The chef life is so dramatic that it makes for great viewing, even from afar. With a great food documentary, you get all that intensity, but don’t have to carry it with you beyond the two-hour running time. Better, many of these great films educate and show just how rigorous the lifestyle can be, whether you’re a Michelin-star contender or just trying to make it in the world of wine.
This list of 17 is intended to entertain and inform. We’ve assembled a nice mix that shows both what life is like behind the kitchen doors of major restaurants, and the many problems facing our various food supply chains. You’ll learn, you’ll get a little hungry, you’ll want to change your diet—it’ll all happen. We suggest getting comfortable, putting on the tea or whipping up your favorite nightcap, and get watching.
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Bon appetit!
82m
Genre
Documentary
Stars
Jiro Ono, Masuhiro Yamamoto, Yoshikazu Ono
Directed by
David Gelb
Our all-time favorite food documentary follows the life of Jiro Ono, an 85-year-old sushi chef considered the best in the world. His small 10-seat restaurant is located within a subway station, serves a set course, and can take months to get reservations. It was the first establishment of its kind to gain a three-star Michelin Guide rating. Both the visuals and the story arch are stunning, mimicking Jiro’s constant pursuit of perfection. Have a sashimi takeout menu close at hand.
100m
Genre
Documentary
Stars
Morgan Spurlock, Daryl Isaacs, Lisa Ganjhu
Directed by
Morgan Spurlock
In summary: You’ll never want to eat McDonald’s again (or you’ll want to immediately go to McDonald’s … it’s a toss-up). This 2004 documentary sealed Morgan Spurlock into the guild of iconic documentarians. The concept was simple: Eat only McDonalds for a month — breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert — and see how your health changes. Spurlock’s social experiment was simultaneously a cultural break-check on the role corporate giants have on American lives and health, particularly the obesity epidemic.
100m
Genre
Documentary
Stars
Claus Meyer, René Redzepi
Directed by
Pierre Deschamps
Located in Copenhagen, Noma has been named the best restaurant in the world. The title changed everything, especially for chef René Redzepi, who finds himself stuck between creating tranquil, brilliant meals and the scattered, frustrated anxiety of staying on top. Some of the sublime dishes you’ll see include bread and grilled roses, crispy reindeer moss, and wild blueberry and ants.
97m
Genre
Documentary
Stars
Kip Andersen, Larry Baldwin, Neal Barnard
Directed by
Keegan Kuhn, Kip Andersen
Attempting to seek out a dietary approach to prevent and reverse chronic disease (OK, we’re down), filmmaker Kip Andersen traces the smoking gun back to animal products. The pro-vegan film prompted us to take a good look at our meat/cheese/dairy consumption and test out healthier swaps. It’s huge when a food documentary physically makes you get up from the couch and seek out a healthier diet. However, many of the claims, such as eggs being as bad as cigarettes, have been called out as bologna. As with all docs, it goes without saying take everything with a grain of salt, but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
86m
Genre
Documentary
Stars
Rudy Kurniawan, Laurent Ponsot, Bill Koch
Directed by
Jerry Rothwell, Reuben Atlas
Not technically a food when finished, but we’re putting it on here, anyway. Sour Grapes is a 100% Rotten Tomatoes-rated documentary about wine. And damn, it’s exciting. Following the legend of the Gen-X Great Gatsby, a young wine savant who conned investors out of millions of dollars in “the world’s greatest wine fraud.”
88m
Genre
Documentary
Stars
Ian Cheney, Curtis Ellis, Earl L. Butz
Directed by
Aaron Woolf
In what this movie calls “America’s best-kept secret,” corn is discovered to be in absolutely everything, namely in the United States. King Corn is a unique and daunting look into America’s food industry, focusing on the amount of corn produced versus where it all actually goes and how it affects our health. As two friends go on a journey to investigate the food industry, based on just a bit of land full of corn, they discover the harrowing truth about this country’s base for food production. Pumped into canned foods, frozen foods, fast foods, soda, and even salad dressings, this film also states that “Lots of corn means the raw material for an overweight society,” commenting on the dire need for change in the industry.
97m
Genre
Documentary
Stars
Damon Gameau, Stephen Fry, Brenton Thwaites
Directed by
Damon Gameau
Deep down we know sugar is bad for us, but Australian documentarian Damon Gameau is reminding us just how wicked the sweet stuff is (we promise you will be disturbed). Using himself as a test rat, Gameau adopts a low-fat, high-sugar diet equivalent to 40 teaspoons of sugar a day. The result: He feels like crap. Expert interviews delve into the molecular level of sugar calories and how they work (or more correctly, how they don’t work), and uncover the insane amount of sugar hiding in everyday foods, which are added to reach the “bliss point” that makes food more desirable.
95m
Genre
Documentary
Stars
Katie Couric, Michael Pollan, Bill Clinton
Directed by
Stephanie Soechtig
If you weren’t already convinced every ailment the human species has can be traced back to food, well buckle up. Fed Up is hard-hitting, fact-focused, and packs a “holy $#&!” moment every couple of minutes. American journalist Katie Couric investigates why childhood obesity has become an epidemic. We’ll give you two hints: The “fat-free” movement and the libel of food labels.
104m
Genre
Documentary, Adventure
Directed by
Deborah Koons
When we think of food documentaries, we think of, well, food. And chefs and restaurants and grocery stores. But hardly ever the soil. Symphony of the Soil explores the relationship between soil, plants, and animals, highlighting the virtues of organic farming and experts who have made their lives around getting dirty growing soil to grow plants. If you don’t normally like foreign or subtitled films, this slow-moving, molecular-detailed doc might not be your pace.
90m
Genre
Documentary
Stars
Kip Andersen
Directed by
Keegan Kuhn, Kip Andersen
Addressing the corporate presence in the way we eat and live, Cowspiracy is a shocking look inside the industry that told us for generations how we should (or how they want) us to eat. From breaking down the food pyramid to insights into the meat and dairy industry, this documentary experience is sure to make you question what effect the food you eat has on the health of your body and Earth itself. Focused on the American food industry, a man goes in search of truth, whether willingly provided or pried from their reluctant mouths, he gets some jarring answers to the posed inquiries. After watching this one, you may just want to go vegan.
76m
Genre
Documentary
Stars
T. Colin Campbell, Brian Flegel, Joel Fuhrman
Directed by
Marisa Miller Wolfson
Three meat-and-cheese-loving New Yorkers are thrust into a vegan diet. That means faux meat, zero eggs, and adios butter. During their six-week “vegucation” trial, the three get a lesson in Factory Farming 101, exposing the largely inhumane treatment of animals. We’re not saying you should be a vegan, but we are saying know what happened to your meat for it to reach your plate because that’s what it means to be a real man. A little rough around the edges, this doc will get you #woke.
93m
Genre
Documentary
Stars
Bo Barrett, Shayn Bjornholm, Dave Cauble
Directed by
Jason Wise
Do you know every single wine on the planet? These guys do. Four wine stewards study for the Master Sommelier Exam to earn the highest level of recognition for a Sommelier: The Master Sommelier diploma. However, the test is one of the world’s most difficult exams, not to mention it’s presided over by a notoriously selective Court of Master Sommeliers. For a taste, Somm shows how the exam covers all aspects of the world and industry of wine, beer, spirits/cocktails, and hospitality from a business, service, and philosophy. Did we mention the typical pass rate is 3% to 8%? So yeah, there are some breakdowns.
91m
Genre
Documentary
Stars
Alice Waters, Marion Nestle, Michael Pollan
Directed by
Christopher Taylor
Focusing on corporate food company mergers, the United States Farm Bill, and profit over product quality, Food Fight quickly becomes a quirky, optimistic look at how people and their personal choices are slowly evolving the industry. Posed as a food revolution, this documentary contains multitudinous quotes from regular people, urging the audience to shop, eat, and dine local as a middle finger to the man. This film reintroduces culinary excellence in the form of quality farmed foods and the love of local chefs, reminding us of the delicious potential that our foods already carry without all those harmful additives we’ve become so accustomed to.
96m
Genre
Documentary
Stars
Emeril Lagasse, Paul Prudhomme, Drew Nieporent
Directed by
Leslie Iwerks
Forget Julia Child. Southern icon Ella Brennan was the true queen of food and a household name in the industry that you’ve probably never heard of. She was a celebrity restaurateur before there were celebrity chefs. Now, big names like Emeril Lagasse, Daniel Boulud, Jeremiah Tower, and Tory McPhail give us a glimpse of this vibrant, smart, food-loving matriarch of Creole fare.
94m
Genre
Documentary
Stars
Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, Richard Lobb
Directed by
Robert Kenner
This doc peels the lid off the obscene power modern-day food companies hold, which operate under the decree of faster, fatter, bigger, cheaper, and how the supermarket is a land field of heavily processed, corn-based, food-like items. Also, the government and food industries are largely corrupt, and healthy food is intentionally harder to buy, and … just spare us the struggle and watch it. One of the best (and most eye-opening documentaries) every American should watch.
95m
Genre
Documentary
Directed by
Mark Helenowski, Kevin Pang
This 2015 documentary follows chef Curtis Duffy as he turns his Chicago restaurant, Grace, into the most sought-after dining experience in the country. You’ll be asking why it never fell onto your plate earlier. Watch as the Michelin-starred Duffy builds Grace literally from the ground up, designing his own kitchen, toys, and menu. Even more surprising is a look at the intense tragedies that defined Duffy’s youth and how they make him the last person you’d expect to be as successful and kind as the chef of Grace. This one is pretty damn inspiring and uplifting.
66m
Genre
Documentary
Stars
Heston Blumenthal, Daniel Boulud, Frank Bruni
Directed by
Sally Rowe
At only 24 years old, Paul Liebrandt became the youngest chef in history to receive a three-star rating from The New York Times for his hyper-modern dishes such as espuma of calf brains and foie gras. A Matter of Taste shows how Liebrandt did what no one thought possible to do with food (while also seeing a certain wildness that landed him either on the most-hated or most-loved list for critics). The 2011 documentary follows Liebrandt through fame, the creation process, unemployment, and gives a provoking look at the cutthroat world of haute cuisine in New York City.
Too hungry now? Why not watch something a little less food-focused by checking out the best documentaries streaming on Netflix.
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