jamie Oliver, Gary Rhodes, James Martin, Rachel Allen, and The Hairy Bikers.
Since rebranding on 22nd June, Good Food has increased its reach by +10% to 1.6 million viewers every week to retain its position as the number one lifestyle channel in the UK. The channel also boasts an enviable ABC1 profile of 59% which is 10% points above the genre average and its complementary website, goodfoodchannel.co.uk, is Britain’s number one commercial food and drink website in the UK (source: Hitwise). Good Food is the UK’s only dedicated food channel and as such, features all the biggest names in food, including Jamie Oliver, Gary Rhodes, James Martin, Rachel Allen, and The Hairy Bikers. Appealing to both the expert cook to someone who just wants to have fun with food, Good Food also offers exciting commissions such as Mitch and Matt’s Big Fish, Rachel Allen: Bake!, and Market Kitchen, alongside exclusive acquisitions from overseas, such as Ace of Cakes and The Barefoot Contessa.
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The Wild Gourmets Channel Premiere
Weekdays, 8pm (from Monday 1st March)
They say there is no such thing as a free lunch, but former Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers and adventurer Guy Grieve disagree.
Proving that the British landscape can be as productive as any shop or market, Tommi and Guy travel across the UK on a mission to show that foraging for wild food is not just about eating grubs and stinging nettles.
As they deal with uncertain weather, demanding terrain and some beautiful landscapes, their adventure puts them through challenges that they have to conquer at all costs.
Throughout this series, Tommi and Guy hunt, shoot, fish and forage for some of the best wild food this country has to offer, which they turn into gastronomic feasts.
From freshly-caught fish and seafood, game birds such as Yorkshire grouse, to the greenest leaves and the finest meats including Scottish venison, our wild gourmets show how a bit of knowledge can turn a weekend country walk into a joyful, culinary adventure that yields surprising and stunningly edible results.
Italian Weekends
Saturdays and Sundays in March
This month, Good Food travels to Italy to search for a bit of culinary la dolce vita. Throughout the month, back-to-back episodes of some of the tastiest Italian series showcase the gorgeous fresh ingredients, the strong sense of regional pride and the amazing traditions that make the country’s food one of the most popular in the world.
Rhodes Across Italy kicks off the season by travelling across the country and learning everything about authentic Italian cuisine in order to cook a proper Italian meal for those that matter. Next, Michelin-starred chef Giorgio Locatelli goes back to his roots to be Pure Italian and explore the regions of his native land. In this mouth-watering series Giorgio cooks everything from an extravagant supper menu to a family meal.
Catherine’s Italian Kitchen features food writer Catherine Fulvio spending time in the fertile culinary land of Sicily to uncover authentic regional dishes, and the Italian master – Antonio Carluccio – cooks up a storm in Italian Feast.
Then there’s Jamie Oliver, who cites the likes of Gennaro Contaldo and Antonio Carluccio as inspirations, who lets loose his Mediterranean-influenced dishes in Oliver’s Twist, and Giada De Laurentis acts as guide in Giada’s Italian Holiday as she roves around the country of her birth.
A Cook’s Tour of Spain Channel Premiere
Weekdays, 8pm (from Tuesday 9th March)
Former Masterchef winner, restaurateur and broadcaster Thomasina Miers reunites with adventurer Guy Grieve take their back-to-basic approach to food to Spain, a country rich in food history and wonderful fresh ingredients.
Believers in simple, fresh food made from good honest, honest ingredients, Thomasina and Guy set out to rural Spain to get to the real heart of Spanish cooking.
Throughout A Cook’s Tour Of Spain, there are huge helpings of no-nonsense recipes passed down through the generations that each region is fiercely proud of.
First stop is epic Andalucia in the south of the country and a mission to create the perfect paella, and then it’s up to Don Juan country and Castile. Tommi and Guy hunt down wild boar, help harvest saffron, and sample manchego cheese from a local shepherd. Then it’s back into the kitchen to cook mackerel escabeche, chickpea and spinach soup and a blood orange salad.
Finally, the pair travels to the tip of the country and Galicia, where they sample the region’s strong cheeses, catch octopus and clams and track down the elusive mountain goat. Sea bass and salsa verde and clams in white wine and garlic are also on the delicious menu.
Fresh From The Sea UK Premiere
Weekdays, 6pm (from Wednesday 10th March)
In this new and exclusive series, the emphasis is on food from the sea as top food writer and Market Kitchen regular Clodagh McKenna travels from Donegal to Waterford and from Galway to Dublin to meet some of the Irish fishermen, fish farmers and fish processors who are responsible for producing some of the most highly-prized seafood in the world.
Clodagh concentrates on the small-scale fishermen and producers, rather than the large corporations. In each of the seven episodes, Clodagh visits a top seafood restaurant to cook a dish using one of the programme’s featured species.
As well as all the delicious food Clodagh sources in Fresh From The Sea, she also visits people and organisations who are part of Ireland’s maritime community, including The Valentia Lifeboat, the Dunmore East coastguard unit and Sikoursky helicopter; the Malin Head weather station; Liam and Martin Wylie, boat builders from Cork; Oliver and Sean O’Driscoll, fish stall owners and champion fish-filleters; and Bobby Nash, an artist who creates 3D pictures from nautical charts. A comprehensive and mouth-watering exploration of Ireland’s coastal, culinary hotspots.
Man vs Food UK Premiere
Weeknights, 9pm (from Monday 15th March) New and exclusive to Good Food, Man vs Food travels around the US in search of the best places to do some serious indulging and find the ultimate traditional, seasonal and regional food.
Every region in every country has its own culture, ingredients and flavour, and chef Adam Richman sets out across the country to celebrate American food and explore US cuisine deeper than he has ever done before.
After hunting down the can’t-miss flavours that make up each region’s unique culinary history, Adam will take on the city’s toughest food challenge. Whether he’s devouring the Atomic Hot Wings platter in Pittsburgh, or a 13-pound pizza in Atlanta, Adam digs in and gets stuck in.
Man versus food? It’s going to be one hell of a battle.
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For more information please go to www.uktv.co.uk/food
