Culinary Legends Thomas Keller, Jamie Oliver and Alice Walters Celebrate 10 Years of ‘Chef’s Table’ at Napa’s Reel Taste Film Awards

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Culinary icons gathered in Napa Valley on May 1st to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Netflix’s “Chef’s Table.” Topics at the event ranged from their personal inspirations, signature dishes, and unusual cravings like corndogs. Chefs Thomas Keller, Jamie Oliver, Alice Waters, and David Gelb, creator of “Chef’s Table,” engaged in conversation, screened clips, and enjoyed a gourmet dinner as part of the Reel Taste Film Awards, hosted by The Culinary Institute of America at Copia with the Napa Valley Film Festival. All three chefs are featured in the new season of “Chef’s Table: Legends,” now available on Netflix. Clips from the series were interspersed with a Q&A, and the evening concluded with a multi-course menu featuring some of the chef’s famous dishes. During the conversation, the chefs humorously discussed their occasional desire for simple foods like corndogs. Waters, who is credited with initiating the farm-to-table movement, needed clarification on what a corndog was. After learning about it, Oliver admitted, “I didn’t know they existed until about five years ago. I’ll have to give it a try.” This comment prompted Gelb to joke, “I can’t wait for the gourmet corndog in the next season of ‘Chef’s Table.'”

Discussing their sources of inspiration, Oliver shared his upbringing with parents who ran a pub and restaurant. He appreciated food at a young age and had a friend who only ate jam sandwiches. One day, Oliver offered him a taste of his salmon sandwich, which changed the friend’s perception of food. Keller, whose restaurants include Napa Valley’s French Laundry, spoke about how a negative dining experience helped shape his career. He felt uncomfortable in a fancy French restaurant and decided that providing comfort to customers was equally important as the food itself.

Before Waters began speaking, the other guests frequently acknowledged her influence, such as starting the farm-to-table movement and advocating for cooking with seasonal produce. Oliver revealed that as a teenager, he discovered a cookbook by “an American foreigner” and spent hours studying it. The book changed his perspective on food. Waters opened her restaurant Chez Panisse and recalled serving a skeptical José Andrés the simple dessert of two dates, which he declared a revelation. Waters explained that she was searching for authentic, fresh flavors instead of creating flashy new dishes.

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2025-05-03 19:46