We spent the weekend watching some of the most famous food documentaries and they taught us a lot, a lot. There is something to see!

Films about food:

"Forks vs Knives"

This documentary is based on the life work of two independent scientists - one of them is the famous Colin Campbell, author of The China Study. Here is a detailed description of how the study was conducted and what results it led to. The conclusions are the most disappointing for meat lovers: animal protein is declared fatal. If the process of formation of a cancerous tumor has begun in the body, when feeding on animal protein, the tumors grow and develop much faster. This is proved by the example of the Chinese cantons, where meat was consumed more widely. Americans, whose meat consumption is practically unlimited, are the sickest nation. The film also points out the dangers of consuming dairy products: as the authors found out, when consuming dairy products, acid is released, which the body can neutralize only with the help of calcium, which it extracts from the bones. That is why, despite the high amount of calcium in dairy products, dairy drinkers are more likely to develop osteoporosis. Diseases of the cardiovascular system, autoimmune diseases, oncology and diabetes - that's what we "earn" by taking an interest in animal protein. The film shows more than one fate that has changed dramatically for the better when switching to vegetarianism.

"Fast Food Nation"

A feature film based on the original book by Eric Schlosser "Fast Food Nation" (read the review). It brings up all the topics of the book: the hopeless situation of guest workers in slaughterhouses, the frequent robberies of fast food outlets, the harm that this industry produces not only for health, but also for the economy. The film is interesting because a large number of stars starred here (which is only Bruce Willis in the episode with eating a hamburger or Avril Lavigne in the role of an indifferent teenager). The hardest scene is waiting for you at the end - shooting from a real slaughterhouse.

"I want to change"

Raw food propaganda film. On the examples of people with incurable diseases, cancer of the fourth stage and severe obesity, he shows that when switching to vegetables and fruits, the body is able to heal itself. There is a lot of brutal truth in the film about sugar, sweeteners, diet drinks. Examples of raw food adherents glowing with happiness are incredibly convincing.

Titre loves documentaries It is entertainment and knowledge at the same time.

Spielberg

The success story and path to the cinema of one of the most prominent directors of Hollywood, Steven Spielberg. This is a "story about myself" and personal impressions of Leonardo DiCaprio, Harrison Ford, JJ Abrams, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and many others.

What's in me

The film-journey, created by Garik Sukachev, will introduce you to the amazing Altai, the locals and their culture.

inconvenient planet

For those who are not indifferent to the fate of our planet. This is a film that encourages us to think about the damage we are doing to our global "home".

Great Northern Way

Another journey, this time in the Russian Arctic. Thousands of kilometers across the endless expanses of the north and acquaintance with its indigenous peoples. Documentaries are a nice way to go where low-cost airlines don't fly.

Altitude gene, or how to get to Everest

The film, which tells about the conquest of Everest from the beginning to the end of the ascent, was shot only on the second attempt - in 2015, the expedition was interrupted by a series of earthquakes. Climbing the main peak of the world is not only expensive, difficult and long, but also incredibly dangerous.

ghost town

The film about the Syrian citizen journalistic collective RBSS, whose members are trying to expose human rights abuses by ISIS and fight the terrorist group's disinformation campaigns in their home country, is one of the main pearls of this year's world documentary filmmaking.

Trophy

Filmed in Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and the United States, the film tells about the hunting of large animals, the consequences of their processing and attempts to save wildlife Africa and America.

What is health

A meticulous and thorough investigation of the relationship between state system healthcare, industry, pharmaceutical and medical organizations.

Become Warren Buffett

The story of the life and formation of Warren Buffett, one of the most modest billionaires on the planet. The man who built the legendary business still lives in a house he bought fifty years ago, trying not to draw attention to himself. The film includes home recordings, a family photo archive, and interviews with Warren Buffett's family and friends. These materials volumetrically show and reveal the intriguing personality of the investor.

Diana: A story in her words

Twenty years after the death of Princess Diana, recordings of her personal conversations with a teacher in oratory. They formed the basis of the film, which tells the story of the "people's princess" in the first person. For the first time in her life, Diana appears before the world as she really was.

Spend your evening watching documentaries, which will dot the "i" in some gastronomic issues. We have selected nine worthwhile films for you.

"DOUBLE PORTION"

A film that will make fast food lovers reconsider their gastronomic habits. This is the project of Morgan Spurlock - the director, screenwriter and protagonist, who risked becoming the object of a harsh experiment. Spurlock wanted to know and show the world what happens to the body of a healthy person who will eat only McDonald's for a whole month.

Before the start of the experiment, Morgan had no health problems: all organs were in good condition, excess weight was absent, the fat mass was 11%. Already on the second day of the experiment, the man began to feel sick from the mountains of excess food, he gained weight at a terrifying rate, and his health indicators worsened. In the middle of the experiment, Spurlock did not follow the recommendations of doctors to stop mocking the body.

As a result, in a month of fast food, Morgan gained 11 kg and increased the proportion of body fat to 18%. The liver was very damaged, and the general indicators indicated the risk of diabetes. Watch this movie if you want to wean yourself off your fast food addiction.

“THE ALL TRUTH ABOUT FOOD”

This is a science series produced by the BBC, which consists of 6 episodes of 45 minutes each. The series debunks gastronomic myths and discovers new ones. useful facts. this work divided into separate topics “how to become”: beautiful, slim, best, desired. The authors talk about why some people eat a lot and do not gain weight, does red wine affect heart health, does heavy drinking help improve skin, which macronutrient is more satisfying, etc. This series is self-education that will be useful in everyday life.

“I WANT TO CHANGE”

Particularly impressionable we warn: this film very convincingly promotes a raw food diet. This type of diet is shown as a panacea for people with complex and incurable diseases: inspiring examples of "healing" obese and cancer sufferers by switching to fruits and vegetables. Also, the authors of the film show the hard truth about sugar and its substitutes. Worth a look, but check with your doctor before making any serious lifestyle changes.

“FAST FOOD NATION”

A feature film about the underside of the fast food industry with an all-star cast. The film is based on the book of the same name by Eric Schlosser, which describes the harm from the industry to both health and the economy. The audience is exposed to the whole dark and cruel truth: the hardest part is about the hopeless situation of guest workers in the slaughterhouses with real footage from the place of slaughter.

“FORKS INSTEAD OF KNIVES”

This documentary is based on the research of two independent scientists. The film details the results of their labors, and they will not please lovers of meat and dairy products. The consumption of animal protein has a detrimental effect on the human body, in particular, when it is included in the daily diet, cancerous tumors grow and develop faster and more intensively. With milk, too, everything is not very optimistic: the acid that the body produces when consuming dairy products is neutralized only by calcium from the bones. It is because of this that dairy drinkers are more likely to develop osteoporosis. This film is an unobvious propaganda of the transition to vegetarianism.

“DESPERATE TASTERS GO”

A light and witty BBC series about life and food in different eras. The main characters of the series are comedian Sue Perkins, as well as restaurant critic, writer and gourmet Giles Coren. This couple "travels in time", going to a specific era for a week, completely adopting the lifestyle and dietary principles of that time. Before each new adventure, the actors measure all the indicators of the body and then track the changes.

Immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the Reformation, World War II, Regency, Victorianism, the Middle Ages and Ancient Rome: with such a presentation, it's fun and interesting.

"FOOD CORPORATION"

Film protest against modern food corporations and their terrible influence on our lives. The authors of the film make us think about terrible things that had not even occurred to us before. This is a hard life and the invaluable work of farmers who are unable to resist serious companies, terrible conditions for keeping livestock and poultry, processing meat with ammonia and the realities of life of guest workers.

It was not in vain that the film was budgeted for the cost of lawsuits, because such a truth puts big business at a disadvantage. The authors are trying to convey information about how and why food corporations are killing us. After watching, you will no longer be able to look at your food the same way, but perhaps this is for the best.

Documentary films about food surprise with a variety of subjects. These are stories about national cuisines, cooking recipes, “horror stories” about certain harmful products, and master classes by famous chefs. But among them there is a small section in which food is presented in a historical context. .

Historians consider food as one of the most important elements of culture, reflecting the social and economic structure of society. We bring to your attention a small selection of the most interesting, in our opinion, documentaries on the historical and culinary theme.

Desperate tasters go ... / The Supersizers Go ... (UK, 2007-2009)

The series “Desperate tasters go…”, created by the BBC studio, can be considered one of the best in this subject. First of all, it features a cheerful take on food from different eras. Funny and witty TV show at the same time based on a very accurate historical reconstruction, be it Ancient Rome or the 80s of the last century.

The characters of the series immerse themselves in the proposed historical era, maintaining authenticity in home decoration, clothing, manners and, most importantly, in diet and eating habits. They will have to taste during the week the dishes that were customary to eat in those days. At the end of each experiment, the daredevils undergo a medical examination to determine how the menu of the past affected their health.
The success of the series is largely due to the main characters - journalist and restaurant critic of the Times magazine Giles Coren and television host-brilliant comedian Sue Perkins.

The show is built primarily on the improvisations of the duet Coren-Perkins. The actress said in an interview: We were invited to eat food we had never eaten before and just say what we think about it. ". The immediate reaction of the characters to dishes like a boiled calf's head, a stew of 15 varieties of meat or a delicacy from goiter glands will give the viewer a lot of funny minutes.
The first season of the series was released in 2007 and was devoted to the study of the nuances of British nutrition in various historical eras. The tasters went to the times of Queens Elizabeth and Victoria, the Restoration and the Regency, etc. On the wave of success in 2009, the second season was released, in which Coren and Perkins got acquainted with the gastronomic intricacies of the cuisines of Ancient Rome and the Middle Ages, Marie Antoinette's palace cuisine and the culinary glamor of the 50s. ths of the XX century. The series can be viewed.

Atstorieson thekitchen /L'histoire en cuisine / Let's cook history (France, 2005)

Documentary five-part film"History in the Kitchen", created by French documentary filmmakers, is dedicated to the evolution of tastes of European cuisine. Each episode reconstructs the life and customs of a particular era, telling about the forgotten origins that eventually shaped modern culinary and gastronomy.
The script of the film was written by Michelle Barriere, a French gastronomy historian, author of cookbooks and historical novels. In her homeland, she received the title of queen of the “historical-gastronomic” thriller, thanks to the cycle of novels “ Savoisy family saga”, where the culinary and gastronomic component plays an important role. The writer herself calls her detective stories “ gastronomic noir ” and necessarily supplements them with recipes of the era in which the events of the books take place - from the Middle Ages to the 1940s.

It is not surprising that it was Michelle Barrier who wrote the script for the documentary "History in the Kitchen", filling it with a mass of curious facts. Did you know that fast food was invented in Ancient Rome, and the buffet was invented during the time of Lorenzo de Medici? From the series, you will learn how Roman orgies led to the birth of the food industry, and revolutionary ideas destroyed established gastronomic habits. The film is based on archival documents and literary sources, including the writings of Petronius, François Villon, Rabelais and Diderot.

Each series of the film is dedicated to a separate era: “Antiquity”, “Middle Ages”, “Renaissance”, “Taste of Enlightenment”, “Revolutions at the Table”. You can view it at YouTube

History of Italian food / Eating History.The story of Italy on a Plate (2016)

Six part documentary“History of Italian Food” is dedicated to the Italian identity, and with it the Italian taste. In it, the dramatic and fascinating history of Italy is presented through the prism of ... food. Charismatic host John Dickey will take the viewer through how a unique combination of taste, creative genius and passion, mixed with political intrigue, greed and bloodshed, created the most popular cuisine in the world.
John Dickey is a famous British scientist, a recognized specialist in various aspects Italian history, and his books have been translated into many languages, including Russian. His bestsellers “Cosa Nostra: The Story of the Sicilian Mafia” (2004) and Delizia! The epic story of Italians and their food”(2012). The latter just formed the basis of the documentary series.

Historian and excellent storyteller John Dickey is far from ossified academicism. He brought wit and a rather hilarious willingness to throw himself into all sorts of adventures, from putting on painfully uncomfortable authentic Roman sandals to consuming a gladiator energy cocktail that included vinegar and ash. He was compensated by meetings with leading Italian chefs and hearty dinners of famous Italian cuisine.

From the series, the viewer will learn what legionnaires and gladiators ate, what the post of pontiffs consisted of, how food was used to demonstrate power, when pasta became the national food, and much more. You can watch this interesting documentary series.

ATudorFeastatChristmas (UK, 2006)

This BBC documentary is a kind of reality show in which a group of historians and archaeologists prepare a gala dinner in three days according to recipes from the 16th century without the use of modern technologies. All the action takes place in the Haddon Hall estate, where the 400-year-old Tudor kitchen has been preserved unchanged. The research team will only use products that were available in 1590 to prepare the meals.

The journey into the culinary past will end with a feast, where dishes from the 16th century will be eaten according to all the rules of court etiquette of that time. This film is one of the first projects of historian Ruth Goodman's team ( Ruth Goodman), recreating the ancient cuisine of the British. You can get acquainted with the cuisine of the Tudor era as presented by the authors of the idea by watching the film on YouTube.