Diana Kennedy has spent six decades writing about the traditions of Mexican cooking. But despite her James Beard awards and other honors, the British author’s legacy has become more complicated now that Mexican chefs and writers are telling their own stories.
The feisty woman who set out to chronicle the country’s regional cooking was influential particularly for English-speaking readers and cooks, so documentary filmmaker Elizabeth Carroll wanted to document the fascinating life of the now-97 year old author.
In “Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy,” now in virtual cinemas and coming June 19 to VOD, Kennedy recalls arriving in Mexico in 1957 and traveling around the country in her truck learning local traditions.
Aside from a long-ago cooking series for the Learning Channel, Kennedy isn’t a familiar face on TV like Julia Child, but her nine books and her cooking workshops were influential in bringing a deeper understanding Mexican cuisine to the attention of English-speaking chefs.
The feisty woman who set out to chronicle the country’s regional cooking was influential particularly for English-speaking readers and cooks, so documentary filmmaker Elizabeth Carroll wanted to document the fascinating life of the now-97 year old author.
In “Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy,” now in virtual cinemas and coming June 19 to VOD, Kennedy recalls arriving in Mexico in 1957 and traveling around the country in her truck learning local traditions.
Aside from a long-ago cooking series for the Learning Channel, Kennedy isn’t a familiar face on TV like Julia Child, but her nine books and her cooking workshops were influential in bringing a deeper understanding Mexican cuisine to the attention of English-speaking chefs.
- 5/29/2020
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
She’s been called “the Indiana Jones of food,” “the Mick Jagger of Mexico,” and “the grand dame of Mexican cooking.” Observing the fervor with which chef Diana Kennedy barrels down the dirt roads of Michoacán in her white Nissan pickup truck, it’s not hard to see why the sprightly 95-year-old has earned such esteemed admirers, from the likes of Alice Waters, José Andrés, and Craig Claiborne. Kennedy’s no-nonsense attitude, passionate takes on everything from sex to sustainability, and encyclopedic knowledge of regional Mexican cuisine make her a perfect documentary subject. With director Elizabeth Carroll as skilled sous-chef, “Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy”
Borrowing its title from one of her nine classic cookbooks, “Nothing Fancy” presents Kennedy’s life at an engaging but thorough pace. Born in England in 1923, Kennedy moved to Mexico in 1957 after meeting her late husband, New York Times Latin America correspondent Paul Kennedy, during a military coup in Port-au-Prince.
Borrowing its title from one of her nine classic cookbooks, “Nothing Fancy” presents Kennedy’s life at an engaging but thorough pace. Born in England in 1923, Kennedy moved to Mexico in 1957 after meeting her late husband, New York Times Latin America correspondent Paul Kennedy, during a military coup in Port-au-Prince.
- 5/21/2020
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
The specific ingredients of Jacques Pépin’s Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech at this year’s Daytime Emmys are unknown, but count on a dash or two of modesty.
The world-famous chef says he was deeply touched when he was told the honor — the first to go to someone in the cooking genre — was being bestowed upon him.
“It’s amazing because the food world has not been recognized much at this level,” Pépin says. “When I spoke to David Michaels [the senior vice president of daytime at the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences], I told him I’d like to thank whoever nominated me. I was flabbergasted.”
Born in Bourg-en-Bresse, France, in 1935, Pépin developed a passion and respect for cooking after his mother, Jeannette, opened a restaurant, Le Pélican. As a young man, he worked at Le Plaza Athénée in Paris where a chef pal regaled Pépin with stories of life in Washington, D.C.
In 1959, his dream of visiting America came true.
The world-famous chef says he was deeply touched when he was told the honor — the first to go to someone in the cooking genre — was being bestowed upon him.
“It’s amazing because the food world has not been recognized much at this level,” Pépin says. “When I spoke to David Michaels [the senior vice president of daytime at the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences], I told him I’d like to thank whoever nominated me. I was flabbergasted.”
Born in Bourg-en-Bresse, France, in 1935, Pépin developed a passion and respect for cooking after his mother, Jeannette, opened a restaurant, Le Pélican. As a young man, he worked at Le Plaza Athénée in Paris where a chef pal regaled Pépin with stories of life in Washington, D.C.
In 1959, his dream of visiting America came true.
- 5/3/2019
- by Michael Maloney
- Variety Film + TV
Halfway through “Nothing Fancy: Diana Kennedy,” the 96-year-old doyenne of traditional Mexican cooking offers a brisk lesson in making guacamole, complete with a number of strict, sharply emphasized rules: no garlic; serrano chillies only; chop the onion, don’t mince it; never blend the avocado; and if people say they don’t like cilantro, “for heaven’s sake, don’t invite them.” It’s a tart tutorial that would cut cheery “Queer Eye” food assembler Antoni Porowski to the quick, and is emblematic of the veteran’s uncompromising, no-guff approach to the cuisine that has adopted her and consumed her for over six decades: In an era of fusion food and anyone-can shortcuts, she remains an unfashionable but essential stickler for the old ways. Elizabeth Carroll’s zingy documentary portrait, meanwhile, puts a relevant, environmentally-minded contemporary lens on Kennedy’s cherished traditionalism.
A crowd favorite at SXSW in March, where...
A crowd favorite at SXSW in March, where...
- 4/27/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
I’ve always thought I understood the arcane workings of the star system, but I still marvel at how cooks and bottle washers have achieved the star status of actors and musicians. Famous foodies are much in the news lately — Mario Batali, Gordon Ramsay, Wolfgang Puck and the late Anthony Bourdain — and the shows of star chefs sprawl across the TV landscape. “Misfits, free spirits and wanderers have created a new American profession,” heralds Andrew Friedman in his new book titled Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll, which is good summer reading.
Friedman writes colorfully about his cast of foodie miscreants, but I am left wondering whether we’re all falling victim to a feast of hype. I’m willing to pay a hefty tab at a top restaurant heralding a “name” chef, but still wonder how the egos, prices and sexual...
Friedman writes colorfully about his cast of foodie miscreants, but I am left wondering whether we’re all falling victim to a feast of hype. I’m willing to pay a hefty tab at a top restaurant heralding a “name” chef, but still wonder how the egos, prices and sexual...
- 7/5/2018
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
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