In restaurant kitchens, tight quarters, high pressure and hot tempers combine to create toxic conditions that make it difficult for anyone to survive, let alone climb the ladder to head chef. For women, the situation is even worse. Running a successful restaurant is a daunting challenge, even more so when the odds are stacked against you. But as women take charge at more of the world's top dining establishments, a cultural shift is dismantling the macho environment that made celebrities out of "bad boy" chefs. From New York City's star chefs Anita Lo and Amanda Cohen to the queen of French cuisine Anne-Sophie Pic, seven chefs share their struggles to overcome a system of inequality and harassment while delivering delicious dishes and redefining the dining experience. An appetite for change has taken hold and there's no turning back
After years of overproduction, the Reagan administration unloads over 500 million pounds of surplus cheese on the American public in the 1980s. The pungent dairy product comes to be known as 'Government Cheese.'
Every great cook secretly believes in the power of food. Alice Waters just believes this more than anybody else. She is certain that we are what we eat, and she has made it her mission in life to make sure that people eat beautifully. Waters is creating a food revolution, even if she has to do it one meal at a time.
Every year at Christmas, the women of the Slavonian Ladies' Auxiliary celebrate their culinary heritage by getting together to make pusharatas (a type of Croatian doughnut) for the people of Biloxi, Mississippi.
In the wake of "Mondovino", this film offers new research on the world of cheese, through a work of investigation and discovery in various parts of France, but also Italy and the United States. It highlights two clashing worlds: on one side the taste of defenders and diversity, the other multinational companies, supermarkets and proponents of food globalization. The "stinky cheese" has become an iconic element in the debate on the French exception, globalization, industrial food and the environment.
Marcella Hazan didn’t just teach Italian cooking—she changed the way America eats. Fearless, passionate, and exacting, she introduced authentic recipes to millions. Julia Child called Marcella “my mentor in all things Italian.” Featuring Jacques Pépin, Danny Meyer, April Bloomfield, and Lidia Bastianich, this intimate portrait reveals the bold woman who forever shaped home kitchens.
The collar awarded to the winners of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman in France) is more than the ultimate recognition for every pastry chef - it is a dream and an obsession. The 3-day competition includes everything from delicate chocolates to precarious six foot sugar sculptures and requires that the chefs have extraordinary skill, nerves of steel and luck. The film follows Jacquy Pfeiffer, founder of The French Pastry School in Chicago, as he returns to France to compete against 15 of France's leading pastry chefs. The filmmakers were given first time/exclusive access to this high-stakes drama of passion, sacrifice, disappointment and joy in the quest to have President Sarkozy declare them one of the best in France.
Concerned about the declining health of people all around them, Native American women are sparking physical and spiritual rejuvenation through reclaiming traditional foodways.
When asked to make a documentary about her friend’s mother—a Parisian astrologer named Juliane—the filmmaker sets off for Montmartre with a Bolex to craft a portrait of an infectiously exuberant personality and the pre-war apartment she’s called home for 50 years.
Culinary artist Nomi Shannon shows us how to use nuts and seeds to make hearty entrees and protein-rich meals. Nomi demonstrates how to make nori rolls, stuffed peppers, 'neat-balls' and gravy, Asian pate, chiles rellenos, pâté, loaves and the sun garden burger.
Through the unrelenting winter in the north of Japan, a small group of workers must brave unusual working conditions to bring to life a 2,000-year-old tradition known as sake. A cinematic documentary, The Birth of Sake is a visually immersive experience of an almost-secret world in which large sacrifices must be made for the survival of a time-honored brew.
Two elderly sisters share the delicate art of making traditional Hungarian strudel and reveal a deeply personal family story about their mother, who taught them everything they know.
Cooking and dining with Anthony Bourdain! Europe - 6 episodes Arachon, France, the birthplace of Tony's father, was the first place Tony learned to love food. Tony revisits his childhood and enjoys many staples, including steak frites, gaufres (waffles), and soupe de pecheur (fisherman's soup). Other episodes include A Pleasing Palate (London) and Highland Grub (Scotland). The #1 food writer and television presenter in the world, Anthony Bourdain reinvented the food travel genre. In his groundbreaking first series, that originally aired on the Food Network, Bourdain travels around the world indulging his taste for local cuisine and eccentric characters. Join Tony as he feasts on sushi in Tokyo, enjoys authentic Mexican cuisine, and traverses the Australian Outback on a memorable food journey. You never know what he'll say, who he'll meet, or what they'll have for dinner.
Soul explores the secrets of gastronomy where two cuisines apparently so opposite in their philosophy, conception and experience, have both earned the highest culinary recognition, three Michelin stars.
Food in the 21st century has become much more than “meat and potatoes” and canned soup casseroles.” Chefs have gained celebrity status; recipes and exotic ingredients, once impossible to find, are now just a mouse click away; and the country's major cities are better known for their gastronomy than their art galleries. This food movement can be traced back to one man: James Beard. His name graces the highest culinary honor in the American food world today—the James Beard Foundation Awards. And while chefs all around the country aspire to win a James Beard Award, often referred to as the “culinary Oscars,” many of those same chefs know very little about the man behind the medal. Respected restaurateur Drew Nieporent summed it up when he said, “Everybody knows the name James Beard. They may not know who he is, but they know the name.”
Chef André Chiang is returning his Michelin stars, and has publicly declared that he is returning to his roots after 30 years. What would make him do so? How does the perfectionist define success? What haunts him at night? Following Chef André weeks before he officially closes his restaurant, we chart his emotional journey, and dive into nostalgic elements of his life. From how he first fell in love with cooking as a result of his mother’s influence, to the challenges that he faced when he first learnt cooking in France, we tell the story of a passionate and determined individual, now ready for the next season of his life.
Founded in 1930, Troisgros has held three Michelin stars for 55 years. The children of the fourth generation, Marie-Pierre and Michel's sons are continuing the family business: César runs the Michelin-starred restaurant, "Le Bois sans feuilles" ("The Leafless Wood"), and Léo is in charge of one of the other two Troisgros restaurants, "La Colline du colombier" ("The Dovecote Hill"). From the daily market to the cheese maturing cellars, via the vineyard, the cattle farm and the vegetable garden adjacent to the restaurant, Menus-Plaisirs is an intimate, sensory journey through the kitchens of one of the world's most prestigious restaurants.
Documentary about making cheese in the Netherlands.
Somm takes the viewer on a humorous, emotional and illuminating look into the mysterious world of the Court of Master Sommeliers and their massively intimidating Master Sommelier Exam.
Documentary wants to be a call to recognize and enhance the best gastronomic-tourist tradition of our coast, the espeto, personified in its master of ceremonies, Manolín Gallardo.