The Cook Up with Adam Liaw

Every time I come across this show I am left amazed by how boring the host and his guests are. What random food court do they find these absolute dull no-bodies in?

Adam seems like a very nice guy trying his best to give off a lively tv persona, but the dry banter and fake laughing leave me cringing so hard I could have a stroke.

Where do the producers find all these boring nobody guests? Why is Adam so awkward and cringey when talking to them? Why is the layout of the set so awkward? Why is the food so boring? Why does Adam cut off the guests while they're in the middle of saying something? If you're going to interrupt people you may as well not invite them on. Has Adam never watched the edited show back and realised that it awful and unwatchable? Does the director have a clue? Why has it lasted so long? Do people actually watch it and don't change channel in exasperation? So many questions to which I'm unlikely to ever receive satisfactory answers.

This show is not about the people, it's not about any competition. It's about introducing people of all different cooking skills to amazing food.

In 400 episodes with 3 recipes an episode so far, there has barely been even similar dishes. (Banana muffins vs banana bread not withstanding).

If you are not interested in food, this may not be the show for you, but if you are, even if you are starting your journey or well on your way there is so much here to learn and admire.

Sure, some guest are not the greatest personalities, but they all have interesting dishes that can inspire you to try something new.

This show makes cooking accessible to everyone. It seeks to remove the barriers people find intimidating about cooking while still making some amazing food.

Things to love: Everyday people showing their tricks to making cooking easy.

Talented chefs making impressive dishes and sharing their secrets.

Talented chefs showing the food they cook when they're lazy or short on time.

Foods from every culture you can think of and some you haven't.

There's good reason SBS keeps ordering more episodes. Some people obviously don't get it, but it really is an amazing showcase of modern Australian food.

...ugh... Each episode features two random C- or DE-list nobodies who sit and listen to Adam explain what he's cooking with very bored or uninterested expressions while he cooks a random meal. Then the C-l or D-list nobodies cook some stuff and try to explain what they're doing while Adam interrupts every word they say at every opportunity. Then those non-celebrities are expected to rave about how good his meal is while they spend the final 10 seconds of the show eating whatever food the guests cook, while pretending to like it. Every episode - rinse and repeat. Every episode has been cringe-worthy at best.

I hope this show has been edited before broadcast. Because there so many awkward hard to watch moments. Where Adam seemingly moves on way too quickly from his conversation with his guest in order to talk with another guest or talk about his food (or something else). It is so cringe, you literally invite them to your show to talk about a desired topic and you don't even hear them out properly.

Also sometimes a guest cooks something tasty, and again Adam moves on instantly and their whole portion is skipped where focus is put on the other guest. This could easily be partially solved by using effective cuts between both guests, but this wouldn't solve it fully.

This show has potential to improve. Adam is a sweetheart and really kind, but I watch this show to see the perspective of all three members per episode. Not just Adam or at most him and one guest. You rarely get an episode where the desired topic in the episode is properly shared through all three members of the episode.