Here at SBS Food, there is no plate left unturned when it comes to entertaining or simply wrangling your friends and family around a weeknight meal. This hospitality also extends to all those movie buffs and serial bingers, who want their viewing with a side of fries. Well, perhaps not always fries, but snacks or juicy plotlines that revolve around the thing we love most, food!
Luckily, SBS On Demand is doing the stirring by curating food-centric titles to fill each night of the week and let us do the cooking. SBS Food + SBS On Demand = #dreamteam!
Foodie Love
No swiping is required, this one's a match!
Reading between the lines what better way to date than over a meal? Well, hopefully, the food is good if the date doesn't quite hit the mark.
Foodie Love is actually a Spanish romance eight-part drama series that revolves around a dating app dedicated to foodies (not just a clever title!). When a couple in their 30s match in the app, they embark on getting to know each other through the mediums of jamon, ramen and fine dining. While insecurities and doubt come to pass, so too do the scars of their previous relationships. They’ll have to discover if their common devotion to Japanese yuzu, or shared distaste for foodie pretension, will be enough to let them taste true love. Foodie Love really is a homage to years of wining and dining for the self-proclaimed 'food obsessor' and Spanish director herself, Isabel Coixet and we're swiping right for jamon onto our plates in anticipation.
This what you might call Spain on a plate, a sum-up dish of everything we love about Spanish cooking: serrano ham, chorizo, pimentón, tomatoes, garlic and onion. To these basic ingredients I have added green beans and peas; you could also add sliced, cooked new potatoes or chickpeas or the big butter beans called judion. Actually I first tried this in Cádiz and wasn’t particularly knocked out by it, but I love eggs with tomato sauce, so I did a bit of research and came up with my own version.
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown
We've got not one, but 12 seasons of Anthony Bourdain's epic travelogue right here, right now streaming for free. Watch as the late, no-holds-barred celebrity chef and best-selling author travels across the globe to uncover little-known areas of the world and celebrate diverse cultures by exploring food and dining rituals. As the title suggests, you never quite know what you’re going to get with an episode of Parts Unknown and let this series be the background fodder to your Zoom meeting life.
"Life — and travel — leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks — on your body or on your heart — are beautiful. Often though, they hurt." Anthony Bourdain
The Cook Up with Adam Liaw
If you've been lucky enough to be at home weeknights and bask in The Cook Up with Adam Liaw then you know the recipes and banter are legit.
If you haven't, never fear there are still many weeks of recipes and banter to go in our marathon (not a sprint) SBS Food series. Eat, sleep, bake, fry, poach, stir, eat, rpt is just the tip of the iceberg.
The Beach
Filmmaker Warwick Thornton's international success has come at a personal cost. He has reached a crossroads in his life and something has to change. He has chosen to try giving up life in the fast lane for a while, to go it alone, on an isolated beach in one of the most beautiful yet brutal environments in the world, to see if he can transform and heal his life. The Beach, Thornton's mesmerising three-hour documentary film brings together cooking and calm. It is a timely exploration of what happens when he steps outside the hustle and bustle of everyday life to take a reality check. It's a quietly gripping journey of discovery, recovery, and pet chicken therapy.
Wheels On Meals
If Hawker food meets Jackie Chan realness is what you're after then look no further than Wheels on Meals. Two quick-witted vendors come together to sell fast food from their truck in the busy squares of Barcelona and also fight crime (of course). Take a backseat (with a bowl of Hokkien noodles) to a fast and funny escapade with a great dose of action and some seriously good martial arts scenes, one of which is often dubbed as one of the great 'Jackie Chan fight scenes' ever. Action, comedy, Chan's martial arts choreography and food - what's not to love?
"I think what makes a Hokkien noodle dish truly Hokkien is the characteristics of Fujian where its inspirations originated. Travellers from inland came to the coast to start their journeys abroad, and so their noodle dishes combined both meat and seafood with vegetables, along with whatever noodles they found in their adopted lands. It’s a simple recipe that tells an amazing story." Adam Liaw, Destination Flavour China
Toast
Toast is the ultimate nostalgia trip through everything edible in 1960s Britain. Based on the heart-wrenchingly bittersweet story of food writer Nigel Slater's childhood and set to the soundtrack of Dusty Springfield, this is a lovely film that celebrates classic vintage food presentations and wicked kitchen skills. Toast is a scrumptious love letter to the tastes and smells that a young boy embraces through his journey into adulthood. Cue an extra slice of lemon meringue pie for this one... trust us!
Team Chocolate
A young man with Down Syndrome falls in love with one of his colleagues at the small Belgian chocolate factory where they work. When Tina is deported to Kosovo, Jasper and his co-workers, all differently-abled, embark on a road trip to find her. This seven-part series tells a story of love through adversity and over chocolate. Life might often be described as a box of chocolates, but it can also happen while packing it.
"I’m sure there isn’t a single person on the planet who doesn’t love breaking through the lightest of cake crusts into a warm, gooey pot of chocolate. This is my faithful emergency recipe, for the times when I have dinner guests and not enough time to make dessert. It’s easily and quickly executed, even with spectators watching intently!" Poh Ling Yeow, Poh & Co.
The Crow's Egg
Funny, charming and heartfelt, likened to Slumdog Millionaire, The Crow's Egg follows the life of two brothers who live in poverty in the slum of Chennai. When the brothers see an ad for pizza, which coincides with the opening of a nearby pizza shop, they are determined to raise money to fund their wish of grabbing a slice with their own money. So begins a great pizza adventure. Raising the money requires all their ingenuity and some assistance from their friends. But it's not just a question of money, as slum kids, the brothers' relentless efforts to eat pizza, and the frustrations they experience, are a poignant reflection of India in the age of globalisation and aspiration.
Destination Flavour Japan
From the frozen ponds of Hokkaido in the north to the southern multicultural island of Okinawa, follow the much-loved formula of Destination Flavour with SBS Food star, Adam Liaw. Watch as Adam returns to the country that first fired his passion for food while exploring a cuisine that’s constantly evolving – from some of the world’s tastiest and healthiest fast food to a gourmet soup actually made from mountain soil. While you're there, it might also be the gateway to nailing that basic tempura recipe.
Feast to Save the Planet
British MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace and mathematician Dr Hannah Fry take over a restaurant and invite five special guests to enjoy a dinner party with a difference. They will be scored on the environmental impact of every dish they choose and dinner guests will find out the surprising truth about how different foods impact the world we live in. This 60-min documentary puts a dinner party under a microscope and watch to discover top tips to dramatically reduce the impact what we eat has on the planet.
