These are boom times for lovers of beautiful documentaries about tremendously talented, existentially enlightened chefs. The phenomenon gained steam with the worldwide success of Jiro Dreams of Sushi, which spun off the Chef’s Table series, and now everyone’s Netflix recommendations are filled with these films: Noma: My Perfect Storm, For Grace, Entre le Bras, Spinning Plates, and on and on. This is prestige food porn, and, as is always the case with porn, a parody was inevitable. Last night’s episode of Documentary Now!, the IFC series from Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, and Seth Meyers, was that parody, and it’s a more or less perfect encapsulation of everything that’s right, and wrong, with the genre. Juan Likes Rice & Chicken, the title of the faux doc, follows the chef and owner of a remote restaurant in Colombia — “a 40-minute walk from the nearest road” — who has earned three Michelin stars on the strength of his rice and chicken. The restaurant offers just one set menu: “warm coffee,” a halved banana, rice with butter, and, “most days,” chicken.

Juan, of course, is also nearing retirement and wondering if his son Arturo has what it takes to carry on the family legacy. In 22 minutes, the episode nails every trope of prestige food porn: the ridiculously isolated restaurant, the chef’s unyielding devotion to the craft (Juan, we learn, “hasn’t missed a day of work in 35 years; he’s had three heart attacks, and each time he toughed it out and didn’t go to the hospital until the last customer left”); the reluctant son taking over for his famous father; horrible American foodie tourists; trips to the local produce market; arcane cooking techniques that raise the food to near-mythic levels of deliciousness; so much slow-motion footage; a soundtrack pulled from Classical Music for Dummies; and a cameo by David Chang. There is also a lot of pontificating. Anyone who’s watched Chef’s Table, or Jiro, or any of the Noma documentaries knows that navel-gazing is as much a part of these films as sea-urchin beauty shots.

It’s as if chefs like Dominique Crenn and Alain Passard do nothing else but sit around all day dreaming up new ways to express themselves through beets and salmon. These people are undeniably talented and driven, but it’s as if the featured chefs have never had to examine a P&L, or fix a broken sink. (Granted, chefs on the level of Dominique Crenn probably have people who call the plumber for them — but still, it’s something you’ve got to deal with.) Instead, these documentaries present the same story in different shades: chef as virtuoso. Critics, food writers, and fellow kitchen professionals sing the subjects’ praises, the chefs stare off into the distance and talk pointedly about the way childhood beach trips inspired a signature langoustine dish (or whatever), and then we see all the beautiful food porn. Lay down some Vivaldi, throw in a few breathtaking landscape shots, and you’ve got a solid hour of entertainment. That this is so far removed from the reality of running a high-caliber restaurant is obvious, but it’s also an excellent fantasy for chefs to project if they want to charge couples $1,000 to eat dinner.

it’s the work of a genius. Besides, the format works. It even works in a fictional documentary about chicken and rice that isn’t too far off from reality. Juan’s joke is the obsession over such a simple dish. It isn’t much different from poor Daisuke Nakazawa devoting his life to the perfect omelette in Jiro. All of this introspection is simultaneously the most compelling and most insufferable part of these documentaries. buy a gift yo sushiOn one hand, it’s like, Come on — it’s an omelette. jiro dreams of sushi germanyBut without the struggle, all that’s left is the drudgery of kitchen labor, which is probably not the most exciting subject matter for a TV show.where to buy sushi robot machine

Three decades ago, the only way the world’s best chefs got on television was through something like Great Chefs, the prestige-food-porn forebear that aired basically forever and always featured hypertalented chefs mundanely cooking exquisite food in stark, utilitarian kitchens. That show is not without its charms — Alain Passard’s truffle-and-Parmesan “fondant” for two is still awesome — and Mary Lou Conroy’s narration remains mesmerizingly deadpan. ichiban sushi menu priceBut, like foie gras wrapped in little cabbage envelopes, the format is too antiquated to be taken seriously in these boundary-pushing culinary times. how to eat sushi low carbThat’s humorous in its own way, but not quite as funny as Juan Likes Rice & Chicken.where to buy toro sushi

There is so much to learn about food that it can be a struggle to figure out where to start. While you’re making up your mind, there are a few online views that might open your eyes to the food industry and what makes it tick. David Gelb’s six episode series Chef’s Table (2015) was created for Netflix, and focuses on one chef, outstanding in their field, per episode. Not only does the food look magnificent, thanks to slow-motion shots of various hands working their magic as dishes come together, Gelb also captures the thread of obsessive personality traits that run through each of his subjects. sushi delivery london kensingtonDan Barber of Blue Hill Restaurant in New York throws a tantrum about imperfection in his kitchen, while a young chef scurries out of the boss’s path of wrath. A sous chef looks like he is going to explode when Magnus Nilsson at Fäviken in the wilderness of Sweden chides him over a small error.

Niki Nakayama of N/Naka Restaurant in Los Angeles, the only woman out of the six, is more reserved than her peers. As she talks about her craft, she reveals herself as a quiet master in pursuit of perfection. If you’re afraid of bees, you should probably watch More Than Honey (2013, available on Netflix) by Swiss director Markus Imhoof. The stunningly shot close-ups of hives and buzzing bees might make you squeamish at first, but pretty soon you’ll see that they are the heroes of the piece. When you find out how they’ve been dying all over the world, and how that affects our food, you are likely to develop a new appreciation of these workers who help pollinate our eco-system. It’s a terrifying look into the consequences of introducing unsustainable man-made chemicals and processes into the natural world. Einstein is quoted in the film as saying “If bees disappeared, man would only have four years to live.” This is far scarier than any horror movie, because it’s real life.

For little nuggets of food exploration, the Chew on This Ted Talks (2012, available on Netflix) is a collection of 14 talks delivered between 2008 and 2011. Jamie Oliver angrily and admirably takes on obesity in America in the opening episode. Dan Barber from Blue Hill Farm is a calmer version of himself outside of the kitchen, talking about sustainable fishing in his talk How I Fell In Love With Fish, and how “for the last 50 years, we’ve been fishing our seas in the way we clear cut forests”. Perhaps the most interesting talk in the series is How Food Shapes Our Cities by architect Carolyn Steel. She outlines the relationship between agriculture and urbanism, systems that have been bound together since the invention of grain in the fertile crescent 10,000 years ago. Steel is author of Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives (2013), a fantastic read for those interested in food’s influence on society’s patterns. Ann Cooper, known as The Renegade Lunch Lady, also features in this collection.

She talks passionately about the perils of the American school lunch system, and what she has done to change that. “My thing with school lunch is it’s a social justice issue,” she shouts at the crowd. “I put salad bars into schools. Everyone said it couldn’t be done. Everyone said kids wouldn’t eat it or the bigger kids would spit into them. For a shorter watch, the 10-minute documentary Seeding Fear (2015, available on YouTube) tells the story of Michael White and his father Wayne, who was sued by the multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation Monsanto for allegedly saving their patented soya beans. The film was co-produced by Bernard Shakey, otherwise known as Neil Young. It accompanied the release of his album The Monsanto Years earlier this year, and acts as an opening explanation to the inspiration behind the album, as well as an insight into the problematic relationship between food corporations and farmers. Though the graphics may have dated since its release seven years ago, Food, Inc (2008, available on Netflix) still has a potent message to share about the way we eat.

Director Robert Kenner outlines the dramatic changes the farming industry underwent in the second half of the 20th century and how that is impacted the health of our planet and its animals, including ourselves. Narrated by Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, the complex workings of the US factory farming industry, the corporations controlling our food and the government policies that protect them are unveiled in this documentary. As one farmer says, “everything we’ve done in modern agriculture is to grow faster, fatter, bigger, cheaper.” But at what cost to the planet? The film does offer alternatives to this grim picture of modern agriculture. One of the unintentional stars of the piece is unintentional hipster farmer Joel Salatin, who outlines his environmentally friendly farming practices in his third- generation farm Polyface in Virginia while sporting NHS glasses and a Stetson. The viewer is encouraged to take action by shopping local And, finally back to David Gelb, the director of Chef’s Table.