Flavorful Origins (2019– ) User Reviews

If you like a bite of china you will like this

[pauldesilets · 9/10 · 5 May 2019]

Great documentary that focuses only in the food and not the people, something that a Bite of China has failed at in the past two seasons.

Love this show

[esswood · 9/10 · 10 September 2019]

This show is not only visually stunning, but the depth of understanding you will gain is up there with a culinary education course. I cook with a lot of these ingredients, and it was really interesting to learn about them in a more in-depth format. I love watching this before bed, since it's actually pretty soothing and relaxing to watch.

The only improvements would be the voice over, and making the episodes longer.

Slow it down!

[tiaspikes · 8/10 · 17 February 2019]

Beautiful cinametogrphy and great content. I wish each episode was longer so they can take their time with showing the people and food in the areas. Each scene feels rushed. Great concept for good show by Netflix.

MASTERPIECE

[eli-bermudez · 10/10 · 14 February 2019]

This series is a visual feast. Episodes are only 10 minutes long, but I keep going back to rewatch almost every scene. Can´t recommend this enough. Love it.

Amazing show on the beauty of Chaoshan cuisine (Recommended to watch the original narration)

[kongchenhwa · 10/10 · 17 February 2019]

I presume the voiceover in English is bad as what the other reviews have said. But the original narration (Mandarin) is amazing, the Chinese choice of descriptive wordings coupled with the amazing way of filming entice me even when I'm full! Chaoshan is the next destination to visit!

Interesting and informative

[robertspear-29012 · 10/10 · 5 July 2019]

I just hope that Netflix creates another season in another region.

Excellent docuseries about the foods in Chaoshan region.

[kontrabassist-85979 · 10/10 · 21 February 2019]

The visuals are beautiful. The English voiceover is probably what people are annoyed by---it really isn't good, but really, when are these voiceovers ever good? Watch it in the original Chinese and it is great. The subtitles are accurate! I'm learning so much in this docuseries!

Poor Narrating

[sitruc1997 · 6/10 · 17 February 2019]

Visuals are enjoyable to see, but the narration is poorly done and makes the show hard to watch.

Beautiful artistic details

[lechau-02640 · 10/10 · 21 February 2019]

Great stories are being told one morsel at a time. Each episode is only 13 minutes and they are artistically very well done. I love the close up and slow motion shots of food. It's very interesting to see the layers of food we eat. How it looked close up. How it's being prepared. Usually, you just eat and takes it for granted. You don't really think or see how much craftsmanship is being put into a simple ingredient such as fish sauce. This show gives me a whole new perspective on the food I eat daily. It's a great show and I can't wait for more!

Terrible voiceover!

[smariedoucet · 6/10 · 15 February 2019]

Content was great but horrendous voiceover work! Drap and poorly put together sentences

Just amazing

[flowheavenly · 10/10 · 20 December 2019]

Filmed in an elegant way, this is a feast for the eyes! Recommended for foragers, chefs and herbalists. As an instructor of Chinese herbal medicine, I 'll even recommend this to my students. It is a cultural treasure. Watched it with subtitles (no voice over).

A short documentary

[tuantranquoc · 6/10 · 18 April 2021]

Not bad but not good yet ;) It's short enough and the colour-themes are good :)

Same sound effects for every food

[fitlife-87541 · 4/10 · 19 February 2019]

This show would be much better if the sound effects for everything wasn't a slurping goopy sloshy sticky wet noise. Mixing soup? goop noise. Sprinking salt? goop noise. Grinding tea leaves? goop noise. Tearing dried radish apart? goop noise. Lifting a spoon very slowly out of a soup? raining goop noise. It gets re used over and over and over again. Hire a new sound guy for season 2 if you make one.

Yummy and great tv

[kjetil1979 · 10/10 · 24 November 2019]

In every episode they highlight a new ingridience, how they harvest it and how to prepeare it. Also you get to know more about chinese culture, especialy the area they are showing. Since the chinese cousines are differerent from each other there will hopefully be many more seasons. Im hooked.

Visually enticing

[pamelatak · 10/10 · 23 November 2020]

This is an amazing show about the food culture in China. I don't understand Chinese so I'm listening to the English. It is so well filmed and so interesting! I want to try every dish that is mentioned and I want to get all the ingredients that are talked about, that is just how interesting this series is.

Beautiful! Magnificent!

[pamelatak · 10/10 · 14 December 2020]

I have enjoyed every single program that I have watched and if I can I want to try every single dish! I am always happy to watch a new episode!!! This is such an amazing series. I hope it continues on for several more years! The photography is beautiful and the information is so on point. China certainly does have a wide range of wonderful ingredients and wonderful dishes in these different areas.

Culturally informative, visually sumptuous, narration hatred overblown

[charly-47 · 9/10 · 11 April 2020]

The first impression is the striking photography, skillfully employing panoramas and aerial drone views, to meticulous unhurried close-ups. Then the food itself, starting with basic ingredients through preparation to final consumption. The stories entwine these settings and foodstuffs with people and their histories, equally fascinating and revealing. Finally, I don't share the dislike of the narration -- about which some comments here border on revulsion. It is fine to my ears. As an English-only speaker and reader, I cannot compare the translation to the original.

Informative, but be warned of the squelching.

[japanese_isle · 7/10 · 4 December 2020]

This shows pretty fun. Every episode you learn about different cooking techniques of the same ingredient in different cities within a state/county?/region of China. Knowing about the technicals about why it works is honestly fascinating. However.

While the show is a bit over produced. (ok, over produced is an understatement). And the narrator is trying to do a movie trailer announcer voice the entire time. My issue comes in with the sound design, another review has mentioned it but every. single. food. makes a squelching gloppy slime asmr noise. Potato, soup, meat, water, noodles, frying or boiling. Kneading or grinding. It made me want to tear my ears off. I mean, still watched, its a very fascinating show but Im sorry to say that as interesting as it was I got grossed out by a lot of the food. So if you are sensitive to that kind of thing. Be warned.

IT MAKES YOU HUNGRY AND LEARN FOOD ORIGINS

[alijajarnstal · 9/10 · 22 November 2020]

It has a amazing videography with very new and unheard origin stories. If you want to just lie down in the sofa and watch something calm then it is the show for ya.

I adore this show 100%

[hashimoto3214 · 10/10 · 26 January 2020]

Beautiful settings, real people, delicious food what's not to love about everything?! Its a beautiful show and I hope they do many more episodes in many different locations. I'm so pleased to have found something so beautiful both in culture and cinematography!

Terrible voice over / dubbing job

[damian5000 · 3/10 · 13 February 2019]

Boring, drab, 3rd rate voice over. Couldn't even get past 3 minutes before turning it off. If Netflix had dubbed this as they dub their other foreign series it might have been worth watching.

Pure representation

[emelie-jutterstedt · 10/10 · 24 November 2020]

What I love about this documentary is that it's straight on and truly authentic. I found myself waiting for the narrator to explain the taste and texture of the food by comparing to something I recognize (like the western/eurocentric person is use to...!) Then I realized that's the whole point - real representation of the cuisine and it's origin. And people, skip the English voice over! For some reason though, the female voice isn't subtitled!?

For the style and content it's nearly perfect viewing

[mason25 · 9/10 · 19 April 2023]

I'd have rated it a 10 if only every episode was an hour long and by taking it much much more in depth for every dish.

I've been watching cooking shows for the past 30 years, I'm not a foodie, I can't even cook a family dinner and get everything tabled in the same hour. Despite that, I absolutely love cooking and enjoy doing a single dish for a meal if there is enough instruction. A show like Ramsay's home cooking was great for doing it.

So I understand that this show is really just highlighting dishes and isn't meant to be an instruction guide, but I feel it would be perfect if it was. Oddly though I really love when a program goes a but beyond JUST focusing on a dish, and branching off a bit to show the locals that the dishes are sourced from is definitely the best route to take to show more than just food.

Added info to previous review

[emelie-jutterstedt · 10/10 · 24 November 2020]

... the female voice was the visual interpretation which obviously shouldn't be subtitled lol. My bad.

Good show

[sweetcream84 · 8/10 · 24 November 2020]

I would have given this show a higher rating if it weren't for the unusual addition of weird wet sound effects. It's such a good show why bother adding such odd sounds!?