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Here’s a list of television shows and movies – in no particular order – besides The Bear that draw our attention to the celebration of food and drink across cultures and communities. They either entirely focus on food or employ it as the ephemeral device that holds the characters together like gooey, stretchy mozzarella or french toast for the table.
-- TV --
Bob’s Burgers
One would be hard-pressed to believe, this show about a family who runs a burger shop in one Ferris wheel town launched in 2011. Each season, this animated series still serves up some heart-warming deliciousness in each episode. Besides the best sing-a-along jingles, kids on the verge of defying death and parents that are poignant and plucky – there’s a little game to play along for us long-time fans. It’s called spot the puns in Burger of the Day board; some of our favourites are Let’s Give ‘Em Something Shiitake ‘Bout Burger, Sweet Chilli ‘O Mine Burger, Kales from the Crypt Burger, Bohemian Radishy Burger and so many more. And since you’re clearly as excited as we are, there’s a real cookbook with all these joke recipes.
Chef’s Table: Noodles
No other show does food porn better than Netflix’s Chef’s Table series. And, this outing with four episodes focussed on noodles makes each bowl look sinfully satisfying. These four chefs – Evan Funke, a Los Angeles-based chef known for his handmade pasta; Guirong Wei, a London-based chef with expertise in Shaanxi cuisine; Nite Yun, a Cambodian chef, who grew up in a refugee camp in Thailand and presently lives in California brings her home cuisine to centrestage; and Peppe Guida, the Italian chef of Michelin-starred Antica Osteria Nonna Rosa. Each of these chefs has cut away from their extremely storied lives to give time to mastering the art of noodle-making – and it’s so very moving to know it spices their servings.
Crime Scene Kitchen
No, this isn’t a true-crime series on gruesome murders committed in kitchens (That would make a good show too). Instead, American actor and host Joel McHale leads bakers into a kitchen and they have to figure out what to make depending on the evidence left behind after a previous baking session. They got crumbs, cream and chaos to help them decipher. I don’t know about you – but my inner smart-ass emerged and was loudly guessing the possibilities with no one else in the room.
Culinary Class Wars
This new South Korean competition show – think Physical:100 but cooking – brings together 100 chefs who compete to be the last one standing. There are 20 “White Spoons” (feted and critically-acclaimed chefs) versus 80 “Black Spoons” (chefs from standalone restaurants, hole-in-the-wall eateries, a school lunch lady and social media stars who cook dishes from graphic novels). There are the durational challenges with an eye on a single ingredient to surprise twists along the way; this show shakes up the format of cooking competition shows. And most importantly, it gives Korean cuisine its due respect showing us the skill and craft required to make these traditional dishes.
K Food Show: The Nation of Banchan
Three hosts – cartoonist and writer Heo Young Man, actor and cooking enthusiast Ryu Soo Young, and Mimi of K-Pop girl group Oh My Girl – travel across Korea diving into world-class restaurants to local eateries run by ajummas to street food stalls exploring banchan. Banchan are the many small side dishes (also the Korean word for it) at the centre of the traditional meal. From exploring the thousands of varieties of rice, oyster salad and pancakes to different kinds of kimchi, foraged wild greens and mushrooms, the trio showcase the range of these side dishes that speak to Korean hospitality of always having food for surprise guests at their table. The enthusiasm of these hosts is infectious and the food served up is droolworthy.
Somebody Feed Phil
I hate-watch this show! Philip Rosenthal – the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond – travels to Washington DC, Kyoto and Iceland in the latest season. The food shots are always great, and the dish and restaurant recommendations seem sound but this man – Phil – reminds me of that enthusiastic uncle in each of our families who we have to grudgingly admit knows a thing or two.
Somebody Somewhere
American cabaret performer Bridget Everett is one of the sweetest things to slip into a television show. Potlucks, pinot grigio, breakfasts, Bible Study and playing catch in the park are the major activities of this motley crew of friends in Manhattan, Kansas. They’re always talking about having their way with doughnuts, crying into their French toast for the table, and healing from a glass of wine. Somebody Somewhere is an elegant, gracious reminder of how friendship and food make navigating the world a lot easier.
The Great British Bake Off: Season 15
Every season of this show is simply another serving from the pudding of pleasure! Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith, Noel Fielding and breakout star Alice Hammond are back on our screens, it’s an absolute delight. Is the ball dropping a little bit? Sure, we can agree it’s slipping a little. But there’s a solid payoff too. Like the time, Hammond turns to the judges and spits out: “How does Fanny taste, guys?” I nearly dropped my laptop off my belly while laughing. It’s only GBBO that can get away with this kind of humour, and we salute them. And yes, Fanny is the pet hen of Georgie, the paediatric nurse from rural Wales. Georgie had chosen to bake a cake that looked like her pet for the realistic “illusion” cake round. She set up the joke and Hammond knocked it out of the marquee on the lawn. Sweet!
Top Chef: Season 21
There’s a new host Kristen Kish – winner of the tenth season – but this latest season of this top-class reality television show didn’t disappoint at all. We do miss Padma Lakshmi! But, Kish does have a knowing, kinder way of delivering the classic “pack your knives and go” because she’s heard them before too. She’s emotional, effervescent, educational. Twenty-one seasons into Top Chef, the showrunners, along with Kish as host and Gail Simmons and Tom Colicchio as judges, manage to keep things fresh without totally reinventing the wheel.
-- MOVIES --
The Taste of Things
One of the beautiful opening sequences in a film is Ang Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) where a father prepares a special Sunday meal for his daughters. French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung’s The Taste of Things now joins this club for me. In the downstairs kitchen of this home, master cook Eugénie, played by Juliette Binoche, watches over the making of an exquisite meal behind the mystique of steam and sounds. We see root vegetables being pulled out of the earth, fish being gutted, butter sizzling in saucepans, meat being scored and seared, and other methodical means of preparing a feast. And then, we all see it being consumed over conversation by a coterie of old friends in the dining room upstairs. And this is only the first forty minutes of this film!
The Substance
Demi Moore is back; she’s striking. Margaret Qualley is a star. While everyone’s talking about the blood, gore and body horror of The Substance, we’d like to draw your attention to the film’s commentary on women, food and society. Dennis Quaid might get away with disgustingly devouring shrimp heads – but we understand that women aren’t allowed to eat like that at all. But then, through the movie as each of the characters breaks out of their skins, food becomes one of the barometres to measure this growing explosion. Towards the end, Demi Moore’s character cooking in her kitchen isn’t calming or soothing. Rather, it’s violent, physical and traumatic – it reminds us food isn’t just pleasure, it’s punishment too.
