René Redzepi on How Our Food Choices Affect Climate Change

Omnivore, a new nature-centric show ten years in the making is slated for Apple TV+ later this summer. Created and narrated by René Redzepi in partnership with executive producer Matt Goulding, the eight-episode docuseries profiles essential global ingredients – salt, rice, banana, pig, chili, coffee, tuna, and corn – through the lens of farmers, growers, artisans, makers, and cooks around the world. 

“It was always an idea inspired by shows like Planet Earth. We’d explore the world through the lens of food with a similar scope and appreciation,” says the 46-year-old Copenhagen-born chef. “Both Matt and I believe that food is by far the most important thing on earth.” Between restaurant work and family life, the process was slow, but the COVID shutdown allowed him time to plan and collaborate on a series that would be entertaining and mesmerizing, capturing our planet’s natural beauty and storytelling about the people who cultivate our global food system.

Each episode focuses on an ingredient, chosen from a list of approximately 200 Redzepi came up with and eventually narrowed down over a few months, thinking of the process of putting a show together as similar to crafting a menu. “I was thinking of a show that is diverse and fun, and much like a menu that doesn’t bore you with the same techniques and the same approach each time,” Redzepi says. Comparing a cinematic medium to his culinary vision helped clarify the focus of each episode.

“We need a story based on how humans just love to eat this one thing and focus on that,” Redzepi says. “And then slowly but surely, we started putting things together.”

Akin to Chef’s Table, each episode has a singular focus and can be watched in any order. The series starts with chile, venturing up the Scoville scale from the Tabasco factory in Louisiana to Isaan Thai markets to Noma’s kitchen in Copenhagen.

“It’s not an ingredient that profoundly altered any country or anything like that, but it is a human love story,” Redzepi says. “For instance, with fish, we end up with tuna and it could have been cod or any of these huge seafoods that truly build empires, whereas tuna hasn’t. It tells a story about the worldwide food network and system, and how you can have a beautiful tradition in southern Spain that’s more than 3,000 years old and within 24 hours, it’s in the belly of a plane, sold at auction in Tokyo and then transported into the world again in pieces, some of it even finds its way back to Spain.” 

Pig also stands out to Redzepi as an important episode. Shown in a village in Spain, the episode follows a pig named Anton. “You actually get to know Anton and have a relationship,” Redzepi says. “The unfortunate reality for Anton is that he will become dinner and jamón. It just makes you appreciate and potentially also makes you rethink some things. I really liked that because I really liked Anton.”

Redzepi wants his audience to see the people, animals, and land worldwide that build our food system, showcasing the passion and dedication of essential people who care for food, nutrition, and culture. 

“We are genuinely losing the small artisans of the world. I’m surprised that it’s genuinely just happening everywhere. From Mexico to Denmark to India to America, they are being drowned out by optimization, by things being shelf-stable, transportable, by price point,” Redzepi says. “As a person that’s spent an entire lifetime working with flavor and working with these people, it’s pretty wild to see how much people are really struggling to make it out there because they want to serve quality and have a deep passion for it. To them, it’s more than just work.”

Ideally, viewers will come away from Omnivore more mindful about their food choices. “Can you look at paprika again, once you’ve seen the curtains of peppers in Serbia? And just have it be that spice package that sits at the back of the cabinet, never used, or do you see people behind it? Do you see an ecology behind it and a culture?” Redzepi says. “How we grow the food dictates more or less how healthy our world is. How we eat, what we choose to eat, really matters tremendously. If we can make people value more, then they take care of things more. We throw away almost 50% of our food. You don’t do that with your gold earrings.”  

Omnivore will debut on Apple TV+ on Friday, July 19.