Omnivore takes a Planet Earth approach to food

It took more than 10 years—and a pandemic—to bring an immersive eight-episode series journeying into the world of everyday ingredients to life. The wait will be over on June 19, when the new original Apple TV+ docuseries premieres on the streaming platform globally. Omnivore features the voice (and brief presence) of Noma chef René Redzepi, who can now see his dream of having his own TV show realized. “I was invited to go on TV a few times, but I was never convinced by the idea,” says Redzepi on a Zoom call from his test kitchen in Copenhagen.

“One day, I started thinking about what it would be like if I developed a series. What came to mind were the great nature documentaries I loved as a child—and still do today—with the calming, soothing, and inspirational voice of David Attenborough. And I thought: Could we have a food show with the scope, dedication, and care that Planet Earth has?” he recalls. The idea for the series began to take shape around 2010, but it wasn't until the pandemic that the project gained momentum. Redzepi invited writer and Emmy-winning executive producer Matt Goulding, of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, to join the project, and after four years, it finally came to fruition.

The episodes created by them, in partnership with a talented team of producers and directors (such as Isabel Coixet, Sami Khan, and Collin Orcutt), endeavor to bring to the screen a vision of food with the same enthusiasm and curiosity as the life of “a worm that lives under a leaf in the Amazonian jungle,” as the chef explains. Through eight foods that shape how we eat in the world today—chili, banana, coffee, corn, pork, rice, salt, and tuna—Omnivore proposes a globe-spanning odyssey unveiling the inspirational stories behind these ingredients. From a school in a tiny rural village in western Spain to coffee plantations in Rwanda, from a banana farm in Kerala to the Tabasco factory in Louisiana, the series aims to show the intricate ways in which food is produced and consumed, and helped transform human history.

The segment that narrates the importance of coffee as an indispensable fuel in our daily lives is a prime example. Initially to be filmed in Ethiopia but relocated to Rwanda due to visa denials and travel restrictions on the verge of a civil war, the episode follows Arthur Karuletwa, a coffee sustainability and traceability expert, to explain how the bean transformed his reality and that of many people in the country. From the introduction of the first coffee plants by German missionaries and the genocide that ravaged Rwanda in the 1990s to the recent revitalization of the industry, the series shows how coffee has given new hope to many farmers. “It is proof of how impactful an ingredient can be for a nation, both negatively and positively,” highlights Redzepi. “Food is never just food,” as he repeats often in the series.

According to Goulding, Omnivore is really the story of the incredible people on the front lines of our food system—the ones who dedicate themselves to feeding the world. It’s not just about the chefs at the end of the line, but also the farmers, producers, and distributors who make our food possible. “We hope that being able to show the entirety of the food chain drives home just how incredibly wondrous and amazing it is that we get to eat the way that we do in 2024,” he says.

Deciding which foods to follow was one of the biggest challenges of the series. “We started with about 100 ingredients. It's like walking into a market. Everything you see is a potential episode. Every ingredient has an incredible story to tell, many incredible stories to tell,” Goulding explains. They also looked for geographical and thematic diversity. “The metaphor we always used was this is a concept album. Every song has its own rhythm, its own lyrics, its own tempo, but all tied to this larger work, this larger message, which is there's nothing more important than food,” he adds. Like conceiving a recipe, it was all about balance. “We wanted a handful of these world-building foundational staples like rice and corn. A handful of ingredients that may not be vital for our survival but say something important about us. In the case of chili pepper, it's an exploration of the human psyche. What makes us tick? Why do we search for pleasure through pain?” he asks.

Chili pepper, by the way, was one of Redzepi's favorites. Having grown up in Macedonia, where he remembers the curtains of drying chili peppers covering the houses, he recalls scenes from his childhood of men biting into raw chilis with gusto between big mouthfuls of food. “I remember being both dismayed and mesmerized by that. When we were thinking about the episodes of the series, I remember writing to Matt and joking: 'Remember Jiro Dreams of Sushi [an award-winning food documentary]? How about creating a Rene Dreams of Chili?'" he laughs. Not by chance, the series culminates in a spicy epiphany, a chaotic edible finale that brings the entire Noma team full circle in the kitchen, "climbing up the Scoville scale," as Goulding explains. (And we won't say more to avoid spoilers).

Having reached the pinnacle of the gastronomic world with Noma—a restaurant that has topped best restaurant lists and won numerous awards over its 20-year history—Redzepi mostly steps away from fine-dining kitchens for the show to focus on the origins of our food. The series highlights the broader ecosystem of farmers and growers around the world, aiming to inspire viewers to appreciate food more deeply. By concentrating on the stories of ingredients and the people behind them, Omnivore emphasizes the importance of understanding where our food comes from and the effort involved in its production. “We need to appreciate food much more than we do, to value it as the most important thing in our lives because it is,” he points out.

From the very beginning, the chef wanted the show to be less about him and more about the food and its cultural significance. “I set myself the goal of not appearing for more than three minutes in each episode. I didn’t count how long I’m actually present in each of them, but on average, I think we achieved that, which makes me happy. I wanted to be just a vehicle to tell these inspiring stories that we have gathered,” he says. In fact, Omnivore breaks new ground for a series with a famous chef behind it, choosing to make him more of a narrator than the host or central character that television often showcases with renowned chefs. Redzepi’s voice, full of nuances, guides the episodes in a seamless and thought-provoking way, highlighting the connections that sustain global food systems.

According to the chef, TV is a powerful vehicle for talking about food to a broader audience—“many of whom have never even heard of my name,” he laughs. “Imagine if we valued food the same way we value football, putting thousands of people in front of a screen to think about how we eat and reflect on the role of food,” he says. Redzepi's dream with Omnivore is that the series could truly make this impact, encouraging viewers to think more critically about their food choices and the entire food system. “Omnivore is a show where we're not trying to preach or teach people. Instead, we try to inspire them,” he concludes.