This was a delightfully chaotic year for food on film, whether on the small or the big screen. As a refresher, this year saw the return of Chef’s Table and the debut of the much-maligned Jerry Seinfeld Pop-Tart movie. There was a chicken haunting the satirical characters of The Curse, and Kristen Kish stepped into Padma’s shoes as the new host of ol’ workhorse Top Chef. Reba McIntyre’s latest sitcom, Happy’s Place, is set in a bar; the Food Network’s latest baking competition is inexplicably set in Hogwarts.
The best pop culture moments of the year, according to Eater editors:
Martha
This year provided a dearth of documentaries scrutinizing staple figures of American TV, softening their subjects into their most palatable or pitiable forms. Then, there was Martha. The Netflix documentary casts Martha Stewart as more than the sum of her career’s parts, exploring the unglamorous realities of her working-class, Polish-American family, the fraught workplace dynamics behind her ascent to media mogul, and the scandalous affairs that marked her marriages. Through it all, she’s ambitious and exacting, callous but candid. Most impactfully, Stewart parting the veil of her own mythology (along with her pushback against producers) serves as a reminder that life is meant to be messy and unapologetically delicious. — Jesse Sparks, senior editor
Challengers
I don’t think I need to elaborate on why the churro scene from summer hit Challengers is on our list of favorite food moments captured on film this year. But for those who somehow haven’t seen Mike Faist as Art and Josh O’Connor as Patrick tensely share a churro, here’s the clip. Instead, I’d like to take this time to remind everyone that Challengers also brought us a pivotal scene that takes place at an Applebee’s. The casual suburban fixture is the unlikely setting for Tashi (Zendaya) and Art’s first sparks of romance, and to see them finally make out in an empty Applebee’s parking lot against a far off city skyline was a delight. It became even more delightful when we learned that the setting was chosen because in reality, tennis players in town for the Cincinnati Masters, which is held in the suburb of Mason, Ohio, would eat at Applebee’s. Elite athletes in psychosexual love triangles — they’re just like us! — Monica Burton, deputy editor
Delicious in Dungeon
I watch a lot of anime — and this is one of the most inventive and unexpected examples of the genre I’ve seen. Also known as Dungeon Meshi, this show is a master class in world-building, one that immediately sells you on a wild premise: That a group of adventurers, journeying through a dungeon seeking to save a friend, must eat the monsters and other fantastical creatures that cross their path not just for survival, but also for pure pleasure. The animated cooking scenes here remind me a lot of the equally beloved show Midnight Diner: They’re lovingly rendered and narrated, which is even more remarkable considering they’re cooking up things like mandrake and “treasure insects.” Just go with it; it’s a delight. — Erin DeJesus, executive editor
Quincy
Quincy Jones was a peerless artist, so it’s no surprise that when the producer and musician, known for such productions as The Wiz and The Fresh Prince of Bell-Air died on November 3, fans turned to the 2018 Netflix documentary, Quincy, to honor his legacy. Produced by his daughter, actor and producer Rashida Jones, the film details the composer and producer’s life — towering wins, health challenges, personal complexities, adoration of yoga, and all. I knew that a person who lived such a colorful life had to love food and drink (and Jones’s affection for cocktails and liquor is a core element of the documentary), and found that the musician did, indeed, dabble in the hospitality industry. In 2016, the frequent global traveler opened Q’s Bar and Lounge at the Palazzo Versace Dubai in Dubai, naming beverages for some of his most celebrated projects, all of which are served against the backdrop of live music. As outlined in Toni Tipiton-Martin’s Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice, alcohol and music are inextricably connected in Black culture. Jones, an aficionado of Black artistry, is a contemporary — and forever cherished — example. — Kayla Stewart, Eater.com senior editor
Great British Bake Off
The latest season of the Great British Bake Off felt like a welcome return to form. It was full of displays of genuine talent (see Dylan and his prodigious knack for flavors and presentation and, well, just about everything). There were contestants who were a real pleasure to watch. (I’m talking about Nelly, obviously.) And with challenges that leaned wholeheartedly into British baking — spotted dick and all — there was very little to be mad at. Dylan fans may disagree, but I’d go as far as to say that it was nice to see the person who wanted it the most — the person who most embodied the spirit of what it means to be a skilled home baker — take home the title. — MB
Lessons in Chemistry
Although it technically aired in October and November of 2023, the Apple TV+ miniseries’s import has grown exponentially this year. Adapted from Bonnie Garmus’s 2022 novel of the same name and led by Brie Larson, Lessons in Chemistry is a celebration of the subversive powers a cooking show host can wield — and have turned against her. Almost like the antithetical complement to Julia Child’s friendly curiosity, Larson’s Elizabeth Zott starts as a brilliant, confident lab tech chafing against the misogyny of the laboratory she works in. After numerous challenges at work and in the process of raising her daughter, Zott grows to be undaunted by the limitations others place on her work, her parenting, and her aspirations for the show despite the pointedly obvious racism and misogyny of the era. It’s an arresting study in questioning everything before rolling up your sleeves to experiment for yourself. — JS
The Apothecary Diaries
Calling this a food show is stretching it slightly, but in this anime that takes place in Imperial China, teenage apothecary Maomao uses her knowledge of cooking up herbs (and her willingness to be a taste-tester for poison) to rise up the ranks of the palace’s pecking order. There’s tons of palace intrigue here, but the plots are borrowed more from House — i.e., they usually revolve around Maomao using her powers of observation and medical knowledge to solve an in-episode mystery — than Game of Thrones. This is a wonderfully escapist show where the knowledgeable, resourceful young woman always wins, even if she has to swallow a bitter pill or two along the way. — EDJ
… and the worst (sorry, Chicago):
The Bear
I knew we were in trouble with Season 3 of The Bear from the very first episode, which felt less like an episode than an extended and very self-serious montage. And lo, things got worse from there. It’s difficult to pick out what I liked least about this season: was it the Fak family’s “haunt” schtick, as fresh as a fart in an elevator? Or the insistent flashbacks that supplanted actual narrative momentum? Or wait, maybe it was its cameo-appearance deification of real-life chefs whose posteriors have already been exhaustively kissed (e tu, Thomas Keller?). It was all that, but it was also, perhaps worst of all, boring. Tedious and indulgent, this season wasn’t so much a bear as a shark, jumped. — Rebecca Flint Marx, Eater at Home editor
