Netflix's Street Food isn't especially remarkable or innovative, but it does find a way to be different

Vulture

"If the visual language is borrowed from any number of other series, I suspect that the central idea of Street Food is also less unusual than the series tries to suggest," says Kathryn VanArendonk of the international food series from the producers of Chef's Table. "Any avid viewer of food TV will be more than familiar with the idea that the food prepared by locals and served in humble surroundings can be just as delicious and worthy of celebration as the food at a white tablecloth restaurant. It’s the thesis of Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, for Pete’s sake. (And also Ugly Delicious, and No Reservations … the list goes on.) What makes Street Food different is how much time it spends explaining the connection between the food and the lives of the people who make it. More than any food series I’ve watched, poverty and survival loom over the chefs featured in Street Food. Many of them are women, many of the women are elderly, and the stories they tell about how they came to a mastery of their craft nearly always involve despair." ALSO: Street Food uses sociopolitical questions to re-contextualize the cuisine and center the chefs.