• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, August 26, 2024

A few weeks ago amid all the summer politics and the Olympics on TV, the PBS cooking competition show, “The Great American Recipe,” crowned its third champion.

The same day, the show was renewed for a fourth season. The winner of Season Three was Adjo Honsou (photo above), a sunny personality originally from Togo in West Africa.

Honsou’s winning dish was Oxtail in Palm Nut Stew, a recipe from her West African roots. She chose the dish because she wanted to bring awareness of West African cuisine to the U.S., where she now lives. 

She also chose it because when done correctly, it is apparently delicious. One judge, Tiffany Derry, declared the dish to be “perfect.” I wish I had some right now.

Cultural cuisine is the whole point of “The Great American Recipe,” which celebrates America’s diversity through its food.

The show’s title does not refer to hot dogs, cheeseburgers and apple pie (although all three are undeniably awesome).

On this show, all food from all cultures is just as symbolic of America, a nation of immigrants, as those delicious staples.

Honsou is a first-generation immigrant but most of the contestants on the show are descendants of immigrants. Aren’t we all?

Their signature dishes represent the heritage of their cultures and families -- including Italian, Latin American, Asian and others originating from around the globe.

In its emphasis on food as a cultural experience rather than a celebration of gluttony -- as so many food shows are today -- “The Great American Recipe” is unique among TV’s cooking-competition shows.

It is also one of the best. When it premiered in 2022, I questioned its appropriateness for PBS, since cooking-competition shows such as this are almost universally associated with the Food Network.

But times change and so do the opinions of TV bloggers. “The Great American Recipe” is worth watching wherever one finds it. Why should the Food Network monopolize all the cooking competitions?

Season Four of “The Great American Recipe” starts production this fall. It is set to premiere next summer.