Elisa Isoardi conducted the latest episode of the Italian generalist television program par excellence, brought to success by Antonella Clerici with songs, challenges between chefs and gaffes that went down in history
It was October 2, 2000. Humanity had now escaped the pitfalls of the millenium bug for a few months, the radios played obsessively compulsive "Vamos a Bailar" by Paola & Chiara at any time of day or night, and jeans at low waist – sometimes very low – depopulated without shame in the wardrobes of all the under 25s of Italy. Meanwhile on Rai 1, just before the appointment with the mid-day news, a program made its official debut to rewrite the relationship between television and kitchen: that was the day on which the very first episode of "The cook's test", daughter of the British "Ready Steady Cook" format, with a radiant Antonella Clerici ready to extricate itself daily between the proposals of the two rival kitchens of the game. That of the Red Tomato and that of the Green Pepper, of course.
Today, almost 20 years after that epic debut, the broadcast has officially closed its doors, with its current presenter, Elisa Isoardi, visibly moved next to co-host Claudio Lippi. In between, two unforgettable decades of small screen, during which a simple cathodic challenge between chefs and more or less skilled cookers has been able to turn into a real cultural bulwark, capable of stimulating the Italian passion for cooking like no generalist television program has ever managed to do.
So, while in the Rome studio, pots and pans are being cleaned for the last time, the most faithful viewers can only get excited by remembering these 20 years dotted with improbable culinary lessons between Anna Moroni and Antonella Clerici, of recipes sometimes only half done, of treatises of gastronomy of the meticulous Beppe Bigazzi, of "Tagliatelle di nonna Pina" in abundance and of television faults gone down in history. But also of a lot, a lot of food culture, told through the experience and the smiles of the chefs, sommeliers, housewives and yes, obviously also of the two conductors who succeeded each other at the helm of the show, Antonella Clerici and Elisa Isoardi.
Of course, perhaps the last seasons of the program have not been able to shine for listening, with the changes introduced in the race – in the themes and in the protagonists – that have not always met the expectations of the public. "I'm sorry because it was beautiful, because it was twenty years old and because I carry everyone's smile in my heart. Thanks for what you have given me, I hope this is a goodbye and not a farewell ", wanted to underline Elisa Isoardi at the end of the last tip of today. Meanwhile, however, there are already those who hypothesize a return in September by Antonella Clerici in the noon of Rai1, with a new program ready to somehow reap the legacy of "The Proof of the Cook". That yes, beyond the legitimate nostalgia of today, it will always remain the most shining milestone of the TV of the stove: because before MasterChef, before 4 Restaurants, before all the Nightmare Kitchens and the Courtesies for the Guests there were the songs and the sautéed in joy of "The Test of the Cook". And we can never forget this.
