"Chef's Table" creator explores origins of chefs and their dishes with "Street Food"
In the popular series "Chef's Table," show creator David Gelb took viewers around the world to see mouthwatering, innovative dishes served up by culinary stars. Now, he's turning his attention to the streets of Asia with his new show, "Street Food."
"While we were making 'Chef's Table,' we're spending time in these incredible cities in southeast Asia, and we would go with the chefs and with the, kind of, assistants in the kitchen," Gelb told "CBS This Morning." "They would take us to their favorite spots to eat and often they would be these little carts on the street, and these chefs have just as much passion as the chefs at any very fancy restaurant."
Gelb says the new show is character- and story-focused, giving viewers a sense of what and how these chefs cook, along with their motivations.
"We always consider our chefs are kind of like superheroes in a way," Gelb said. "And they all have an origin story. There's something in their childhood, their adolescence, that makes them realize they have this incredible power to make delicious food. And their food also tells a story, and the food often tells the story of their lives. That's what you'll see on our show."
That extra layer of storytelling is what Gelb says separates his work, which he calls "food romance," from so-called "food porn."
"I think that what makes the food more beautiful and more delicious is this idea that, you know, these are real people and their lives, their passion," Gelb said. "All that context makes the food look and taste even more delicious."
Gelb also said he's seeing a cultural shift in how people in the United States eat.
"I think the people are learning to appreciate food and to think about what they're eating more," Gelb said. "And so I think you're seeing better restaurants, you're seeing more kind of foreign food and foreign influences coming into the United States in terms of food trucks and food halls and you're also seeing a lot more, kind of, specialization."
