09-08-2018
David Gelb, born in 1985, author, director and executive producer of "Chef's Table", the acclaimed series available on Netflix (photo by Mathieu Young for Netflix)
One of the most interesting guests at the Basque Culinary World Prize, the event organised a couple of weeks ago in Modena by the Basque Culinary Center, Massimo Bottura and Lara Gilmore, was AmericanDavid Gelb.
Born less than 35 years ago in New York, now based in Los Angeles, this shy guy has a cv that would make even his more experienced colleagues envious: in 2011 he was the author and director of Jiro Dreams of Sushi, perhaps the most viewed food-documentary in the world. Today he’s the executive producer of Chef’s Table, the popular Netflix series with dozens of millions of viewers. The episodes have had a striking impact on the fame of the chefs participating in the documentaries.
«I travel a lot, eat incredible specialties, and meet fantastic people: I’m very lucky», he whispered modestly a while earlier, on the stage of Collegio San Carlo in Modena. We met him and had a little chat with him.
You’re here for a panel titled “Transforming society through gastronomy”. Is it a realistic goal? Yes it is, because we eat multiple times each day. Food is a part of everyone’s life. Chefs are admired and acknowledged. If they tell us how to eat, we must listen to them. They have a great influence, they have special powers.
David Gelb with the staff from Osteria Francescana (photo instagram)
Did you expect such a success? No. It exceeded all my expectations. It was my hope, my dream.
You’ve filmed dozens of documentaries. Who is the chef with the best screen presence? Argentinian Francis Mallman, he’s phenomenal. He had already been on television plenty of times in South America, he knows how it works. Poetry, attention the clothes, spaces. He was born for the screen. Everything he does is pure cinema.
Who was the hardest to work with? You’re putting me in a difficult position. Let’s say they all have their style. Our initial approach is to be as humble and revering as possible: if we do so, if we leave the chef the possibility to lead the dance, then things work better, they are more natural, more agile.
An enthusiastic post by David Gelb on Franco Pepe’s pizza (photo instagram)
The documentary on Troigros was part of a series on France. Massimo Bottura was the first chef, and a few weeks ago the episode with Corrado Assenza went online. Will you ever do a series on Italy? For sure, your country would deserve a show by itself. I dined in fantastic restaurants, run by chefs with great point of views, armed with beautiful stories. There are endless valid candidates in Italy, choosing would be very hard. We must also consider that Netflix has a global audience. We cannot be too local. But I’d like to dedicate more space to Italy for sure.
Who are the chefs to be included in the next season? I cannot mention any name. But I can say we will cover both high-end chefs and others who are less known, and run much smaller restaurants. As for the choice of subjects, the other executive producer Brian McGinn and I try to cover as much diversity as possible in terms of race, gender, and now of type of restaurant too. Every season we must try to show as large a range as possible, with all its contrasts.
A last goodbye to the late Jonathan Gold, third from the left (photo from instagram)
Did you know Jonathan Gold, the great Californian journalist who passed away a few days ago? Very well, we met many times. I’m from New York and when I moved to Los Angeles I felt lost: I knew nothing, I was surrounded by endless shopping malls. Jonathan took me to places where I had never been, places I would have never found if it wasn’t for him. He shaped the city. He was a guiding light, his writing was beautiful. It’s a huge loss, for me and for everyone.
See also Bittor Oroz: we can transform society through gastronomy Tutte le idee del simposio di Modena Jock Zonfrillo wins the third edition of the Basque Culinary World Prize Corrado Assenza: my days with the troup of Netflix
Gabriele Zanatta’s opinion: on establishments, chefs and trends in Italy and the world
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born in Milan, 1973, freelance journalist, coordinator of Identità Golose World restaurant guidebook since 2007, he is a contributor for several magazines and teaches History of gastronomy and Culinary global trends into universities and institutes. twitter @gabrielezanatt instagram @gabrielezanatt