The Mind of a Chef

2012
The Mind of a Chef

Seasons & Episodes

  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1

EP1 Genesis Nov 13, 2017

Nobody gets a say in the life they’re born into. Thrust into a body, a family, a country and a history, the story of our lives are merely the sum of an endless combination of circumstantial factors determining who we will know, how we will fare, who we will become. But for those adopted, their origins are complicated as the where they were born fuses with the world in which they’re raised. Danny Bowien was born in Korea but only spent the first 3 months of his infant life there. He was adopted and raised by American parents in Oklahoma — religious, hard-working folks – and instead of a life in Seoul, Danny grows up in suburban middle-America. Adapting to this life was easy, for it was all he knew, but he constantly carried traces of his past with him, superficially and also buried deep below.

EP2 Threshold Nov 13, 2017

Danny spends the bulk of his time obsessing over the future – there is urgency in him that needs to be on top of everything, ahead of every trend, aware of what lies beyond the curve. But it would be impossible to know where he’s going without first examining where he came from, and from where that drive was borne. Once he committed to leaving Oklahoma, Danny emerged in San Francisco as a human tabula rasa, open to all of the experiences the city laid before him. It was here that Danny formed who he was as a person and as a chef, and the grassroots movement of Mission Street Food blossomed into what is now his greatest success.

EP3 Mentor Nov 13, 2017

Danny has been to China several times, but he’s visited Chengdu (the geographical and spiritual capital of Szechuan food) only once. He’s returning here to reconnect with the place, the food and the person – renowned chef Yu Bo – that have influenced him the most. Szechuan food has been the greatest source of inspiration for Danny, and consequently his life. This episode is about the dishes, cooking methods, unique flavors and stories (both his and Yu Bo’s) that have driven Danny on a quest to master this style of food.

EP4 Family Nov 20, 2017

For better or worse, we do not get to choose the family into which we’re born. In Danny’s case, nor did he get to choose the family that adopted him. He had no say in where he would live or how he’d be raised. After his mother’s death he felt a bizarre combination of liberation mixed with guilt, and he desperately wanted to hold on to – or recreate – the familial feel of togetherness.

EP5 Risk Nov 27, 2017

Without risk, there would not be the valuable by-products of risk – success and failure. Danny Bowien has learned that there is power in taking chances, and risk can be virtuous when it comes to navigating the creative process. Now more than ever, he has gained confidence in taking these risks, and grown more comfortable with both of its outcomes.

EP6 Unexpected Dec 04, 2017

Danny Bowien does not cook authentic Chinese cuisine, but he cooks genuine Danny Bowien cuisine – food that is inspired by his love of Szechuan food and New York City and his family and new experiences. He is 100% himself, and is constantly in search and awe of others who are the same.

EP7 Classics Dec 11, 2017

Continuing on the Hero’s Journey, if Korea was his starting point and San Francisco was his first threshold, New York City is where Danny’s adventure reaches the apex. Danny really believes that if you can make it in this ultra-competitive town with its even more competitive dining scene, then there’s nowhere you can’t succeed. While he never readily admits to long-term goals, there was a desire backed up by a strategy to prove himself as one of the Greats.

EP8 Multiverse Dec 18, 2017

What would have happened if Danny never left Oklahoma, or was not adopted at all? Instead of looking at life as a series of “what ifs,” the lens of the multiverse allows us to see a reality with infinite possibilities and infinite selves. In this, Danny is still an orphan, and is not an orphan, he opens a Chinese bakery, he grows up in Korea, and he is even a puppet.
8| 0h30m| TV-PG| en| More Info
Released: 09 November 2012 Ended
Producted By: GBH
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.pbs.org/show/mind-chef/
Synopsis

Go inside the minds of some of the world's top chefs. Narrated by Executive Producer Anthony Bourdain, The Mind of a Chef is that rare and beautiful thing: an intelligent show about cooking.

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Reviews

Jackie Zhao-Jing Huang I enjoyed the show but was quite turned off by the final episodes evolving around the Swedish chef. The trivial smartness and tricks he took so much delight in, seems to be pleasing himself more than anything, but they are just some stratagem and ruse upon himself. It was not serious or genuine cooking - it was mimicry of the environmental surroundings, clumsy, uncultured, sometimes brutal - especially the scenes on Faroe Islands. The way he cooked a duck will make any Asian chef laugh. I quite the show upon this chef. The show also overlooked Indian, Middle Eastern, and Asian chefs, perhaps due to the production difficulties. Many of the casting duplicated "Chef's Table." I wish to see more of heartfelt and genuine cooking instead of trivial smartness in future.
marcelogiudicealves The best food show presenter/writer narrates as one of the smartest and most creative chef of today takes a journey that presents how his professional skills and personality were build. Bourdain's only highlight the steps of the lead character, David Chang, as he takes his friends to places he loves and meets chefs he admires, from his home town New York to Tokyo, passing by Denmark, Spain and many other places, always displaying his good natured rock-and-roll personality. Changs light approach towards the kitchen and food is a real bliss during these days that chefs are taking their craft a little too seriously. To be watched slowly, savoring each short episode.