When it comes to cooking shows, there are few that really focus on the humans rather than the food – but with Restaurants at the End of the World, that’s exactly what the show is intending to do.
Restaurants at the End of the World is the latest cooking show hosted by Kristen Kish, and while it doesn’t intend to teach viewers the fundamentals of cooking, it takes fans on a wild ride throughout the world to some of the most remote restaurants in the world. Kish, who is a Top Chef winner, television personality and a restauranteur, gets to try wild new foods that you would never expect, such as reindeer tongue. She also can be seen climbing down a waterfall to use watercress for a new recipe.
Yes, the draw of the food is something that anyone would be interested in watching, but when talking to CinemaBlend about the show, Kish was the first one to agree that Restaurants at the End of the World, while highlighting some incredible, out-of-this-world cuisine, also focuses on the humans behind the food, and the culture that they have.
We talk about food, we talk about where the food comes from, we go and get the ingredients, but then on the other side of that, which i think the beauty of this show is, is that it can tap into not only food, but also just humans, saying, ‘Who does this, and why are they doing it, and what are they driven by?’ And those things coming together really give you a full picture of their food and the food they inevitably serve to their guests.
Kish said that the idea came to her a long time ago, and through National Geographic, it was almost like a combination of her personal and professional life coming together where she got to get to know these people at these incredible restaurants, while also expanding her knowledge of food.
We’re going to these places not to explore the local cuisine – we are going to explore a very specific, personal cuisine and outlook on food, That already leads you to want to know about these people, because I’ve always said to know a chef’s food is to know where they come from outside of food.
There are plenty of new cooking shows and great baking shows out there, such as Gordon Ramsay’s latest hit on Fox, Next Level Chef (joining his plethora of cooking shows out there).
Another that has come out recently is the HBO Max original, The Big Brunch, but nothing is quite the same as Restaurants the End of the World. There’s no competition, no drama – just the pure love for good food and great people.
Something Kish even really enjoyed about filming the series is while she was there to work and to cook, there were also times where she was off the clock and was able to hang out with the subjects of each episode, which was where she “really got to know them” outside of the kitchen.
I got to basically hang out with these people and get to know who they are, which is one of the beautiful parts, and I think that the way that I was able and we were able to connect on camera…was the fact of what was happening off camera.
For such an intimate experience as cooking in the most remote places of the world, Kish would be the first one to do it all over again for the chance to meet with the people behind the dish once more.
Restaurants at the End of the World premieres weekly at 10 p.m. on National Geographic, while premiering the next day on Disney+.
