Netflix's Chef's Table: binge-watch this weekend

In the all-you-can-binge buffet that is Netflix’s original programming library, it’s easy to miss a diamond in the rough once in a while. Netflix has dropped one of these gems with its beautifully shot, hunger-inducing series Chef’s Table, which tells the stories of some of the world’s most renowned chefs.

Though not one of the highly promoted, obvious choices (seriously, you need to have binged Kimmy Schmidt by now), Chef’s Table is a must-watch for food lovers. The cinematography coupled with inspiring, food (and love)-driven stories make it an easy binge, and with just six episodes you can get ‘er done before Sunday dinner with ease. Need more convincing? Here’s five reasons why we give it three Michelin stars of our own.

The Chefs’ Stories Are Incredible

This isn’t a glorified competition show on Food Network. The filmmakers go deep to offer in-depth portraits of these culinary masters and how they got there. Massimo Bottura’s story, for instance, shows him leaving his Italian homeland for New York City — then breaking up with his girlfriend to pursue is undying food passions and returning home. Absence made the heart grow fonder, evidently: the two got back together and became one of the Italy’s biggest culinary sensations with “Osteria Francescana.”

You Don’t Need a Kitchen to Cook

In episode 3, watch world-renowned Chef Francis Mallmann catch a fish in a stream, stuff it with herbs and lemon, wrap it in paper, encapsulate it in CLAY HE DUG UP IN THE WOODS and then cook it to perfection in a wood burning oven.

The Food (Duh!)

For each episode, the filmmakers intersperse some of the most delicious-looking plates this side of Top Chef with artfully filmed montages of the chef’s creations.

The Chefs’ All-around Passion

Blue Hill co-owner Dan Barber’s intensity and passion doesn’t make you feel small — it makes you want to be better at whatever it is you do. Also, it’s worth educating yourself on the man who helped make “farm-to-table” what it is. Go ahead, name drop him at your CSA pickup location.

It Gives Us Hope That We Can Cook, Too!

You don’t need a chef’s hat or a culinary degree to make restaurant-worthy food at home. In fact, as Mallmann’s episode shows, sometimes the best chicken is the one you throw RIGHT ON TOP of the burning logs of your backyard fire pit—no foil, no pot, nothing. (Sounds gross, but trust us, it’ll make you drool.)

Watch Chef’s Table here.