To celebrate the release of Elizabeth Carroll’s Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy from this Friday (1 May), here's our rundown of five of the best food and drink documentaries.
FOOD, INC. (2008)
"The way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000."
How much do we know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families? Filmmaker Robert Kenner and investigative authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) lift the veil on the food industry – an industry that has often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihoods of farmers, the safety of workers and our own environment.
EL BULLI: COOKING IN PROGRESS (2010)
"When people arrive at El Bulli, everybody goes through the kitchen. It's a way of making them feel at home. When they leave, the only thing I ask is whether they've been happy. Everything in between, I don't particularly care.”
Ferran Adrià was widely considered one of the greatest, most innovative chef in the world. In his award-winning kitchen, the familiar disintegrated before being reincarnated by his masterly, artistic touch. Each year his legendary restaurant El Bulli - hailed by the culinary world as the best in the world and holder of three Michelin stars - closed for six months while Adrià and his team retired to their Barcelona laboratory to create the coming season's menu. Before shutting its doors permanently in 2011, filmmaker Gereon Wetzel gained unprecedented access to this theatre of culinary dreams, delving under the skin of the most groundbreaking dishes ever created and the team of gastronomic alchemists behind them.
JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI (2011)
"You have to fall in love with your work. Never complain about your job. You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill. That's the secret of success... and is the key to being regarded honourably."
All hail Jiro Ono (now at the ripe old age of 94), the star of Jiro Dreams of Sushi and considered by many to be the world’s greatest sushi chef. He is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. Despite its humble appearances, it is the first restaurant of its kind to be awarded a prestigious three-star Michelin Guide rating, and sushi lovers from around the globe make repeated pilgrimage, calling months in advance and shelling out top dollar for a coveted seat at Jiro’s sushi bar. Pull up a chair for this beautiful, soothing food doc.
SOUR GRAPES (2016)
“Buy ’96 Champagne. All-day. If you can’t afford that, buy ’02. If you can’t afford that, drink fucking beer.”
With pockets full of cash, charisma and a preternatural memory for vintages, an unassuming young Rudy Kurniawan earns the reputation of a wine savant, surrounding himself with some of high society's most fervent wine connoisseurs. But when Bill Koch, a top US collector, and, Laurent Ponsot, a Burgundian wine producer, discover suspicious bottles, a humorous and suspenseful investigation begins into one of the most ingenious cons of our time.
DIANA KENNEDY: NOTHING FANCY (2019)
"I would get on third-class busses and start wandering around Mexico and look at the food in the markets. To me, that was the most exciting part and I thought that is the key to Mexican food and the key to the real life of Mexico coming into the city."
Available to watch at home from this Friday (1 May), Elizabeth Carroll's Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy offers a candid look into the world of 97-year-old British chef and cookbook author Diana Kennedy, widely regarded as the world’s authority on Mexican cuisine. Standing barely five feet tall with a still-thick English accent, Diana is a formidable critic of any individual who doesn’t agree with her subjective views of Mexican culinary traditions, or, God forbid, doesn’t recycle!
Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy is available on demand from Friday 1 May.