"Pressure Cooker" - Review of a food documentary

Now that the school year is winding down, I thought this would be a good time to watch this documentary. The documentary follows Philadelphia inner city high school culinary teacher Wilma Stephenson through a school year, leading her students in her challenging classroom. Like all chefs in their kitchens, Stephenson holds high standards and demands respect; heaven help the student who doesn't come correct. The documentary also focuses on some of Stephenson's students - a football player, a cheerleader, and an African immigrant - as they work to compete in a cooking competition with scholarships on the line. This was a delight to watch, and it will bring back memories of that favourite teacher some of us were (hopefully) lucky to have who made a difference in our lives and made us work for a better tomorrow.

• Pressure Cooker

"A Matter of Taste: Serving up Paul Liebrandt" - Review of a foodie documentary

Two years ago, I saw a trailer for a documentary about the driven chef Paul Liebrandt that I knew I wanted to see. "A Matter of Taste: Serving up Paul Liebrandt" was playing at the Mayfair, but for whatever reason, I missed the showing, but I recently discovered it was available for rent at the Ottawa Public Library. The documentary follows Liebrandt over a ten year period, and documents the highs and lows of his career. Those include being the youngest chef ever to earn a three star review from the New York Times; to being unemployed after a dispute with the owners a restaurant he worked at (they preferred a menu of comfort food over his more avant-garde menu); to re-opening a restaurant at the request of a famous restaurateur. Liebrandt is worthy of all the hype that surrounds him, as he is as much an artist as he is a chef, and the documentary shows how focused he is at achieving the perfection he demands from his staff to prepare his food creations. The film concludes with the new restaurant's opening and the staff eagerly awaiting the review that can make or break a restaurant, the one that appears in the New York Times. If you're a fan of molecular gastronomy, or enjoy watching an artist perform in their element, you should seek out this film, as there is quite a lot to enjoy in a fast-paced 69 minutes.

• A Matter of Taste: Serving Up Paul Liebrandt [Import]