The streaming boom turned unscripted food television into prestige entertainment; the fractured media landscape that followed may be dismantling it. (Photo by Dennis Hallinan/Getty Images.)

S ix years ago, when most of the population was couch-bound during the pandemic, lovers of food television were flush with choices for thoughtful, well-made programs to watch. On Netflix alone, Chef’s Table had just released its sixth season in 2019, and its special offshoot series dedicated to the art of barbecue was released in 2020. Two complete seasons of Somebody Feed Phil were released in 2020, as was season two of David Chang’s Ugly Delicious as well as the second season of The Taco Chronicles. As the pandemic hit its year-mark, the streaming service released High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America in spring of 2021. 

This was a time when Netflix was releasing one documentary or docuseries per week, though not all were food-related. Studio executives of the streaming era refer to this time as the golden age of documentary, as streaming services gladly approved big budgets for high-end and often experimental projects, catching on to what viewers responded to. Still in thrall to the runaway success of Chef’s Table (Netflix doesn’t publicly release viewership numbers, but the early popularity of the show is considered a landmark for the category, gaining so much notoriety the show was eventually parodied on The Simpsons), Netflix was eager to greenlight more projects that might mimic its success.

“I think food TV is in a moment of trying to figure out what comes next,” Chef’s Table’s producer, Brian McGinn, told me. “There’s no easy sell anymore.”
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