52 minSeason 1 • Episode 4
LatestDiscover how microbes help turn raw ingredients into delicacies like chocolate and cheese as Pollan tackles the mysterious process of fermentation.
Explored through the lenses of the four natural elements – fire, water, air and earth – COOKED is an enlightening and compelling look at the evolution of what food means to us through the history of food preparation and its universal ability to connect us. Highlighting our primal human need to cook, the series urges a return to the kitchen to reclaim our lost traditions and to forge a deeper, more meaningful connection to the ingredients and cooking techniques that we use to nourish ourselves.
Direction
Alex Gibney makes sourdough feel like thriller cinema.
Cinematography
Close-ups so intimate you'll smell the bread through the screen.
Writing
Pollan's narration turns grocery shopping into existential philosophy.
Creators
Alex Gibney, Michael Pollan
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Pollan originally wrote this as a book in 2013, and Netflix essentially gave him a blank check to eat his way across four continents.
The 'Earth' episode's fermentation deep-dive helped spark the 2010s kombucha and kimchi boom—this show has a body count of hipster gut health.
US
