See what’s cooking on the television screen

Even I can’t cook and eat all the time. For variety’s sake, I sometime watch TV or read … about cooking, of course! With vacation season coming up, it seems worthwhile to share the list of a few things I’ve been enjoying.

“Recipes for Love and Murder” features Maria Doyle Kennedy, so it was already points up for me. She plays Tannie Marie, an agony aunt writing for a small-town newspaper in South Africa, who offers a recipe as part of the solution in each column. It’s a dark comedy, what with the murder and all, but more Murder She Wrote than Fargo. Available on Acorn TV. The show is based on the book by Sally Andrew, which is available at the Davis Branch Library.

“Julia” is quite a lovely series chronicling the start of Julia Child’s television career. (It’s also a fantastic look at the life of women in the not-too-distant past.) While the series is fairly accurate as a biography, it plays like fiction and is not even a tiny bit dry. Available on HBO.

“The Bear” was the absolute smash hit in my little crowd last year, although more than one restaurant pal declined to watch because it triggered some bad memories. The story follows Jeremy Allen White as he leaves a fine-dining chef job to run a failing family-owned sandwich shop. It’s definitely sanitized for TV as compared to an actual commercial kitchen, and very accessible to those who have never had the fun of working in the industry. Available on Hulu, Season 2 drops at the end of June.

“Mammals” is more of a drama set in a restaurant, but it’s well worth the watching. James Corden plays a chef who becomes embroiled in a complicated relationship crisis while opening a restaurant. Available on Amazon Prime

“The Great British Menu” is an annual competition featuring British chefs. As cooking competitions go, it’s my favorite because there aren’t any gimmicks, just very skilled chefs cooking great food with a time limit. Each season has a theme, and the winners eventually cook a feast for a variety of guests. Sadly, all seasons are not available in the U.S., but you can get a summer’s worth on Amazon Prime and Tubi.

“The Menu,” the sole movie on this list, is the darkest of black comedies, taking digs at superhigh-end destination restaurants, kitchen culture, the rich and trend-setters, to name a few. Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Fiennes are both fantastic. This one is a bit over the top in violence, at least as far as food movies go. Available on Amazon, HBO and Hulu.

There are, of course, far more food books available than TV shows or movies. My absolute favorite at the moment is Kerry Greenwood’s “Corinna Chapman” series. This lesser know series by the “Phryne Fisher” author is set in a bakery in modern day Melbourne. The characters are engaging, the mysteries are intriguing, and the baking is spot on. If you’re a fan of the “cozy” genre, this will be a delight.

If you’re more of a science fiction/fantasy reader, “A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking” should suit. Author T. Kingfisher has the knack for creating complete, realistic worlds — in this case, a city full of wizards, a murderer who is stalking them, and a young baker who holds the key to solving the problem. This book is aimed at middle school/ young adult readers, but don’t let that stop you!

One of the most exciting stories in the science fiction/fantasy world this year was “Legends and Lattes” by Travis Baldree. It’s a fun and well-written story about an Orc former mercenary who opens a coffee shop, complete with a million tiny and nicely drawn details about the inner workings of food service. It is, the author says, “a book about people mostly being nice” and the publication of the book at all bears that out. “Legends and Lattes” was self-published, gained notice on Twitter (in part via persistent boosting from best-selling author Seanan McGuire) and became such a sensation that the book was picked up by a publisher.

For those of you hoping for a cookbook to play with over the summer, I strongly recommend Carla Lalli Music’s “That Sounds So Good” for both a sensible attitude about food and for practical and delicious recipes. If you’d like something more cheffy, I am forever a fan of Gabrielle Hamilton’s “Prune,” which recalibrates some very high-end restaurant recipes for the home cook. Not only are there some fantastic recipes in there, the original notes to restaurant staff are highly entertaining!

— Have a show or book to suggest? Want to ask a question for a future column? Email Julie at jacross@dcn.org or visit her on Facebook at The New Home Ec.