Help Me Mama

The fun cooking contest “Help Me Mama” casts aside the convention of chefs seeking culinary perfection, as five inexperienced students compete to create the best meal based on their mothers’ telephone cooking instructions, with hilarious and fascinating results.

The cooking show “Help Me Mama” tears up the convention of great cooks seeking culinary perfection to focus on the love and tensions in the mother-child relationship. Each week five students compete to win a cash prize for the best meal, guided solely by their mother over the phone – a recipe for comedy and frustration.

The show is filmed each day in the home of a different student who must follow their mother’s cooking instructions, sometimes successfully and sometimes with hilarious results. The presenter and other contestants mark their cooking, with the highest scorer winning a show which emphasizes fun more than talent.

“Help Me Mama” explores the challenge faced by every student learning to become independent and the tough experience of every mother watching their offspring set off into the world. The essence of this intimate relationship is encapsulated in the mother’s efforts to convey her cooking skills to her child.

We see the love between them, but also strains, resentments and prejudices which have built up during their lives together in a format which is both amusing and intriguing. While some contestants and mothers just have fun, others are more competitive. Ultimately all mothers want to see their child come out on top.