其他
Food Documentaries to Inspire Your Quarantine Diet
When ordering overpriced fresh produce online is getting harder than purchasing discounted goods on 11.11, and we've already made all our trusty home recipes three times this week, it's only natural that we're craving something with a little more oomph.
So when you're not venturing out to those venues still open for business or taking advantage of the restaurants providing delivery services, why not crawl into your bed and find some inspiration and add a little variety to your diet with these free food documentaries.
Click "Read More" for the links to the videosGranny Knows Best (奶奶最懂得)
For millions of people in China, the most nostalgic flavor of all, rooted deep in their memories of youth, is the taste of their granny's cooking, not their mother's. That's because a large proportion of people born in China between the late 1970s and 2010s were raised by their grandparents while their parents were out working full-time. In Granny Knows Best, Jamie Bibow, a Hong-Kong-born, Britain-raised chef and television producer sets out on a journey across eight different Chinese provinces to learn the secret recipes of 16 Chinese grannies. The dishes he discovers are mouthwatering for sure, but what really makes this series charming is the obvious care and affection between these grannies and their 'temporary grandson' Bibow. Despite the differences in cultural background, age, and even cooking habits, each participant bonds over their shared love of cooking and the warm, communal meals that it provides.
Chuan'r is alien to most people who have never been to China but for visitors it soon becomes a central pillar to the Chinese dining experience. Why does this simple street food hold so much power? That's exactly what the Story of Chuan'r attempts to shed light on, and does so by espousing the usual "chilled-out cooking vibe" of many food documentaries, opting instead to cover as much ground as possible, visiting over 500 chuan'r restaurants and sellers in more than 30 cities. The result is a feast for chuan'r lovers and one of the most comprehensive looks at why this seemingly simple cuisine has captured the hearts of so many.
Legend of Fruit (水果传)
It's not hard to find people with idiosyncratic dietary restrictions in this day and age, but have you ever met somebody who shunned fruit? That would be a tall order indeed, given the mind-blowing array of varieties that are out there. In Legend of Fruit, the filmmakers approach fruit from both a biological and cultural perspective, educating the viewer about their various nutritional values, history, and means of cultivation coupled with beautiful cinematography along the way.
Once Upon a Bite (风味人间)
Whether you fancy yourself a Chinese food expert or just want to understand this vast country a bit better, Once Upon A Bite stands out from the rest the documentaries here for taking a unique look at Chinese culinary culture against a global and historical backdrop. From the same director of A Bite of China, Chen Xiaoping, Once Upon a Bite can be seen as his personal "Michelin Guide," with him and his crew searching high and low to present us the best food China has to offer, satisfying both our tastebuds and curiosity.
Salt For Life (生命之盐)
Now a fundamental kitchen commodity, it's easy to forget how exotic, valuable, and world-changing salt has been for the world's dining landscape. In each episode of Salt For Life, we learn how different civilizations around the planet were changed and nurtured by this "familiar stranger" as it made it's way across continents and into our shopping carts.
READ: Exhausted Netflix? Catch Up on the Best Chinese Content it Has to Offer
Images: kaohongshu.blog, courtesy of the production companies
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