Mark Bittman started a lively discussion about the merits of TV cooking vs. real cooking on his Bitten blog recently, calling the demonstrations by most celebrity cooks baffling, intimidating and a charade. He harkened back to the days of Julia Child, whose producers allowed her to make mistakes on camera from her very own Cambridge kitchen, now eternally preserved in the Smithsonian.

What good does it do to watch a celebrity chef show off his bionic onion-chopping abilities, Bittman argued, and anyone who watches his cooking demonstrations on the New York Times website knows that he has attracted a cult following precisely by not showing off, creating an if-I-can-do-it relatability by demonstrating the pared down recipes and simple techniques that define his persona as The Minimalist.

Watching a turbocharged celebrity chef coast his or her way through a dish (”Bam!”) usually means consuming a load of empty calories. Depending on the charm of the performer, the exercise can provide a welcome time-wasting distraction or feel as cringe-worthy as watching a lousy magician pull a rabbit from a hat.

Cooking is a skill learned by trial and error, by getting your hands dirty, by doing. Short of that, watching someone else cook can be passively instructive in a way that reading recipes cannot. If you are paying attention, you may make connections and pick up new techniques while watching someone else cook a dish, combine new ingredients or even chop an onion. Seeing how easy it is to make a pancake or a chocolate truffle, to fry a piece of fish or bake a soufflé may be the spark that propels you into the kitchen instead of fantasizing about all the things you’ll make after a heavy session of food porn via the web, your cookbook collection or the food channels on your TV.

What do you think? Do you watch cooking shows for sheer entertainment or have they made you a better cook?