Quick, right now – name five TV cooking show hosts. Julia Child, Gordon Ramsay, Racheal Ray, Emeril Lagasse, Nigella Lawson, okay, okay.
But does the name Graham Kerr ring a bell?
No?
Really?
See, at one point in time, Graham Kerr was one of the most popular TV cooking show hosts, with a program entitled The Galloping Gourmet. No, it didn’t mean that he cooked his food while riding on a horse. It just meant that while he was cooking an item, he would run around the kitchen studio to get all the pots and pans and ingredients, that it would count as galloping around.
Look, it’s a cute name for a TV show.
The program ran for two years (1969-1971), and displayed Graham Kerr’s culinary skills, as well as his use of clarified butter in nearly every recipe, as well as his use of various wines in every recipe.
Here he comes now, running into the studio, to teach us how to make stuffed turkey – “from both ends,” as he says. Okay.
He would introduce recipes from all over the world, and then show how the food is prepared. I swear he did this with a wine goblet in one hand and a cleaver in the other.
Now there are some rules with a cooking show. If the ingredients don’t do what they’re supposed to do … just work with them. As Graham Kerr found out when he tried to extrude a souffle from its mold. It … just … didn’t … go … as … planned.
But he always found time to have a good laugh with his audience, as in this sweet clip about how conversion to the metric system would change our perspective on literature.
I originally thought the show lasted for a long period of time; it only ran for two years, but apparently it must have sustained itself through syndication. Kerr would later appear in several other TV shows, cooking and non-cooking, and I’m sure there are a generation of homemakers who took time out of their busy schedule to watch and learn how to create international cuisine. And have some wine. Lots of wine. Seriously, I think Graham Kerr could have challenged Dean Martin in a spirits contest. π
But yeah, someone should bring back The Galloping Gourmet for our quarantine time. Can you imagine all the recipes we’ve cooked during this pandemic? And all the wine? Lots and lots of wine?
Okay, no wine for me. But maybe there’s a recipe that calls for diet cola. Or for Red Bull.
I mean, you’d need a gallon of Red Bull to move around the kitchen studio as fast as the Galloping Gourmet does. Amirite?
Chuck The Writer 
I was just 6 when Galloping Gourmet premiered on channel 6 back in the day. Years later, Kerr would return with a 5 minute piece called—wait for it—-Take Kerr. Didn’t last as long.
I hate to break it to you, Chuck, but some of us do remember shows like Galloping Gourmet…….
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My dad loved his show.
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I remember it well! Loved the show!
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Yes. Now how about Joyce Chen?
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I Learned HOW TO COOK with Graham. I never missed a show of his. My favorite way to cook rice is by him and I still make it the same way. I miss his show so much.
I am so happy I thought about him today and found this.
I was sorry to hear about his wife.
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