Pretentious
What a bunch of pretentious fart sniffers
shareIt's just a different level of appreciation for food. No need for the insults. That's what the world needs less of.
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MovieChat Forums > Chef's Table (2015) Discussion > Pretentious
you beat me to it. I just can't get past the slow motion, romanticizing, idealism. my boyfriend likes it so I sit through it but I end up bursting out laughing or yelling, "c'mon!"
the production team definitely succeeded in producing an arty-farty non-documentary but i will not stand in awe of the chefs composed ostentation.
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I think it's Bourdain who did a series similar to this called mind of a chef, which profiles chefs/restaurants/recipes in a similar manner. I admit sometimes the "artisinal" quality of the dishes reads as pretentious, but i still enjoy seeing a chef's passion.
shareI agree. I'm about half way through this, and enjoying it, and the food is beautifully filmed. I actually looked up a couple of these restaurants, and their prices are INSANE. Blue Stone Farms doesn't even have the prices on the menu. I read an article the other day about the problems the restaurant industry is having right now, and no wonder, in this economy, the average person would never be able to afford to eat at these places!
AVADA KEDAVRA!!!
Haha, so you looked up the very best restaurants in the world, only to be surprised about the price range? What were you expecting? A Happy Meal?
shareLol only on episode 2 but I laughed out loud when the girl brings what looks like a branch to the table and says may i present you a vine with weeds! The look on everyones faces seemed like they thought it looked delicious. Cmon!!! Who wants to eat that crap.
shareSounds more like you've completely missed the point of what they were talking about. Basically, your comments says less about that restaurant and more about you.
"He's about as much use as a marzipan dildo.
I don't know. The production is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. The music is often quite overdramatic for no good reason and they definitely overuse slow-motion effects.
Some of the chefs are indeed quite rude and full of themselves (that Argentinian dude, gosh! Ok his cooking is interesting but get over yourself man) but others seem very nice and relatable. Besides being very talented, the Italian, the Kiwi and the Japanese chefs seemed like they were honest, friendly, hard-working and inspired people, and I have great respect for them and their craft. I also liked that the show had a look at their life and work outside of the kitchen: their respect and dedication for quality local produce, their struggle with balancing personal life and a demanding career, their past failures and how much pressure they put on themselves, etc.
I don't know, I still enjoyed watching this very much. And it's relaxing to watch a cooking show where you just know you'll never cook any of it yourself: you don't feel the need to take notes nor the urge to rush to the kitchen to reproduce what you just saw because it's impossible hehe.
Update: Been watching season 2 and thoroughly enjoying it, especially the Mexican, the Brazilian and the Slovenian chefs. Sympathetic people doing great things, with inspiring takes on not only food and cooking but also culture, nature and life in general.
I don't mind the slow-motion anymore, the photography is really beautiful and deconstructs simple cooking gestures in a way that shows really well how simple things can be superbeautiful.
Ok the music is still a bit too much sometimes but in the Mexican episode they really hit the right note when it was just simple guitar music.
I don't have to relate to or even like the episode's chef to enjoy the show. I find it interesting that these personalities have such a passion and see what they are doing as some kind of art or even a life-source.
Sometimes the show borders on the pretentious, yes, because the direction seems to make one want to believe that everything they are saying has real world value and we should all be in awe of them. To some of the stuff, I simply am not buying into.
And despite some of these facets and the overly brash characters (if you've worked in a kitchen you've probably dealt with stereotypical egomaniac chef), the energy put into making each show is infectious. The shots are really beautiful and I think the slow motion and the fading is a theme that is purposefully shared between episodes to set a tempo.
And the passion each of these chefs, douchey or not, displayed for their 'art' is pretty inspiring, especially considering that I've never felt like that about anything in my life.
Why?
They do what they say. In more than one sense, they're actually putting their money where their mouths are. They live the lives they want. They create not just food, but unforgettable experiences for other people - and themselves.
And all you have to say is they're pretentious.
"He's about as much use as a marzipan dildo.
I so like this comment.
I sometimes use the word pretentious, I admit, and even though I think some of the show borders on it, I am so inspired by how much these people really believe what they are doing, strive to do the best they can, and have become huge successes, both from hard work and that 'pretentious' attitude that the OP is mentioning.
And yes, the music and slow motion is anything but subtle, but it's supposed to be sweeping and artistic. I just finished the show after binge watching both seasons over a couple days and I loved all of that. If these people want a documentary to be a specific style all the time, this is not for them, because a running theme in the show is about chefs who broke the mold and did things their own way. We don't need to sit through a monotone, expressionless film (love a lot of those type documentaries too) in order to deem it legitimate.
And we don't need to agree with every message or be floored by every dish to not deem it pretentious.
Most people have a passion for something, whether it's food, or anime, or car engines, etc. Just because it's different than what it is you have a passion for doesn't mean it's pretentious. I have seen plenty of grease monkeys look at a person like they are complete morons because they don't know how to change their oil.
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