By Dave Mark - As Heston Blumenthal uses his forehead to mash a wardrobe-infused artichoke, the days of Fanny Cradock and co seem a long time ago.

These days TV chefs are so rock and roll, and those who just prepare food you'd like to eat seem somehow uncool.

The genre has expanded and mutated to such an extent that there are now whole new categories of culinary programming - all ensuring we watch what we eat.

As Celebrity Masterchef comes to an end and Valentine Warner begins teaching us What to Eat Now (Monday, BBC2, 8.30pm), it's interesting to see how we reached the golden age of TV cookery.

If the idea of watching somebody cook a meal that you'll never get to eat sounds a peculiar craze, then spare a thought for audiences back in the day.

The first cookery shows to prove a hit with the masses were on the radio!

TV cuisine truly began with Philip Harben's Cookery. He usually appeared in a sensible apron and his show was a pretty straightforward "how to".

In the 1950s, Fanny Cradock was the queen of the kitchen. Her career began in 1955 with Kitchen Magic and spawned other shows including The Cradocks.

Her trademark was over-decorated, almost baroque, food and her rudeness and churlishness were also renowned.

The Galloping Gourmet (Graham Kerr) took TV cookery forward by performing in front of a live audience and serving up his dishes to a young crowd.

Fanny paved the way for young Daily Mirror cookery writer Delia Smith, who was headhunted to front a cookery show on the BBC's Look East programme.

Her famous Cookery Course series led to "the Delia effect", where shops had to stock up on ingredients she had used.

While Delia was Queen of Cuisine in the 1980s, the king was Keith Floyd.

Energetic and ever so slightly sozzled, Keith served up a considerably more gourmet affair, and often saved enough wine to actually put it in the food.

But it has been in the past decade that the TV chef has become a true genre of superstar, thanks to the likes of Gary Rhodes, Rick Stein, Antony Worrall Thompson and Paul Rankin.

All these chefs have a unique selling point, even if it's just a perpetual ear-to-ear grin of Ainsley Harriott.

Then there's the expletive-strewn rants of dear Gordon Ramsay and the peculiar philosophy of Marco Pierre White.

But if you really want to impress at your next pub quiz, do point out that horror actor Vincent Price also hosted a cookery TV show. Celebrity Masterchef Final is on BBC1 at 8pm on Friday.