Omnivore

1. This is boring, for each topic they explain five minutes and then they show like 20 minutes of repetitive shots 2. History is plain and reductionist It was expected we would know the history of each food, but this just show a commercial look of the item Imagine that for chili they talked about paprika and Tabasco, there is a lot more.

Mexico was not mentioned, even this is the country which consume more chilly and the crazy relationship of Aztecs with it. Not to mention the great variety of chilies they have.

3. Beautiful shots I can say that photograph was so nice, but it is useless without a genuine story to tell.

I can only assume many of the other reviews come from food snobs, "influencers", or those who just enjoy being negative and pseudo-intellectual.

Do I agree that the episodes can be lacking in content and history? Of course. A 1 hour episode on chili peppers, or any single ingredient, can't begin to cover the entire history. Regardless, for the regular person (not a "foodie"), I'm learning a lot.

I view this series as an introductory series. Maybe Food 101. If you want more advanced stuff, by all means, go find some books. Watch other documentaries.

I was entertained. The series kept my interest, even if parts of it were simplistic in nature. Most of all, I learned. And now I want to know more. That's a win, in my book.

"Omnivore" is a captivating new series on Apple TV+, a visual feast that dives deep into the stories behind essential food ingredients, with educational and entertaining episodes on chilies, tuna, salt, rice, coffee, corn, bananas, and pork. The cinematography is stunning, and I was often so mesmerized by the visuals, I had to rewind to catch the dialogue we missed. Renowned chef and host René Redzepi guides viewers through each episode with his mellifluous voice making even the most commonplace ingredients seem significant. Each episode serves as a deep dive, exploring cultural relevance and the intricate connections in our lives. The series transforms the mundane into the extraordinary, reminding us of the importance of the ingredients we often take for granted.

I truly enjoyed Omnivore. It's not only beautiful filmed, it's also educational, enlightening and inspiring. I like how each episode is structured slightly differently, so the show never gets repetitive or boring. There are certain themes that are present throughout, but each ingredient is treated in a unique way. It's interesting the way different styles of farming are compared and contrasted, such as massive U. S. corn production versus micro-farming where tiny cobs are harvested by hand. Some viewers might see the series as being judgmental, but I think it acknowledges the need for mega-farming (feeding the entire world for an affordable cost), versus the need for micro-farming (preserving traditions or, in the case of bananas, ensuring that if and when Cavendish bananas can no longer be produced we have another variety to fall back on). All in all, this series fascinated me. It's definitely one of Apple TV+'s best documentaries. Excellent watch and an 8.8 for me.

Don't get me wrong, AppleTV+ has some excellent content like Severance, For All Mankind and Presumed Innocent. But even with their top tier stuff, there's this whiff of something noxious that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

This docu-series perfectly encapsulates it: that odor is the smug condescension of the global one percent. Hosted by some celebrity chef from a fancy restaurant few people could ever afford to dine at, it trots through some popular foods, focused on just a tiny fragment of the whole industry, the fancy pants artisanal froo-froo segment.

It's lovely that some dude in Rwanda is making coffee by hand, for what, $100 a pound? Obviously this has no relevance to the common herd, watching grocery prices soar and thinking about what they have to cut back.

The episode about salt could have been fascinating, especially if it did anything more than, once again, talk about the teeny industry of making salt by hand. How about the long, fascinating history of salt in various human cultures? We barely get any of that.

Netflix (which in general doesn't have anything near the quality of AppleTV+ anymore) made a good series along the same lines called Rotten. If you're frustrated by Omnivore, check that out. Eschewing the prissy approach, Netflix takes us to the gang wars of the avocado trade, the cratering French wine industry, and corruption in the garlic industry. Much more real and relevant.