Latin America in the Chef’s Table

Food media, such as Netflix’s Chef’s Table, presents both an empirical and a normative-aspirational dimension, communicating specific instructions and projecting powerful images of what constitutes a good meal and a culinary authority. This investigation examines the five episodes in the series that portrayed Latin American chefs. The selected episodes present and reproduce the inequalities and gendered distinctions in Latin American professional kitchens. Gender and centre-periphery inequities emerge as intertwined issues, feeding colonialist perspectives and the discourse that a woman's place is in the domestic realm, while men are presented as dreamers, avant-garde, innovators in the fine dining scene. However, the series also promotes environmental sustainability and brings attention to local ingredients and culinary techniques.