Chefs a' field Culinary adventures that begin on the farm

This two-DVD set contains the fourth season of the PBS television series that is "one of the first in the cooking genre to focus on environmental issues." Featured chefs carefully consider ecological issues when searching for quality ingredients that should be purchased locally (to ensure freshness) from farmers, fishermen, and others who support sustainability. In the opening program, a family-owned restaurant in California uses salad fixings from the family garden and cheese from a local sheep farmer. Back in their kitchen, the restaurant chefs teach their children how to prepare tasty egg, bacon, and sheep-cheese sandwiches. In another segment, a Las Vegas chef known for his creative seafood menu travels to Alaska to see a king salmon harvest firsthand and to talk to native fishermen. He returns to his restaurant to prepare the fresh catch. Touching on a deft mix of travel, cookery, and environmental issues, this set will appeal to various viewers, from foodies to armchair travelers. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Each episode in this captivating PBS series begins with a visit to a farm that specializes in ingredients of interest to a serious local chef who then serves as the viewer's guide to gourmet dishes that make use of those ingredients. Viewers are treated to facts about the featured foods beyond recipes and cooking methods; an interesting dish or two are highlighted in each episode. Children who helped to gather the ingredients and share in the cooking process—the chefs' kids, the farmers' kids, local youth—get face time, too. Unfortunately, precious minutes are spent on hard-sell spiels for the sponsors' products. Granted, the hyped-up dialog, while irritating, is difficult to eliminate, for example, in the dairy episode, narration lauds the purity and cleanliness of California milk and slyly suggests it is superior to products from the Midwest. Still, the opening and closing promos could easily have been deleted before releasing the videos for sale. Now, they must be endured in order to view this set of otherwise entertaining and educational programs. Extras include special tips and recipes.—Sheila S. Intner, Emerita, Simmons GSLIS at Mt. Holyoke Coll., South Hadley, MA [Page 57]. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Follows chefs as they travel to various North American locations to explore the origins of food and present related cooking lessons, with a special focus on environmental issues surrounding agriculture and eating habits.