Have you noticed? Cooking shows are all the rage. Whether it’s because Americans are making more of their meals at home or just enjoy watching food porn, there’s one thing for sure: We all love watching others cook. Thankfully, Netflix has added dozens of cooking and food shows to the streaming site this year, offering endless options to add to your watch list, from mouthwatering documentary series to reality TV cooking competitions.
Here are five of our top picks of cooking shows to watch on Netflix this summer:
‘Street Food’
Imagine taking a food tour around the world to taste some of the most unique and drooled-over dishes street markets have to offer. This is the experience the audience gets when watching Netflix’s series, Street Food. While viewers can’t taste the steaming dishes through the screen, the 2019 documentary series offers a behind-the-scenes look at some of the most popular street fare cross the globe, as well as the cooks that make them.
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Street Food was created by David Gelb and Brian McGinn, the same producers of Netflix’s acclaimed documentary series, Chef’s Table. So it’s no surprise this series brings the same quality of stunning cinematography and tear-jerking backstories of the resilient cooks.
In the first season, each episode takes viewers to a different country, introducing them to adventurous cooks who have made a name for themselves on the streets of countries like Japan, Thailand and India. The dishes range from fish head soup to soy-marinated crabs. Grab your blanket, some popcorn and prepare to get lost in a world of color while watching this vibrant show.
‘The Big Family Cooking Showdown’
Spend the night with your family watching this competition show for an evening full of laughs. Every week, this competitive cooking series based in the United Kingdom features two families-of-three battling for the winning title.
The families show off their passions for cooking and their skills making family recipes for the judges, like Irish cream ice cream and smoked chili pork tacos with apple and avocado salsa.
Bonus: If you want to try making one of the recipes from the show at home, readers can find some of the best recipes from the show in The Big Family Cooking Showdown cookbook on Amazon.
‘Salt Acid Fat Heat’
Based on the New York Times best-selling cookbook, Salt Acid Fat Heat by Samin Nosrat, this four-part Netflix documentary of the same name discusses the four elements of good cooking, according to the James Beard Award-winning chef.
In the series, Nosrat travels to Japan, Italy, Mexico and California to taste delicious dishes that master the four elements. Like Chef’s Table and Street Food, this documentary series is filled with gorgeous food footage and travel cinematography.
‘Ugly Delicious’
Embark on a culinary journey around the world with popular chef David Chang in Netflix’s documentary series, Ugly Delicious.
On every episode, Chang travels to different restaurants around the world to taste unique takes on common dishes like pizza, tacos, fried chicken and fried rice. He even dives into crawfish in Louisiana and the Viet-Cajun crawfish trend in Houston. To taste and discuss the dishes with him, Chang brings along a celebrity friend, including the likes of TV host Jimmy Kimmel, actor Nick Kroll and comedian Aziz Ansari.
‘Nailed It’
Cooking should be fun. And that’s why there are shows like Nailed It to remind us that we’re not all award-winning chefs. And that’s OK.
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On this competitive reality show, amateur bakers with not-so-great track records in the kitchen compete to re-create edible showstoppers. Throughout the series, home cooks attempt to make everything from Marvel-themed cupcakes to gingerbread self-portraits.
By the end of each episode, the amateur baker that re-creates the best dessert wins a $10,000 prize.
What cooking shows are you watching this summer? Let us know in the comments!