What feels like months ago, we found out about Netflix’s The Final Table through one of our favorite chefs. Monique Fiso is a Kiwi chef focusing on reviving Māori cuisine. We have followed her on social media for quite some time; when she announced that she would be on a cooking competition we were thrilled to see her in action. We were thrilled to see her bring attention to the cultures and cuisines within New Zealand.
The last, and what feels like only time, a Kiwi chef was featured on a cooking show was Ben Shewry‘s appearance on Chef’s Table. Chef’s Table, which was another Netflix product, varied episode to episode, but overall accomplished many things. Not only did it highlight chefs with unique stories from all over the world, it also focused heavily on the food. The editing and directing, for most of the episodes, was where it needed to be. It was beautiful.
If you watched Jiro Dreams of Sushi, which was my favorite film of 2011, would bring that expectation from David Gelb, the creator of Chef’s Table. If only they brought Gelb back on board for The Final Table. I am not entirely sure who was behind this new show, but after being painfully dragged through the first episode, I don’t think we’ll be able to muster the strength to come back for more.
95% of the television that we watch is food-based. Food Network, even with their abundance of sub-par chefs and shows, brings a better product to the table. The Final Table was ambitious. Similar to a chef that tries to make three tacos in one round and fails to produce a single quality product, the shows lacks a true focus. At times, you think it is about the food, but then the judge decides to give the best dish award to the pair that highlighted the key ingredient the least. At times, you think it is about the culture, but then the editing team fails to tell you what country the competitors are from.
Besides the overall messy editing and disconnected directing, we had one major problem. This show decides to bring multiple chefs from countries that are already extremely popular, and fails to represent other nations. Where are all the African chefs? You really think there isn’t talent in Morocco, Ethiopia or Cameroon? Of the 24 competitors, 9 are from the US, UK, Canada or Australia. Are they great chefs? Absolutely, but what is this show trying to accomplish?
It accomplished nothing other than a few moments of viewing pleasure in the entire first episode. Netflix’s new show, Dogs, had the same awful effect, but the second episode was better. We are going to give it a second chance, just for Monique, but it is currently rivaling Cupcake Wars in quality and innovation. It feels like a very sad attempt to try to turn Chef’s Table into a cooking competition; it failed.
