What a view | Street Food documentary on Netflix tells the human stories behind some of Asia’s tastiest dishes
- The nine-part series looks at the culinary traditions of Thailand, Japan, India, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines
They’re here! Yes, Smell-O-Vision and Taste-O-Vision have finally made it to our screens! Go back to your kitchens (or wherever you watch television) and prepare for sensory overload!
Well, actually, no: they’re not really here, not yet. But food shows will never be the same again anyway, thanks to exemplary nine-part Netflix documentary series Street Food, which celebrates – you guessed it – some of the most evocative and irresistible dishes available on Asian road, avenue and byway.
First, then, what are we eating? Tom yum, drunken noodles and curry in Bangkok; okonomiyaki and takoyaki in Osaka; tofu pudding and fish-head soup in Chiayi, Taiwan; snail in Ho Chi Minh City; putu piring in Singapore: nothing fancy, you might think, but that’s the point. As food writer Chawadee Nualkhair puts it in the Thai instalment, outstanding street chefs elevate common dishes to exceptional heights.
And who are these people? They are down-to-earth characters starring in their own pavement productions, and all, from stooped, snaggle-toothed Mbah Satinem in Yogyakarta to jolly, self-styled “con artist” and “magician who manipulates fire” Toyo in Osaka, cook with the one component essential for “authentic, real, honest” traditional food: love for what they make, however unashamedly clichéd that might sound. These street chefs, as much as the sensually compelling dishes they create, are part of the cultural fabric of their cities, a social glue bringing people together – citizens, not just gawking tourists.