Latest news with #AntoninCarême
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sex, sugar and sabotage: 'Carême' introduces world's first celebrity chef in raunchy period drama
A new lavish French period drama has hit Apple TV - Carême follows Antonin Carême - the world's first celebrity chef - as he whisks, spies, and seduces his way through Napoleonic Paris.
Business Insider
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
The 11 best things to stream this weekend, from 'Another Simple Favor' to season 2 of 'The Walking Dead: Dead City'
The French-language series "Carême" focuses on the real-life celebrity chef Antonin Carême. While waiting for season four of "The Bear" to premiere, Apple TV+ has released its own racy, drama-filled show to fill the void for foodies. "Carême" follows world-class French chef and spy Antonin Carême (Benjamin Voisin) as he rises to fame during Napoleon's reign in Europe. The first two episodes are now streaming, and new episodes will be released weekly through June 11. For more food-centric entertainment, watch "Chef's Table: Legends." The Emmy-nominated series "Chef's Table" has returned with a spinoff focused on four culinary icons who shaped the industry: Jamie Oliver, José Andrés, Alice Waters, and Thomas Keller. "Another Simple Favor" delivers on laughs, crime, and plot twists. The "Simple Favor" sequel is set five years after suburban mom vlogger Stephanie Smothers (Kendrick) exposed enigmatic PR director Emily Nelson's (Lively) past and got her sentenced to 20 years in prison. Now, Emily's out of the slammer, heading to Italy to get married, and has another simple request for Stephanie. The 2004 classic "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" shows how two characters cope with their breakup. Celine Song's "Past Lives" zooms in on two childhood sweethearts who reconnect in adulthood. Celine Song's semi-autobiographical film, which stars Greta Lee and Teo Yoo, received Oscar nominations for best picture and best original screenplay at the 2024 awards show. "The Four Seasons" gets a modern-day update in an eight-episode Netflix comedy series. The show, which stars Tina Fey, Steve Carell, and Colman Domingo, centers on three married couples who have been friends for 30 years. One of the pair's divorces complicates their relaxing weekend getaway. "The Four Seasons" is co-created, written, and executive produced by Fey, who also serves as the co-showrunner alongside Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield. "The Righteous Gemstones" concludes with its season four finale. The series is created and written by Danny McBride, who also stars as Jesse Gemstone, a member of the titular codependent televangelist family. The series ends with its season four finale, which will air on HBO on Sunday night and be available to stream on Max. "Twilight" is now streaming on Netflix. Seventeen years after the first film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's hit movie made vampires cool again, " Twilight" remains a pop culture touchstone. If you're a Twihard, rewatch Catherine Hardwicke's iconic film starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, and the four sequels on Netflix. If you missed out on the supernatural craze in the noughties and 2010s, now's your chance to see what all the hype is about. For sci-fi thrills, watch the Argentine series "The Eternaut." The six-episode show is an adaptation of the Argentine sci-fi graphic novel "The Eternaut" ("El Eternauta"), written by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and illustrated by Francisco Solano López. The series is set in motion by a rare, toxic snowfall that kills everything it comes in contact with, wiping out the majority of the population in Buenos Aires. In the aftermath, the survivors band together to stay alive amid an alien invasion. For another apocalyptic adventure, catch the season two premiere of "The Walking Dead: Dead City." Conan O'Brien is honored for his contributions to comedy in "Conan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor."
Daily Mirror
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
New historical drama with rare '100%' score is the 'sexiest show of 2025'
Critics are raving about this new Apple TV+ series and they all agree it's the sexiest thing on TV right now A new historical drama with rave reviews and a rare 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes is currently streaming. TV critics have claimed the period drama is an absolute must-watch and they've all used the same enticing word to describe it - 'sexy'. It's clear to see this sweeping romantic thriller is one of the most alluring new shows for the 2020s yet, and you might even learn a thing or two while you're being wooed by this captivating tale. Set in 19th Century Paris, Carême follows the scandalous exploits of maverick French chef Antonin Carême (played by Benjamin Voisin) who worked his way up the ranks of society to cook for some of the most powerful world leaders at the time, including Napoleon Bonaparte (Frank Molinaro). His unruly reputation caught the eye of rebellious politicians who tried to entice him into becoming a spy, but is the world's first celebrity chef the right man for the job? Strong reviews have been pouring in for this titillating and breathtaking historical masterpiece since its debut on Apple TV+ this Wednesday (30th April). The Guardian's four-star write-up called the show 'a sexy French romp about a chef who's too spicy to handle'. They continued temptingly: 'It's hard to resist this moreish story about Napoleon's renegade pastry chef (who is also a spy). Orgies, opium and tantalising fun with whipped cream are all on the menu.' Adding intriguing comparisons to other shows, they went on: 'There is also a natural through-line to The Great, which similarly romped its way through history and had its own fair share of grand indulgences and orgy scenes. 'Carême's real trick, though, is to mix all this up with Bake Off: The Professionals, or even the majestic Is It Cake? For all the political machinations, backstabbing and treachery in the Tuileries, the real moments of wonder are in Carême's kitchen concoctions.' The New York Times agreed with the assessment, calling it a 'sexy historical kitchen drama.' Variety was also getting hot under the collar, penning: 'Sexy Chef Spy Drama 'Carême' Is Flirty, Fun and Oh-So-French.' Their positive review continued, 'the twisty plot is endlessly entertaining' and added, 'Carême offers plenty of eye candy, from sprawling châteaus to anachronistically tousled hair to an entire pyramid made of pastries.' They concluded: 'Carême makes for a transportive experience. In that sense, at least, it's akin to a great meal.' And the Telegraph wrote: 'The story of the Napoleonic superstar chef is whipped into a sexy soufflé', likening the drama to Bridgerton and Bake-Off.
BBC News
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The 'first celebrity chef': How 19th-Century cook Antonin Carême made extraordinary food fit for kings
A new Apple TV+ series explores the life of the so-called "King of Chefs and the Chef of Kings" – shown as a wild enfant terrible in post-Revolutionary France who blazed a trail for future generations of cooks. It's described as "the story of the first celebrity chef". The French language series Carême is a dramatisation of the life of Antonin Carême, who was born into poverty in pre-Revolutionary Paris around 1784. His talent would make him chef for the French diplomat Charles Talleyrand, the Emperor Napoleon, the future George IV of Britain, Tsar Alexander of Russia and the Baron de Rothschild. He also wrote celebrated cookbooks and introduced the Torque (the tall chef's hat), still in use today – giving birth to the very idea of the "celebrity" chef. Indeed, Benjamin Voisin, the actor playing Antonin Carême, believes that if the chef had been working in the 2020s, "he'd have been the one with 100 million views on TikTok. That would be the equivalent of what he did at the time," he tells the BBC. And Voisin's portrayal of Carême feels modern; he plays him with a touch of the rock star as well as kitchen chef. He wears an earring, his clothes seem to owe more to the 1980s New Romantic movement than 19th-Century costume, and from his affairs with women to his lack of deference to his so-called superiors, he is what could be described (in French) as an enfant terrible. He is also confident, brash and authoritative in his kitchen – a manner that echoes 21st-Century celebrity chefs such as Gordon Ramsay. The series is inspired by a biography of Carême and his gastronomy by Ian Kelly, who also co-created the series with screenwriter Davide Serino. The historical figure of the young chef is actually described by Kelly in his book as a "bookish innocent" when he takes his first job, but Voisin's look in the series isn't too far from Kelly's description of Carême aged 25: "He was handsome, his hair cut and tousled forward in the fashionably Byronic manner... he was described as slight, and a slight eater." Kelly also describes Carême as "ambitious, solipsistic, even narcissistic" as a person – although the Carême on screen risks much for those he loves. Indeed, perhaps inevitably, the series takes various liberties with the truth, also depicting Carême as a spy for his powerful masters, something there's no historical evidence for. The show's lead director Martin Bourboulon describes the added drama as "the charm of fiction in the show". The reality is that the real man didn't leave much information behind. As Kelly says in his biography, "He [Carême] would disclose the minutiae of his professional life… and the menus, guests and ingredients that made up his working days. But about his personal life he revealed nothing." What is true to the era is the depiction of the aristocratic kitchens he worked in, his small army of staff, and their fevered preparations for royal banquets. He's seen in the series organising a meal for Napoleon Bonaparte, and in real life he was responsible for the Emperor's wedding cake. Carême's ability to sugar-sculpt led to extraordinary creations in the shape of classical lyres and Venetian gondolas, all carefully sketched out on paper first by the chef himself. But that wasn't all he was capable of, according to Paul Freedman, Professor of History at Yale University. "He helped establish a routine for how kitchens were run," Freedman tells the BBC. "He also defined dishes and the repertoire of sauces, what was considered to go with what food, what kind of garnishes would be standard, and the kind of multi-course dining that would come to be characteristic [of haute cuisine]. And as his original metier was confectionery and sugar sculpting, even having a centrepiece of sculpted food is owed to Carême." While some of the real-life recipes in his cookbooks still sound mouthwatering (Kelly mentions an orange flower and pink champagne jelly), others, such as a stuffed boar's head, might seem strange to today. But Bourboulon says that, above all, he wanted to make the chef himself accessible to a modern audience. Bourboulon, responsible for two successful film adaptations of Alexandre Dumas's historical novel The Three Musketeers, tells the BBC that he wanted to avoid "the usual period drama style" in this story. "I really wanted to bring some a bit of sexiness, rock 'n' roll attitude, and a modern twist for all the main characters, especially Carême," he says. "And Benjamin Voisin is like this in real life." Voisin says their idea of the chef was that he had "a Mick Jagger aspect to him. It's really what attracted me". "I love looking to the historical story of Carême, but this rock star element, that kind of Lenny Kravitz look he has, plus the idea the show gives about his attitude to life, is really important. Maybe that's why Martin came to me to talk about playing him. I also love the story of this young man trying to find his place in society." The historical Carême's stellar career might well have given him a swagger; he was known as "the King of Chefs and the Chef of Kings". He's often credited as a founder of French gastronomy and of Grande Cuisine (classic French cuisine which was at its most lavish during the 19th Century). However, according to Paul Freedman, Professor of History at Yale University, he might not even be France's first celebrity chef. The Frenchman Guillaume Tirel, known as "Taillevent", is famous for cooking for French kings during his lifetime (1310-95), and wrote a cookbook that still survives, The Viandier. Several restaurants still bear his name. Carême's status is, he says, "a celebrity chef of modern Europe, but still almost the last of a kind. He lived still in the time of the courts and chefs finding aristocratic patrons. He doesn't have a restaurant or interact with ordinary people, [and] his tremendous number of cookbooks aren't directed towards amateurs, but towards other chefs. "So he's a transitional point to the purely modern celebrity chef, who are celebrities in the sense of media exposure, their television presence or just their ability to be a character and to run a restaurant." The young Carême's turnaround in life was remarkable. Historian Ian Kelly describes him in his biography, Carême: The First Celebrity Chef (which inspired the series) as one of multiple children in a family from one of Paris's worst slums. By 1792, around the same time that the "Reign of Terror" would begin in the French Revolution (a period of state-sanctioned violence and executions) he had been abandoned by his parents but was taken in by a cook, and then apprenticed to a notable pâtissier, Sylvain Bailly. While still a very young man, he was hired by one of the most famous politicians of the Napoleonic era: Prince Charles Maurice Talleyrand-Périgord, known as Talleyrand. Even if the real Carême didn't dabble in espionage, Bourboulon points out that the chef's culinary brilliance would have been exploited as a display of power by his employers, and that food would have been as much a part of diplomacy during the early 19th Century as the modern state banquet is now. "We know that Carême worked for Prince of Talleyrand and for Napoleon," he tells the BBC. "It's so French to share the menu, the food, and use the quality of the food to help diplomatic relationships, and historically, they really did do this. There's an example at the end of the first episode, when Carême brings in a dessert for Napoleon and an English diplomat seated at the same table. And it's exactly how we imagine it would have been done during that time." Food and sensuality Politics isn't the only display of passion in the narrative either, or as Bourboulon says, "Love is as important in the lives of French people, possibly more so". The visuals directly link the food Carême cooks with sensuality; the camera lingers over the dishes, while red fruit drips over the title sequence. The series even starts with Carême licking cream off his love interest Henriette, played by Lyna Khoudri. "The parallel between the two types of pleasure is there in the series," Voisin says. "Hands are involved in both cooking and the pleasures of the flesh, that's the connection." The link between French food and sensuality are linked was certainly there in Carême's Paris. Ian Kelly describes how the post-Revolution capital "had become the City of Light – and the capital of food". The talk around the young Carême, he says, would have been "of philosophy, fashion, food and sex: what the world has come to expect from Paris". Carême's fame grew across Europe because of his celebrity clientele, but he also benefited from France's growing interest in gastronomy as culture (he was also a contemporary of gourmet Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, celebrated for writing about the art of eating) and the idea that French cuisine was superior because of the sensuality of its people, Paul Freedman says. "I think it goes back to the image that France continues to have today as pleasure-loving, as sophisticated, not merely gorging themselves or getting drunk, but [possessed of] a kind of sensuality that is cultivated in the sense it's tasteful and distinguished," he tells the BBC. A French chef, he explains, would become necessary as a status symbol for many aristocrats of the 19th and 20th Century. "One of the biggest examples in literature is PG Wodehouse writing about one of Bertie Wooster's aunts, Dahlia, living in terror that her temperamental French chef, Anatole, would quit." The era of the celebrity restaurant chef was ushered in by Carême's growing fame, and the cookbooks he wrote, according to Professor Nathalie Cooke, the author of Tastes and Traditions: A Journey Through Menu History. Before the French Revolution, restaurants existed in limited form in Paris, but most served only soup. Their proliferation, Cooke tells the BBC, was born from "economic disaster". "Imagine you're an aspiring young chef and you're working in Paris in the late 18th Century, and they've beheaded Marie Antoinette, and they're getting rid of all those jobs that you've aspired to, cooking for royalty and the aristocracy," she says. "That's why the restaurant culture grew: these very skilled chefs needed to make money and find an audience during economic turbulence, and in a post-royalty age. That's also why Carême wrote cookbooks: he was establishing himself in this new age of print media, but also, by addressing his work to other chefs, he was training a new breed of chef that was going to serve a larger audience instead of just royalty." The chefs who followed in his footsteps A later French celebrity chef who dominated European food culture, Auguste Escoffier, (1846-1935) – who ran restaurants at the Ritz hotels in Europe, and at the Savoy Hotel and Carlton Club in London – "is really Carême's heir," Cooke says. "Escoffier really becomes famous when he decides to write down formal French cooking methods," she explains. "He was able to achieve Carême's vision [of making recipes accessible to other chefs] in a way that Carême could not, because Carême was living in the age of the birth of restaurant culture, which was only just developing and only in Paris. Escoffier took it to London too." (Carême did spend time in England, serving the then Prince Regent, later George IV, but although he cooked for Tsar Alexander of Russia in Paris, he refused to move there and take a job.) The emergence of TV and radio (and later internet) in the 20th Century has meant that the celebrity chef has become an international phenomenon, not just confined to those writing cookbooks or running restaurants, but open to all those with a knack for connecting with their audience. The most famous chef of the television era, Julia Child, (portrayed by Meryl Streep in the 2009 film Julie and Julia) was an American who had lived in Paris, and a devotee of French cooking. She even received the Antonin Carême Medal for excellence, although this is a US, not a French, honour. In another nod to modernity, the young Carême in the series is also shown taking part in a chef's competition, normalised now by the growth of shows such as Iron Chef, MasterChef, and The Great British Bake Off (which streams internationally as The Great British Baking Show.) While the latter's "Showstopper" category might trace its ancestry back to Carême's own sugar sculptures of the 19th Century, the first modern professional event of this kind for chefs started in 1983, when another chef, Paul Bocuse, established the Bocuse D'Or, in Lyon, France. But now that TV shows, podcasting and social media also allow skilled amateurs to become celebrities, Paul Freedman says there are characteristics of how he discerns a truly "celebrity" chef "My definition in books and articles that I've written is that the contemporary celebrity chef is distinguished by being regarded as a genius or an artist, [as opposed to] people who are [just] excellent at their craft. The Frenchman Paul Bocuse would be the first celebrity chef according to that definition, in the 1980s. Even before he invents dishes, he created the ethos of the chef as genius, and a version of a creative artist. So the celebrity chefs of our era are excellent at their craft, but Ferran Adrià, who was at El Bulli, or René Redzepi of Noma, or Heston Blumenthal in Britain are all [also] creative geniuses, or at least that's how they're presented." There is though, a direct line traceable from their creations, and their kitchens, to those of Antonin Carême – and not just because some of them might still wear a Torque. Bourboulon hopes that this new portrayal of the chef, nearly 200 years after he died, will give his legacy new attention. "Although Carême's name is quite famous in France, it could be even more famous, I think," he says. "I would love people to rediscover, or just discover, what he did, how this young man brought all his talents to the tables of these powerful men like Napoleon. His life is a really exciting thing to mix together – food, love and politics." Carême premieres globally on Apple TV+ from April 30, 2025. -- If you liked this story sign up for The Essential List newsletter, a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week. For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
The Guardian
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Carême review – a sexy French romp about a chef who's too spicy to handle
Much like the desserts whipped up by its titular cook, Carême is a rich, moreish and knowingly indulgent treat. This swashbuckling French period drama follows the 'world's first celebrity chef' Antonin Carême as he cavorts around Paris in the early 1800s under the watchful eye of first consul Napoleon Bonaparte, whom he has sworn to hate as he holds him responsible for the death of his adopted sister. It is about as understated as a 12-course tasting menu. But as it scoffs and seduces its way through the Napoleonic era, it's hard not to fall for the extravagant charms of the Bake Off: extra spice. Carême (a twinkly-eyed Benjamin Voisin, in full rock-star mode) is a principled young renegade and preternaturally talented pastry chef who makes his disdain for Napoleon clear from the beginning. Despite being midway through a steamy, whipped cream-based encounter with his sometime girlfriend Henriette (Lyna Khoudri), he is called away from his, ahem, tasting session and asked to cook for the troops. 'Should I poison them?' he asks, cheekily, before setting to work. He does not choose to commit mass murder, but does reluctantly end up saving Napoleon's life, leaving Carême in a bind. Should he work for the man he despises? Does he have a choice? I know little about the real-life Carême, but this reimagining of him is stuffed to bursting. He is a magician with pastry, but also a Casanova (if you'll forgive the elision of historical shaggers), a reckless fighter, a top-notch head chef, a consumer of opium, a herbalist who can treat any number of maladies with his concoctions, plus a spy and political operator who conspires against powerful men. Why add just one more element, when you can also chuck in a mass explosion, blackmail, illicit children, religion, war and just about anything else that comes to mind? And then make it all about cake? Inevitably, for any show that thrives on the stress of cooking and centres on a charismatic yet tortured chef, it has more than a touch of The Bear. The ample plot lines rat-a-tat along to the military beat of a professional kitchen, and there's a lot of shouting and posturing and perfectionism. Carême learns from, and eventually recruits, Agathe (Alice Da Luz), who is a more orderly chef than him and who seems able to harness Carême's self-destructive streak, allowing him to produce delicious and visionary food for rich people. She states, early on, that she will only work with him if they don't sleep together. I am sure that with all those smouldering looks passing between them, they will not struggle to honour this agreement. Not a bit. If it's easy to compare one show to another, and there is also a natural through-line to The Great, which similarly romped its way through history and had its own fair share of grand indulgences and orgy scenes. Carême is not nearly as funny as The Great, a period drama with a razor-sharp wit, instead being more earnest and inclined towards sentimentality. But even so, it is always enjoyable when period dramas undo their top buttons and hitch up their hemlines. Carême's real trick, though, is to mix all this up with Bake Off: The Professionals, or even the majestic Is It Cake? For all the political machinations, backstabbing and treachery in the Tuileries, the real moments of wonder are in Carême's kitchen concoctions. In this show, desserts can bring nations together, drive married couples apart and seduce the powerful and wealthy. Napoleon is mocked for his limited appetite and basic taste, but his sweet tooth allows Carême a way in. Unfortunately for him, that way in may be via the famous Joséphine's bedroom, as she is much more receptive to his culinary talents. Initially, there are hints that this show may be an acquired taste. It's hard to root for Carême at first, given how obnoxious he is. At times, you'd happily leave him to his fate at the hands of Napoleon's most brutal lieutenants. But the drama moves along at such a spirited pace that it sucks you in, and after its opening pair of episodes, it is difficult to resist. Apple's insistence on releasing series in weekly instalments, rather than dumping them all at once, suits the over-the-top decadence. It would be too sickly in large measures … but as an occasional treat, it works beautifully. It's not deep, and it isn't subtle, but it is unapologetically fun. Carême is on Apple TV+ now
