Season 6, Episode 1 (2020)
Pupule rating: 4.0 (out of 4)
Netflix
I am often last to the fun. Owned a flip phone until 2015 or so. Wish I’d had an iPhone 10 years earlier.
Didn’t bother with Netflix until the pandemic began. Now I realize I missed years of great viewing. Chef’s Table brings me back to “Like Water for Chocolate”, but 10x to 100x more powerful because of real people, food from roots to the table, the joy and wonder, the sacrifice and borderline self-destruction — and obsession — in some of these chefs.
The story of Cristina Martinez, crossing the hellacious desert, finding work in Philadelphia and living the American Dream is powerful enough. But it is much more in the lens of this director and cinematographer. I’ve seen only three episodes, and each pulled me in to the very core and soul of these men and women. Her skill and determination to recreate the barbacoa tacos of her hometown, growing actual Mexican corn, crafting barbacoa, landed her restaurant on the Bon Appetit Top 10 new restaurants list in 2016.
Martinez is married to an American, applied for a green card and learned that she is ineligible, a non-qualifier. As of today, June 18, the Supreme Court ruled that the president cannot deport children of immigrants. DACA is a step in the right direction for millions of hard-working people and their kids.
As for Chef’s Table, I don’t know how I missed the first five seasons, but that gives me something to anticipate and relish. They have taken this genre to an entirely new level.
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