The rise & rise of AIR FRYER TV
How a 25-year-old kitchen gadget suddenly took over telly
It all started on 23 June last year, when Denise Van Outen fronted aChannel 4 show about air fryers. The programme –starkly, yet effectively, titled Air Fryers: Are They Worth It? –was announced with the tantalising description, “Denise Van Outen lifts the lid on Britain’s air-fryer obsession and asks the questions on everyone’s lips: how do they work? What can we cook in them? And, can they really save us time and money?” Informative as it undoubtedly was, the documentary also felt like the equivalent of making an entire TV show about, say, kettles or toasters or spoons. And yet, this was just the start.
Channel 5 followed suit with the even more creatively titled Air Fryers Vs Microwaves: Which Is Better? earlier this year.
Now, barely aweek goes by without an air fryer-based TV show of some kind popping up on our screens. Most of them are on Channel 5, although Jamie Oliver is now getting in on the act for Channel 4.
So, it’s time to ask what is it about these seemingly magical devices that make for such enticing TV? And will our thirst for air-fryer content ever be sated?
ALOT OF HOT AIR
The big irony about these gadgets is that they’re not magic frying machines at all, just convection ovens –meaning they cook food by circulating hot air around it using afan. But the crispy results that emerge from the free-standing appliances can seem quite magical, producing food that looks and tastes as if it’s been deep-fried. Indeed, the air fryer was invented in 2005 by a Dutchman who wanted to cook chips without having to me use hot oil. The electronics company Philips unveiled the first fryer in 2010, but they really took off during the pandemic in the US, when cooks stuck at home showed off recipes that worked particularly well with these devices, and sales of air fryers rose by 20 per cent.
YouTubers and TikTokers soon embraced the air fryer possibilities, and careers have been made out of online air-frying expertise. Now, 45 per cent of UK households own one.
