This documentary lives at two levels. The first are the stories, a telling and touching group where the culinary envirnoments are engaged and, whether in triumph and tragedy, we learn of our humanity and history through food. The central theme is simple. We need to eat. In war, in peace, in crisis, survival begins with sustenance. The stories told bring history to life.
The second level, however, is the video. An unsettling showing of a bovine, pig, chicken, and an unarmed tent dweller being dispatched in stark brutality. This was unexpected. This was unwanted. This didn’t sit well with my sensibilities. As good as the stories were, the film expired with the cow. Maybe if you watched Cooking History with the video off, listening to the gift of chat. But then, it wouldn’t be a film.