There is so much to learn about food that it can be a struggle to figure out where to start. Recipe books? Chef memoirs? Cookery schools? While you’re making up your mind, there are a few online views that might open your eyes to the food industry and what makes it tick.
David Gelb's six episode series Chef's Table (2015) was created for Netflix, and focuses on one chef, outstanding in their field, per episode. Not only does the food look magnificent, thanks to slow-motion shots of various hands working their magic as dishes come together, Gelb also captures the thread of obsessive personality traits that run through each of his subjects. Dan Barber of Blue Hill Restaurant in New York throws a tantrum about imperfection in his kitchen, while a young chef scurries out of the boss's path of wrath. A sous chef looks like he is going to explode when Magnus Nilsson at Fäviken in the wilderness of Sweden chides him over a small error. Niki Nakayama of N/Naka Restaurant in Los Angeles, the only woman out of the six, is more reserved than her peers. As she talks about her craft, she reveals herself as a quiet master in pursuit of perfection.
If you're afraid of bees, you should probably watch More Than Honey (2013, available on Netflix) by Swiss director Markus Imhoof. The stunningly shot close-ups of hives and buzzing bees might make you squeamish at first, but pretty soon you'll see that they are the heroes of the piece.
When you find out how they’ve been dying all over the world, and how that affects our food, you are likely to develop a new appreciation of these workers who help pollinate our eco-system. It’s a terrifying look into the consequences of introducing unsustainable man-made chemicals and processes into the natural world.
Einstein is quoted in the film as saying “If bees disappeared, man would only have four years to live.” This is far scarier than any horror movie, because it’s real life.
Nuggets of exploration
For little nuggets of food exploration, the Chew on This Ted Talks (2012, available on Netflix) is a collection of 14 talks delivered between 2008 and 2011. Jamie Oliver angrily and admirably takes on obesity in America in the opening episode. Dan Barber from Blue Hill Farm is a calmer version of himself outside of the kitchen, talking about sustainable fishing in his talk How I Fell In Love With Fish, and how "for the last 50 years, we've been fishing our seas in the way we clear cut forests".
Perhaps the most interesting talk in the series is How Food Shapes Our Cities by architect Carolyn Steel. She outlines the relationship between agriculture and urbanism, systems that have been bound together since the invention of grain in the fertile crescent 10,000 years ago. Steel is author of Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives (2013), a fantastic read for those interested in food's influence on society's patterns.
Ann Cooper, known as The Renegade Lunch Lady, also features in this collection. She talks passionately about the perils of the American school lunch system, and what she has done to change that. “My thing with school lunch is it’s a social justice issue,” she shouts at the crowd. “I put salad bars into schools. Everyone said it couldn’t be done. Everyone said kids wouldn’t eat it or the bigger kids would spit into them. That didn’t happen.”
For a shorter watch, the 10-minute documentary Seeding Fear (2015, available on YouTube) tells the story of Michael White and his father Wayne, who was sued by the multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation Monsanto for allegedly saving their patented soya beans. The film was co-produced by Bernard Shakey, otherwise known as Neil Young. It accompanied the release of his album The Monsanto Years earlier this year, and acts as an opening explanation to the inspiration behind the album, as well as an insight into the problematic relationship between food corporations and farmers.
Health of our planet
Though the graphics may have dated since its release seven years ago, Food, Inc (2008, available on Netflix) still has a potent message to share about the way we eat. Director Robert Kenner outlines the dramatic changes the farming industry underwent in the second half of the 20th century and how that is impacted the health of our planet and its animals, including ourselves. Narrated by Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, the complex workings of the US factory farming industry, the corporations controlling our food and the government policies that protect them are unveiled in this documentary. As one farmer says, "everything we've done in modern agriculture is to grow faster, fatter, bigger, cheaper." But at what cost to the planet?
The film does offer alternatives to this grim picture of modern agriculture. One of the unintentional stars of the piece is unintentional hipster farmer Joel Salatin, who outlines his environmentally friendly farming practices in his third- generation farm Polyface in Virginia while sporting NHS glasses and a Stetson. The viewer is encouraged to take action by shopping local
And, finally back to David Gelb, the director of Chef's Table. Well, you may have already seen his first film, Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011, available on Netflix), which tells the story of a cantankerous old genius and his art. Jiro Ono is an 85-year-old sushi master who runs a 10-seat restaurant in a Tokyo subway station with three Michelin stars.
Gelb spent a month with him in 2010, intending to include him in a documentary alongside other sushi chefs. Upon meeting Jiro and his two sons, he found their story so compelling that he created a feature film about them.
Set to music by Philip Glass, it’s a powerful portrait of one man’s unending journey towards excellence, and how that affects the people around him.
