Mr. Man

Explore how different TV chefs use language in their cookery demonstrations and consider how the language they use influences audience responses Cookery demonstrations have become more and more common on television and the TV chefs have somewhat adapted public talk to benefit their needs of simplicity. TV chefs vary from the teaching type like Delia Smith to the fun, relaxed chef like Jamie Oliver. Chefs all have something in common in that they want to exchange their knowledge to the audience and therefore engaging with the viewers and making them feel welcome is a key part of presenting on TV.

Inclusive language and direct address deals with this need for the chefs and when used effectively has the power to bring in regular viewers. Certainly in the more modern chef colloquial, simplistic language has helped not to create a division between the viewer and chef, and being talked to equally definitely has a positive impact on the more modern generation. Paralinguistic features are also an element used by the contemporary chef of today to assist importance of appealing to the audience.

More basic things like present tense, affirmative language such as ‘you can do it’, and uncomplicated uses of jargon in addition aid the viewers to feel comfortable. In this highly competitive group it is therefore vitally important for chefs to separate themselves out, so any unique factors must be manipulated successfully to have a lasting effect on the listeners. The most important aspect for a TV chef is to engage the audience, so they need to make sure they address the viewers.

To do so Jamie Oliver uses a lot of direct address and inclusive language to create a sense of community when watching. You can put your own stamp on your spuds’, ‘listen when it comes to a roast potato you don’t want to muck about’ this has a very positive effect on the audience as it gives confidence and belief to the viewers. It also shows Jamie is relaxed and wants to impose his advice, tips and hints rather than teaching. He avoids a didactic tone which encourages the viewers and once again shows his patient and controlled attitude to demonstrating cooking.

It is easy to appreciate Jamie Oliver’s enthusiasm towards cooking, as he makes his demonstrations personal and very passionate‘… well here’s our little goosies’ and ‘… hey’re cracky and snappy’ he uses his own vocabulary and gesticulates which shows he is willing to open up to the audience, getting personal and presenting his opinions which again helps to create a togetherness between the viewers, and ultimately will bring in regular audiences. ‘… cracky and snappy’, ‘Christmassy’ are also examples of his colloquial tone and his descriptive language, which once more shows his genuine obsession for cooking and presenting.

Jamie centres his demonstrations on simplicity and tries to prove that cooking is for everyone and not just professionals. … it just it just seems to lift the flavour’, and just squashing ‘em’ he uses repetition to emphasize the easiness of the recipe creating appeal to the audience. In terms of speech features Jamie Oliver uses a lot of elisions which shortens the sentences, allowing him also to keep the subject fresh and retain the same colloquial tone throughout, which again is crucial to promote a welcoming approach. It is essential to make sure the viewers don’t get bored, so keeping the sentences less detailed is vitally important.

He adapts his spoken language by using fillers ‘so’, ‘okay’ these allow him time to think and also allow the audience time to catch up on what he is saying. From the amount of technical language and deixis used it is clear Jamie tries to promote cooking through the senses, as he likes to show the texture, sound and smell, ‘when you see those babies and taste ‘em’. The purpose of these features is so that Jamie Oliver can make himself feel secure when presenting, and so he can emphasize his knowledge effectively meaning that the public can relate, take in and extend their own understanding.

Compared to Delia Smith, it is clear to see that Jamie Oliver loves to show his enthusiasm and pure devotion when presenting. Delia Smith is very much a teacher whereas Jamie likes to just help you and gives off a ‘do it however you want’ attitude, showing he wants the audience to just take some tips away with them and expand on their knowledge. When compared to Jamie, Delia is very detailed this attitude is given off from her Received Pronunciation and her precision with measurements,’… one hundred and seventy-five grammes of self raising flour’.

Delia is very fluent in the way she talks and you can sense her dialogue illustrates status. This can be seen by the deficient amount of fillers used when judged with Jamie Oliver. Jamie Oliver likes to drag out his show but you sense that Delia just likes to get the job done. This attitude is taken from her traditional role as to how women were seen when she first started as a television chef so it’s understanding to see that she likes to keep to the point and decides not to use a mass of linguistic features for instance deixis and ellisions.

So when contrasting these two television presenters, it is obvious to see they come from different generations from the development of linguistic features. It is therefore interesting to see just how much the attitude towards TV chefs has expanded how presenting can be done. Due to this profession being highly competitive it is only natural that a TV chef is going to be under scrutiny. Jamie Oliver is a prime example to this, as people have questioned his ‘cockney/mockney’ accent, so it appears even TV chefs can’t escape the limelight.

The only possible exception is Delia Smith as she is very much seen the same way as to when she started, peaceful and still stereotyped as the classic household woman. Jamie has also been condemned by the health secretary over his campaign to improve school dinners and furthermore he has been enquired on whether his 30 minutes meals actually take more than an hour. (Add detail on articles) Despite facing criticism and controversy their achievements don’t go unnoticed with Jamie receiving an MBE and Delia a CBE, proving TV chefs are in a healthy place to be.