‘Chef's Table: Legends': David Gelb and Brian McGinn reflect on a decade of redefining culinary storytelling

Yahoo

28-05-2025

David Gelb and Brian McGinn revolutionized food storytelling with their Netflix series Chef's Table, launched in 2015. Inspired by Gelb's critically acclaimed 2011 documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Chef's Table has spent the past decade shining a spotlight on the world's most exceptional chefs. Beyond its core seasons, the series has expanded into unique breakout installments dedicated to barbecue, pizza, and noodles. This evolution continues with Chef's Table: Legends, a 2025 spin-off series that debuted on April 28. The four-part series honors a select group of iconic chefs whose pioneering work and global influence have reshaped modern gastronomy.
"Brian selected the chefs for the bulk of it — especially the Legends season," Gelb tells Gold Derby. "Brian is so steeped in chef lore. He knows every chef, every story. When it came to picking out legends he had a very specific agenda. We wanted to do something that was bigger than just being a successful chef."
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McGinn elaborates further: "When we first started casting the show 10 years ago, we were looking for that intersection of passion and a way of looking at the world that overlapped with the style of food they were making. The way things have evolved over 10 years ... we kind of understood that there's a lot of inspiration that chefs can teach all of us about how to live our lives even if we don't cook. It has to do with overcoming adversity, finding your voice — universal things that we all face in our lives."
Selecting the legends for this season was no small feat. Gelb and McGinn share how they grappled with the gravity of the choice, carefully narrowing their focus to four chefs whose impact transcends borders. "We started thinking about legacy," McGinn notes. "What do these people leave behind?"
The final lineup includes Jamie Oliver, José Andrés, Thomas Keller, and Alice Waters. Each chef symbolizes a transformative movement in gastronomy. "Jamie Oliver made food accessible and advocated for people to eat higher quality ingredients in the U.K.," McGinn says. "José Andrés is changing the world right as we speak with World Central Kitchen and providing for people in their darkest hour. Thomas Keller is probably the most important fine dining chef in American history. Alice Waters, for our generation in particular, was the single voice that introduced us to the farm-to-table movement."
Three directors brought these stories to life, each preserving the cinematic essence that defines Chef's Table. McGinn helmed the episode on Jamie Oliver, Gelb directed Alice Waters' installment, and Clay Jeter was brought in to craft the narratives of José Andrés and Thomas Keller.
"We're not teaching you how to cook," Gelb emphasizes. "The idea is to have a human story about why they cook. That's the secret sauce of it. We wanted to bring in different directors that all have a special power — there are certain things that make a Chef's Table episode. It's the philosophy of letting the chef tell their story, finding the imagery, the sounds, and the feelings that take you into their perspective."
McGinn credits their "incredible" team of craftspeople for the show's signature style. "The core of that group are the cinematographers, the editors, and the story teams that have been with us since the very beginning," he says. "When you start as a cinematographer on Chef's Table you've often been an assistant cameraperson before — or shot additional photography for an episode. That shared DNA in the photography and crafts standpoint gets handed down from one production team to the next."
"The same thing happens in post," he continues. "Our editors that have been with us since the beginning — and cycle in and out of seasons — everyone has this institutional knowledge. We have this incredible group of people who haven't left the show for 10 years. That's an incredibly rare thing. Part of it is we're all friends. It's not a bad job to go to the best restaurants in the world and hang out with your friends for two weeks. The other thing is that it's so incredibly rewarding to keep pushing the boundaries."
Gelb also notes how Netflix's unwavering support gave them the resources to redefine unscripted television. "The ability to shoot with prime lenses with cinema cameras — these things were not done in unscripted before," he says. "We are so lucky that Netflix believes so much in what we are trying to do. Nobody else was willing to take this pitch. The idea that Netflix would take a swing on a show like this — and the fact that we would even get to be here for 10 years and have an institution — together we're able to make some really special things."
All episodes of Chef's Table are currently streaming on Netflix.
This article and video are presented by Netflix.
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