Salt Fat Acid Heat (2018)
This documentary series, Salt Fat Acid Heat, follows chef and food writer Samin Nosrat as she travels the world and finds out the four elements that make food delicious: salt, fat, acid, and heat.
Somebody Feed Phil (2018)
The creator of hit comedy show Everybody Loves Raymond, Phil Rosenthal, is in front of the camera for Netflix’s Somebody Feed Phil. In the documentary series, Phil travels the world and eats like the locals there. The series follows her everywhere from Tel Aviv to Bangkok to New Orleans.
Forks Over Knives (2011)
Forks Over Knives explores the possible link between the Western diet and health problems like obesity. It offers information about the potential health benefits of a plant-based diet.
Sour Grapes (2016)
Sour Grapes explains the story of a young man thought to be a wine savant who actually conned investors out of millions of dollars in 2006.
Street Food (2019)
Street Food deep dives into the tradition of street food, and how eating street food is the best way to really get to know a culture in its most authentic way. It gets up close and personal with amazing street food vendors inThailand, India, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam.
Jiro Dreams Of Sushi (2011)
This wild ride of a doc (no, I’m not kidding) follows the now-93-year-old Jiro Ono, who is one of the most renowned sushi chefs in the world. To this day, he helms a 10-seat, $300-a-head restaurant in a Tokyo subway station, as he doesn’t believe his middle-aged son who has apprenticed for him his entire life is ready to take on the business.
What the Health (2017)
This (along with a few of the other documentaries on this list) are a bit more sobering. What the Health is particularly interested in the links between how we eat and the diseases we develop. It’s…a trip.
Rotten (2018)
Netflix describes it as “[traveling] deep into the heart of the food supply chain to reveal unsavory truths and expose hidden forces that shape what we eat.” Do with that what you will.
Barbecue (2017)
An almost two-hour celebration of barbecue around the world. What more could anyone ask for—except for Smell-O-Vision?
Chef’s Table (2015)
Another docuseries that’ll make you cry. It’s just so pretty and moving and nice.
Senior Editor
Tess Koman covers breaking (food) news, opinion pieces, and features on larger happenings in the food world.