A Foodie Movie Recommendation: Chef's Table

Regardless if you are a foodie or not, Chef's Table that can be watched on Netflix in many installments, interviews famous chefs from around the world telling their stories of resilience, love for authenticity and often the struggle to maintain a cultural identity through preserving old recipes and techniques.

Famous food creators and chefs from restaurants all over the world that won not only more than once a Michelin star but also offered a completely different view on food are sharing their stories often in a very relaxed casual environment. But in most cases, their stories are nothing but casual.

The reports are made from restaurants from all over the world, the main feature followed being represented by the originality of the chef's story and his or her vision on food, very often based on the personal and family culinary experiences and traditions. Besides interesting life stories and inspiring business ideas, there are a lot of outstanding things to learn about restaurant management, new food techniques and the latest trends in terms of food preparation. The return to natural, organic ingredients is part of many of the chefs featured as well.

This comprehensive documentary is also a proof of a different mark of times: food and its preparation is becoming more and more part of the mainstream and featuring things happening behind the closed doors of the kitchen is part of the everyday media agenda. Also, featuring chefs - many of them women too - is also a relatively new trend. What I really appreciated and made me follow the stories with the highest interest was the human aspect of the stories, from the personal family struggles to the efforts of getting acknowledgement and spending nights and days passionately looking the right composition.

Chef's Table offers very inspiring and tasty visual experiences and would definitely make you consider seeing at least one of those restaurants during the travels around the world. It's make it a good start into the foodie year.    

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With Christiane Amanpour about Sex&Love Around the World

During my years as a journalist, I've enviously followed Christiane Amanpour for her top reports from all over the world's turmoils and her incisive questionning of the international leaders. A couple of days back, I've discovered that the CNN award-winning journalist made at the beginning of this year an interesting documentary about Sex&Love Around the World, and as for the next 12 months I want - among others - to focus more on relationships, I watched it in one sit on Netflix.

Covering Japan, India, China, Ghana, Lebanon and Berlin, the 40-minutes episodes are directly inquiring about relationships and sexual habits - or in some cases, the complete lack of it - the new and old perceptions on intimacy and sexuality. The areas covered are relatively less known outside their world and I was completely surprise to discover through the CNN lenses a completely other image of Lebanon that I ever imagined - I portrayed it as a liberal oasis, but it looked even more than that, outlining the lack of inhibitions among the non-religious youth and their struggle to keep sane in a society of extremes. As I lived for one year in Japan, I am more or less familiar with the relative coldness/sexless life typical for the Japanese couples, while China is a completely new area that regardless how much I read and discover about, remains a big mystery. I personally been a bit disappointed by Berlin, as it rather focused on the weird, respectively the new challenges brought by new immigrants from conservative environments, and the touch of the political journalist was stronger than the lifestyle curiosity.

Despite some shorcomings, I've found fascinated the open minded perspective and the genuine curiosity of asking and answering about intimate questions, the ways in which new generations are questioning the traditional insensitive ways of approaching life, love and relationships of the previous generations. The lack of emotional communication within couples, the coldness and men-focused cultures are - hopefully - living their last decades, as a new type of sensitivity and gender identification and openness is starting to make history. The times have changed and so the people, and there are new sensitivities and human needs that are becoming important, as well as individuals more keen to express their needs and requests than before.

Although the certain cultural and historical perspectives, the cases featured do have an universal character and outline the universal need for love, intimacy and communication. An useful documentary to watch during this festive season because you might learn a lot about yourself and your own needs as well.

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