27 February 2016

Weekend Cooking: Cooked (Film Series)

Weekend Cooking hosted by www.BethFishReads.comWeekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.

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Cooked: documentary series from Michael PollanDid you know that Michael Pollan (Food Rules, The Omnivore's Dilemma) has a new documentary series called Cooked airing on Netflix? Season 1 consists of four hour-long films and they are available for streaming now.

Cooked looks at one of the most human of activities: cooking food. In the first episode, "Fire" (the only one I've seen so far), Pollan examines humankind's close link with fire, not only as our most basic form of food prep but also our instinctual draw to sit around the fire and trade stories.

Besides talking to experts, such as an anthropologist and food scientist, Pollan talks with everyday people who are involved intimately with their food. We go to western Australia, where we see how one family engages in very traditional hunting and cooking. Then we go to the American South and learn about southern barbecue and watch a pit master at work. We also get a glimpse of backyard urban ingenuity for slow roasting meat in a makeshift oven. Along the way we also meet some pigs and their people.

Cooked, at least the episode I watched, is not meant to knock you over the head with politics or shocking stats. Instead, the film helps us connect to our food and the longstanding cultural traditions that make us who we are. The film gave me a few things to think about and made me incredibly glad I live in area with a half dozen farmers markets and many local food producers. Plus I enjoyed meeting the people Pollan talked to.

Tonight I'll be binge watching the other three episodes, titled (no surprise) "Water," "Air," and "Earth." The other films focus on different parts of the world and different parts of our diet. While "Fire" was meat-centric, the other episodes have segments on bread, cheese, chocolate, and vegetables.

Take a look at the trailer to get a feel for what you'll see.


18 comments:

Mae Travels 2/27/16, 7:15 AM  

Michael Pollan is a great author, and I enjoyed "Cooked" the book, some chapters more than others. I'm looking forward to the Netflix special -- interviews where the informants speak for themselves sound really good. Thanks for the review!

best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

Heather 2/27/16, 7:36 AM  

I watched the first episode this week and really enjoyed it. I can't wait to watch the rest.

Molly 2/27/16, 8:13 AM  

My children love documentaries and both are very interested in whole, clean eating. I will pass this along to them for their weekend viewing pleasure :)

bermudaonion 2/27/16, 8:14 AM  

I bet Carl would love this!

jama 2/27/16, 8:33 AM  

Thanks for the heads up! Didn't know about this series. :)

Amanda 2/27/16, 8:44 AM  

I've read the book of Cooked, but didn't realize there was a video series version now - cool!

Jackie McGuinness 2/27/16, 9:20 AM  

I will also look out for this series!!

Katherine P 2/27/16, 9:43 AM  

This sounds great! I love what I've seen of Pollan and I think I'd really enjoy this. Thanks for sharing!

Margot 2/27/16, 10:54 AM  

This reminds me that I haven't read Cooked yet. It's still sitting on my shelf. The documentary format appeals to me so I will probably see it before I get to the book. I'm glad you brought this to our attention.

Deb in Hawaii 2/27/16, 12:19 PM  

These are on my list to watch as I am a big Michael Pollan fan and love the intersection of food and culture/traditions.

rhapsodyinbooks 2/27/16, 3:42 PM  

I have the book but haven't read it yet. The show sounds interesting.

Karen 2/28/16, 8:27 AM  

I didn't know he had a series either! Thanks for the heads-up.

Andi 2/28/16, 10:04 AM  

I was just telling my husband about Cooked! Greyson is home with us this weekend so there' isn't a whole lot of TV happening (aside from Ninja Turtles), but we'll probably binge this next weekend.

Jan 2/28/16, 11:13 AM  

This sounds really interesting and I hadn't heard about it before so thanks! I'm going to check it out on Netflix.

Karen White 2/28/16, 2:33 PM  

I gave my husband COOKED the book for Christmas - we've read his other books - but I didn't know about this series. The trailer made me cry!

Heidenkind 2/28/16, 11:20 PM  

Cool, I just finished binge watching A Chef's Life and am looking for another foodie show to watch!

Laurie C 2/29/16, 7:16 AM  

I don't like documentaries that much, but just watched WordPlay last night which I had always meant to watch (about annual crossword puzzle tournament run by Will Shortz).

pam 3/2/16, 7:44 PM  

I keep meaning to watch this!

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