7 new food-centric shows you should be watching right now
It’s time to kick back with Iron Chef sushi, Kristen Kish on extremely remote restaurants and José Andrés’ family in Spain.
Fans will most likely have to wait until next spring to see Kristen Kish replace Padma as host of the next season of “Top Chef.” (Wisconsin, perhaps?)
Meanwhile, the television landscape is far from desolate. There are new shows about Iron Chef-quality sushi, José Andrés and his family touring Spain, a fancy kitchen in a five-star luxury hotel, and a plethora of other topics.
In no particular order, here are seven food-related shows to start watching tonight.
Trying to find Soul Food on Hulu?
There is no food cliché more tired than calling soul food simple. It’s a complicated cuisine with a history spanning generations and continents. Alisa Reynolds, a classically trained chef from Los Angeles, is here to investigate the “trauma and drama” of soul food.
The results are more upbeat than that sounds, thanks to Reynolds’ bubbly personality and comedic timing. The first season begins in Mississippi, where slaves transform “elevated pet food, the scraps” into delectable recipes that are still used today. Interspersed throughout the show are interviews, animations, and historical reenactments, and we meet James Hemings, Thomas Jefferson’s ex-slave chef who introduced French fries to the American menu. Reynolds literally takes off in a jet in search of international soul food, such as pizza in Naples, jerk in Jamaica, and Nikkei, a native-Japanese fusion in Peru.
Morimoto’s Sushi Master, Roku
Do you have what it takes to serve delicious sushi to the Iron Chef? That’s the challenge on this new show, which features Masaharu Morimoto, writer and chef Kenji López-Alt, and Top Chef’s Dakota Weiss judging contestants’ sushi mastery for a $25,000 prize. (Tip: Remove the scales from raw fish before serving.)
Contestants butcher fish, season rice, and arrange plates of oceanic delights under Morimoto’s clucking supervision. Viewers may learn how to use scissors to open a live urchin or how to make kelp-cured kampachi and chirashi with hay-smoked aji.
“Sushi Master” is a visual feast for sushi lovers. A chef places a large chunk of fish against his cheek and declares, “I love ahi tuna!” After seeing all of the close-up shots of gleaming, artfully cut sushi, you will, too.
Lessons in Chemistry, Apple TV+
Oh, how a female chemist was humiliated in the 1950s. When your male coworkers don’t call you “sweetie” or mistake you for a secretary, they suggest you quit your job to compete in a beauty pageant. In this adaptation of Bonnie Garmus’ popular 2022 novel, scientist Elizabeth Zott plans to launch a TV cooking show using her knowledge of amino acids and the Maillard reaction.
It would be an understatement to say that “Lessons in Chemistry” takes an unexpected turn after its initial setup. A stairwell of mind-bending twists is descending — and any further would be spoiler territory. Let’s just say Brie Larson is fantastic in the role of a quirky savant fighting patriarchy, one who bakes the perfect lasagna after 70-plus home trials. Oh, and there’s a heartbreaking episode told through the eyes of the family dog, B.J. Novak. (You read that right.)
The Great British Baking Show on Netflix
The fourteenth season of “The Great British Baking Show” has begun. This season, however, it is hosted by Alison Hammond. Hammond, a presenter on the UK’s “This Morning,” is the show’s first African-American host or judge. She replaces former host and comedian Matt Lucas.
According to the season’s first few episodes, Hammond is a supportive and calming presence in the notoriously stressful bakers’ tent. She appears to have restored the show’s signature friendliness and warmth, which had been noticeably absent in recent seasons. Last season drew widespread criticism for a variety of issues ranging from non-baking challenges to tone-deaf episodes such as last year’s divisive “Mexico Week.” The showrunners have announced that country-themed episodes will be phased out in favor of a return to basics.
Three episodes in, the bakers have created animal-shaped cakes, illusion biscuits, and complex braided breads for their show-stopping challenges, including early leaders Tasha Stones, the show’s first deaf baker, and engineer Dan Cazador.
Netflix, Michelin-starred Chef
The Langham is a five-star luxury hotel in London, and guests must eat the finest foods, according to George! Seven contestants vie for the position of head chef at the hotel’s Palm Court restaurant, but first they must impress two-Michelin-starred chef Michel Roux. When it comes to classical technique, he is a purist who is prone to ding a bad dish with the words, “It pains me.”
He has every right to be upset from time to time. Each chef has a unique vision for his or her restaurant, whether Caribbean, Nordic, or “Theatrical Dining Experience.” The latter chef serves Bondage Lobster (complete with tied-up claws and seaweed blindfolds) alongside gesticulating circus performers, embarrassing every judge at the table.
The format is similar to “Top Chef,” but the emphasis is on fine dining. Americans will learn a lot about British cuisine and dining customs, and they may agree with one judge that “this is not a Battenberg!” by the end.
Restaurants at the End of the World from National Geographic/Disney+
Would you like to learn more about Kristen Kish, the new “Top Chef” judge? Check out “Restaurants at the End of the World,” a four-part NatGeo series hosted by Kish that’s part adventure travel, part culinary spotlight, and full of NatGeo’s stunning visuals. Each episode focuses on a different restaurant and the extraordinary efforts their chefs must make to source local ingredients in remote locations.
How far is it away? Hacienda Mamecillo in Panama is a hike-up restaurant perched high atop a cloud forest mountain. Svalbard’s Isfjord Radio is perched on an island in the Arctic reaches northwest of Norway. Turner Farm in Maine is only accessible by boat and is located in the middle of Penobscot Bay. Sem Pressa is a Brazilian boat.
Kish rappels down a Panamanian waterfall in search of fresh watercress and sifts through Brazilian mangrove muck in search of sururu, a bivalve mollusk, to prepare the perfect seafood meal. She snorkels for sea urchins and collects glacier ice in Svalbard before working in the chefs’ kitchen, where she makes reindeer tongue and melon appetizers, as well as passion fruit-kimchi sorbet.
José Andrés and Family in Spain, Discovery Plus, Max and weekly on CNN
You may recognize José Andrés as the visionary chef who popularized Spanish cuisine in the United States through restaurants such as Zaytinya (set to open in Palo Alto in 2024), or as the philanthropist whose nonprofit World Central Kitchen provides meals to people affected by natural disasters around the world.
The six-part series “José Andrés in Spain with Family” reveals that he’s also a pretty goofy father, whose knowledge and enthusiasm for Spain and its food rubs off on even his harshest critics: his daughters. Andrés’ adult daughters, Inés and Carlota, respond with the occasional good-natured eye roll or “OK, Dad,” though they’re clearly having a good time, too, as he gushes over each bite at the world-class restaurants the trio visits, many of which are run by his friends.
Each episode focuses on a different region, such as Pastas del Consejo, cookies made for a young prince at a royal bakery in Madrid; Disfrutar, a restaurant by chefs who, like Andrés, previously worked at El Bulli; and a calcot (a vegetable that’s a cross between a spring onion and a leek) barbecue at a vineyard owned by one of Andrés’ friends. The father and daughters investigate local nonfood traditions while traveling, such as human tower-building in Catalonia and flamenco dancing in Andalusia.
This show may just make you want to travel through Spain with your family and eat your way through.
