Nine is set to launch an exciting new food format later this year that Adrian Swift, Head of Content Production and Development, says is different to anything on Australian television.

“Family Food Fight is the quest to find Australia’s greatest cooking family,” said Swift. “It is about the family that brings the most interesting, exciting but achievable food to the table.

“My Kitchen Rules is about the contestants, it’s not actually about the food. Masterchef is about finding Australia’s best amateur cook. But with Family Food Fight we’re here to find Australia’s best family cook.”

Family Food Fight will feature six families from a variety of ethnic and other backgrounds.

“I think your family can be your flatmates, your friends, or it can be your actual family,”  Swift said. “The focus of this show is how people from different cultures and backgrounds cook those dishes that we all might be able to cook the following Saturday.”

The senior Nine programming executive noted that the objective was for viewers to see the dishes featured on the show as achievable to make. 

“Viewers want to learn how to do these dishes cleverly, cheaply, quickly, with flair and panache that might involve some Italian or Greek magic on the side,” said Swift.

The judges on  Family Food Fight are chef/restaurateur Matt Moran, pastry chef Anna Polyviou, and foodie and cookbook author Hayden Quinn, who will all judge the families’ culinary creations.

Internationally renowned food writer and critic Tom Parker Bowles will also appear as a guest judge, adding another dimension to the program.

“Matt Moran is one of Australia’s greatest chefs, and where his heart lies is much more about simple, really good ingredients, for simply and beautifully cooked food,” Swift said.

“Anna Polyviou is Australia’s best pastry chef, and then we have Hayden Quinn, whose stock in trade is finding great produce and turning it into simple but tasty meals. Tom Parker Bowles is there because he is a great food critic, he has seen every kind of meal come and go, and we thought he would be fascinating addition to the mix.”

Swift said he had two clear goals for Family Food Fight viewers.

“What we are hoping is (a) that people are going to cook these dishes on the weekend, and (b) we are all going to see something of ourselves in these cooking families – it’s a very warm, very positive, very relatable program. They are just families like us who are trying to make the best food they can, using what they know about food, cooking and ingredients.

“It doesn’t matter what culture you come from, your relationship with food is very similar. Family Food Fight has a good multicultural message, and also a good food message.”