Unless you’re a veritable foodie, cooking shows can be a bore. Shows like “Chopped” and “Top Chef” try to reproduce the adrenaline-filled experience of the kitchen with contests, deadlines and absurd challenges (“Make a dessert using whelk snails and lemon bars in the next hour, and win against these five contestants!”). But the thrill is short-lived, and these reality show tropes grow tiresome as the act of cooking becomes just another component of a game show. On the other side of the spectrum is the dry process-oriented cooking show in which cooking becomes a skill learned by rote, effectively stripping the act of its personality and inventive spirit. Modern cooking shows too often eclipse the essence of being a chef.
Not “Chef’s Table.” David Gelb, director of the critically-acclaimed “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” has committed to entering the mind of the chef with this six-part Netflix original series. Each episode focuses on a different world-renowned chef, from a rogue chef cooking on remote island in Patagonia to a man who reinvented Italian cooking by infusing his grandmother’s recipes with modern art. “Chef’s Table” is less concerned with the mechanics of cooking or the heat of the kitchen than it is with the chefs themselves. In 45-minute segments, Gelb takes a deep dive into the forces that drive these obsessive chefs on their quests for sensory perfection. Its robust philosophical and visual flavor is a welcome sophisticated addition to Netflix’s slate. One warning, though: Do not watch on an empty stomach.
“Every time I open a cheese like this, I get emotional. In my blood, there’s balsamic vinegar. My muscles are made by Parmigiano.” Meet Massimo Bottura, Ben Shewry, Niki Nakayama, Francis Mallmann, Dan Barber, and Magnus Nilsson. For these Michelin Star chefs, food is not just necessary to sustain life — it’s life itself.
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Indeed, there’s little difference between the processes by which these chefs craft their cuisine and the way in which they live their lives. This is the compelling current that runs through every episode. “I use cooking to send this message about a way of living,” says Mallman, the off-the-grid chef from Patagonia. “I’m always cooking in these remote places with wild fires. So my message is get off your office chair or your sofa and go out.” A food critic says of farm-to-table sustainable chef Dan Barber, “his goal is more than to just feed people in a restaurant. He wants to change his community and ultimately, the world.” Every chef has his or her own credo, and the meat of each episode is devoted to unpacking both its origins and its manifestations in the food.
Potent visuals like these help us enter the chefs’ subjectivities in order to understand how creation takes root: Mallman, too, says eating his food is like “going back to those times of childhood.” He imbues his dishes with a sense of home. “It’s a land that you learn to love very slowly. You understand the winds, storms, solitude,” he says. “Once you understand how she is, you start to love Patagonia.”
Read More: ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’ Director David Gelb On Capturing One of Japan’s National Treasures
Another characteristic that unites the chefs is a fiercely independent spirit. When asked what draws him to cooking, Mallman says, “It’s the freedom of believing only in myself, not letting myself be led by anybody. I wanted to be my own. I wanted to do whatever I wanted.” But this pursuit of freedom comes at a cost. As each of the chefs strives for self-actualization through the creation process, something important is sacrificed. Two of the men admit to neglecting their children in favor of the kitchen; another takes a step back from his career to be present in family life. Dan Barber, for his part, muses that being a chef entails “being attracted to a certain kind of abuse. It’s exhilarating, and the challenge is: How much of it can you stand? Is that the way to live a happy life? I don’t have the answer.”
There’s one mantra that every chef shares: “You have to respect what you cook.” Thankfully, David Gelb respects more than just the food—he respects the chefs, too.
Grade: A-
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