What’s the hottest trend in TV cooking shows? Formats pegged to celebrities who actually can’t cook — or who are, at least, culinary challenged.
Count Selena Gomez among them. In “Selena + Chef,” a new series coming to HBO Max on Thursday, the pop star and actress attempts to make delicious meals while stuck at home in quarantine and receiving instructions from acclaimed master chefs.
“This was an opportunity to make something that could make people smile,” Gomez told journalists recently. “I hope they’re going to laugh because I look like a fool. … I love cooking. I just don’t know how to do it all the time.”
With her new show, Gomez follows in the footsteps of comedian Amy Schumer, who has her own in-quarantine series — “Amy Schumer Learns to Cook” — on the Food Network. But while Schumer receives in-person instruction from her husband, chef Chris Fischer, Gomez takes her lessons remotely from a group of rotating chefs, including Tanya Holland, Angelo Sosa, Antonia Lofaso, Candice Kumai, Daniel Holzman, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, Ludo Lefebvre, Nancy Silverton, Nyesha Arrington and Roy Choi.
Together, they tackle cuisines of every variety, share valuable tips and tricks, and deal with everything from smoking ovens to missing ingredients.