Food isn’t just something we eat; it’s how we feel, connect, and remember. The world may have countless cuisines, but what binds us all is that tiny thrill of watching a perfect dish come alive on screen. The slow drizzle of sauce, the crunch of a bite, or a chef’s expression when a recipe finally clicks are truly prime-time theatre. 2025 has turned out to be a delicious year for anyone who lives and breathes food, not just through recipes but through storytelling. 2025 has handed us a strange and delicious spread of shows and films where the kitchen isn’t just a set, it becomes a battleground, a memory lane and a time machine. Whether you’re watching a chopping frenzy or the quiet of a village eatery, food is the character. Here are seven of them.
8 Best Culinary Shows And Films To Watch
1. Yes, Chef!
On April 28, 2025, this U.S. show plucked twelve chefs, already talented but notorious for attitude, and paired them with the likes of José Andrés and Martha Stewart. Their mission: cook brilliantly and grow as leaders, collaborators, and humans. The format flips between Main Challenges (think team chaos) and Cook‑Offs (solo survival mode), with a US$250,000 prize glinting just out of reach. It’s fun to watch someone burn a sauce, regroup, and turn it into something incredible. And for our readers, someone fascinated by food’s bigger picture, it’s more than recipes: it’s about temperament, teamwork and transformation under heat.
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2. Bon Appétit‑Your Majesty
August 2025 brought a Korean fantasy‑romance streaming on Netflix. Imagine: a French‑trained chef, Yeon Ji‑yeong, accidentally time‑trips to the Joseon dynasty, stands in a royal kitchen, and tries to mix modern technique with ancient etiquette. The visuals show glazed roasted meats next to candle‑lit banquet tables and lacquered bowls filled with exotic roots. It’s playful and romantic but also sharp: food isn’t just flavour; it tells history. If you’ve grown up between fields and kitchens, it’ll speak to you in that subtle way.
3. Carême
Launched April 30 2025, on Apple TV+, this French production dramatises the life of Marie‑Antoine Carême, the “first celebrity chef” of the 19th century. From kneading dough in modest kitchens to orchestrating grand feasts for royalty, the series weaves technique with class conflict, ambition and legacy. You’ll see towering pastries, gilded banquets, and the bitter edge of being ahead of one’s time. If you’ve ever wondered what food in history meant (not just tasted like), this fills that space.
The visuals are opulent, the dialogue sharp, and the pace deliberate, much like the precision of French patisserie itself. Through Carême’s relentless pursuit of brilliance, the series explores the quiet rebellion of craftsmanship in a world dictated by class. Every scene feels plated to perfection, rich, layered, and almost edible, inviting viewers to savour not just the meals but the man who made cuisine a form of identity and resistance.
4. Next Gen Chef
By September 17 2025, Netflix had dropped this one: twenty‑one chefs under thirty enter a pressure‑cooker environment at the Culinary Institute of America. Their challenges range widely: molecular gastronomy, reinventing street food, and managing madness in a kitchen built for legends. It’s about vision and daring as much as it is about perfect sauce. Watching them stumble, innovate, and sometimes shine is energising; they’re map‑makers of future cuisine. For you, coming with research inclination and food‑system interest, the behind‑the‑scenes of this youthful ambition is gold.
5. Knife Edge
Chasing Michelin Stars (Apple TV+, 2025) opens with the noise of a kitchen in full sprint, and that’s the tempo it holds. Produced by Gordon Ramsay and fronted by Jesse Burgess, the series hops continents, New York one moment, the Nordic countries or Mexico the next, without ever flattening the personalities of the chefs it follows.
The Michelin pursuit is the headline, sure, but what stays with you are the tiny things: someone rewriting a menu because a single tomato isn’t perfect, or the way a chef freezes when an anonymised inspector’s feedback is read aloud. Apple TV+ secured rare access to the Michelin process, so you actually hear those inspector notes being voiced, and the tension is almost physical. It’s not a competition show; it’s closer to an unguarded diary of kitchens trying to hold on to excellence while the clock and the knife and the reputation breathe down their neck. It is intense, sometimes unexpectedly emotional, and absolutely unvarnished.
6. Idli Kadai
October 2025 gave us this Tamil‑language film rooted in locality: a small‑town idli shop battling modern commercial forces. It’s intimate rather than grand, with steam rising off hot idlis, chutneys red with tamarind and rice grinding echoing in the background. Yet it speaks a universal language: food as identity, community, and memory. Coming from your background near fields and village life, you’ll recognise the rhythm of tradition fighting change.
7. Mrs.
Released in February 2025, this Hindi film brings the kitchen into domestic drama. It’s not flashy haute cuisine, it’s home, gender roles, creative labour and the unsung art of everyday meals. Humour and tension mingle in the spice‑scented air of the family kitchen. It reminds us: cooking isn’t always showy, it’s often quiet, essential and emotional.
Directed by Tanuja Chandra, Mrs stars Sanya Malhotra in a powerful reimagining of the Malayalam hit The Great Indian Kitchen. The film dives deep into the monotonous yet meaningful routines of a married woman finding her way through the expectations and selfhood within the walls of her kitchen. Every utensil and every spice box becomes a symbol of invisible and unpaid labour.
8. Dining With The Kapoors
This show doesn’t behave like a documentary; it behaves like you somehow wandered into the Kapoor dining room while everyone was already mid-story. The special dropped on Netflix on 21 November 2025, deliberately timed with Raj Kapoor’s centenary. Smriti Mundhra, who directs it, lets the madness breathe as Ranbir, Kareena, Neetu and the extended family tumble in and out of conversations that zig-zag between childhood gossip, film sets from the ’80s, and those oddly specific family rituals everyone pretends are normal.
Armaan Jain’s involvement gives it that insider warmth: people speak the way families actually speak when the camera isn’t supposed to hear them. And yes, the food sits right at the centre; it is not stylised, just plates being passed around while someone remembers a forgotten argument or a lost moment with Raj Kapoor. The whole thing feels more like being allowed to sit at a table where legacy and memory quietly show up between bites.
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These eight titles don’t follow a checklist; they’re varied, messy, earnest and even bold. From professional kitchens to village breakfast plates, they show you food from many angles: culture, craft, ambition, memory and transformation. You’ll watch one scene and think about plating; the next scene and remember your own kitchen back home.
Cover Image Courtesy: netflixindia and bonappetit/Wikipedia
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