Netflix’s newest docuseries is one you can binge, but the host would probably advise against it.
The streaming service just announced Cooked, a four-episode show based on award-winning food writer and best-selling author Michael Pollan’s 2013 book by the same title. Like the book, the series will explore different methods of cooking and what their impact has been on human history. And, because Michael Pollan is the host, there will be a strong focus on “return[ing] to the kitchen in order to reclaim lost traditions and restore balance to our lives.”
Get back in the kitchen. New Netflix doc series #Cooked from @michaelpollan arrives Feb. 19 https://t.co/ATsN9PmtEu
— Netflix (@netflix) January 15, 2016
Every episode will take a different natural element—earth, fire, water, and air—and track the role it’s played in our cooking methods throughout human evolution.
According to Eater:
In the “Fire” episode, Pollan will delve into the cross-cultural tradition of barbecue by looking at fire-roasts of monitor lizards in Western Australia and visiting with a barbecue pitmaster; in the “Water” episode, he’ll take lessons from kitchens in India and cover the issues surrounding processed foods.
And so on, studying bread-making in “Air” and fermentation in “Earth.”
Alex Gibney, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (among other great documentaries), serves as the show’s executive producer.
Cooked follows Chef’s Table as the next food-centric docuseries on the streaming network.
Cooked will be available to stream Feb. 19.
H/T Variety | Screengrab via Netflix