Weekend Cooking : Foodies: The Culinary Jet-Setters (Documentary)
Did you know there are food bloggers and then there are food bloggers? I'm not either. You might be the first type, but I wonder if you could also be the second type.
Foodies: The Culinary Jet-Setters. a 2014 documentary from Thomas Jackson, Charlotte Landelius, and Henrik Stockare follow five food bloggers of the second type as they travel the world for the singular purpose of eating at Michelin-starred or exotic restaurants. This is not "extreme eating" or eating local. This is $8000-a person eating; this is peons like us could never even get a reservation eating.
Before I get into my reactions to the bloggers and the lifestyle and the food, I'd like to say bravo to the filmmakers, who captured the culture and the personalities of the two women and three men featured in Foodies. The documentary itself was well filmed and the story was nicely put together.
My only complaint is that these people were billed as bloggers, and we didn't really learn anything about their blogs or their following or how they wrote up their experiences. We did see them eating in fabulous restaurants, talking to the chefs, and taking a lot photos of their food.
Bloggers Andy Hayler, Katie Keiko, Aiste Miseviciute, Perm Paitayawat, and Steven Plotnicki represent the twenty-first-century restaurant critics. Some are wealthy, some are funded, and others live with their parents so they can save enough money to eat their way through Paris, Moscow, Tokyo, and New York. It appears as if they had unlimited resources and connections.
The food was beautiful, one of kind, and sometimes totally way out there (bird brains, anyone?). The presentations, however, are worth your viewing time--tropical forests, smokey globes, mini ice cream cones. But would I spend $5 for a single cherry? I just can't see it. Would I love to spend a zillion dollars for a tasting menu at a three-star restaurant. Maybe, kind of -- I don't know.
A couple things I noticed: This level of food blogging is a lonely business. For most part, travel and meals are solitary experiences. As one of the bloggers said, not too many of her friends are willing to plan an entire overseas vacation around a set schedule of restaurant reservations. In addition, there is no serendipity here -- the dining is planned, reserved, and well thought out.
Perhaps I'm just one of the boring commoners, but when I travel, I like to poke around and discover a fun cafe, a great slice of pie, and a family-owned local favorite. I'm not keen on too tight of a schedule. And more than anything, I like to share my meals with Mr. BFR, friends, and family.
Watch Foodies to get an idea of how the other type of food blogger lives. Aspire for the lifestyle if you can afford it and want it, but I'm pretty sure I'm happy as I am.
Weekend 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.
12 comments:
Oh my, I could never spend that sort of money on a meal. I would like to eat a great meal perhaps at a Michelin rated restaurant, maybe try the cooking of a famous chef one day but wow.....even if I won lots of money I couldn't spend that kinda dough! The video is interesting.
You set these "bloggers" up as having such meaningless lives -- at some point how can anyone stop thinking of hungry people, homeless people, refugees, or whatever? Makes me want to do more research and blog about fighting poverty, or read more about it.
best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Bird brains? No thank you. I'm with you, when we travel I prefer to find restauarants where I know my husband and I will find food that we enjoy. My palate is not as sophisticated as these extreme food bloggers, I would be wasting my money.
Interesting, but I'm with you, I'd rather poke around at the local places and discover new foods/experiences. They lost me with bird brains. Ewwwwh.
Interesting -- totally not something I would ever aspire to, though. Not only too expensive, but too pretentious. They don't represent the norm. Don't most serious restaurant reviewers dine incognito?
Hmm...I am not averse to fine dining but, like you, I am more interested in finding the little out of the way places. This doc does look really interesting, though!
That does look like a lonely way to eat. I wouldn't like everyone standing there watching me take a bite. I know people who travel all over to go to breweries but they're not that bad.
Sounds like a horrid, wasteful lifestyle. Birdbrains. Like you, I think the fun of travel is in the serendipitous discoveries, meeting ordinary people from other places and learning about their countries.
Agree with you completely, would much rather find random places to eat on a whim. That is why we totally hate all inclusive!
Although I enjoy the occasional fine dining experience and I have made plans to visit a particular restaurant during travels that I have heard about or someone has recommended, I am like you in that I would rather poke around and find the little out-of-the-way spots and/or where locals go. Most of my favorite traveling meals are in the little places I've discovered by wandering. It does sound like an interesting documentary though--thanks for sharing. ;-)
Yay, a new foodie doc to watch on Netflix! 🤗 I've never eaten in a Michelin-starred restaurant. But I do admit to planning vacations around places I want to eat (and bookstores I want to visit :)
I like your review of this documentary and I agree with your assessment of the food bloggers. I love the connections between traveling to new places and discovering new foods and new places to eat. But, all of it is so much better when shared with others.
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