Foodie Love is a captivating contemporary Spanish drama that is well worth watching.
I fell in love with Foodie Love minutes into the first episode. It hooked me like a new favorite dish, so over the course of a couple of meals and some snacks, I followed the courtship of two foodies who meet via the Foodie Love mobile dating app.
Like many (most? all?) thirty-something adults alive, they carry relationship baggage. She, a Spanish book editor, almost got married when she lived overseas. He, an Argentinian mathematician, became the other person when his lover got involved with, and eventually left him for, a woman.
Both wonder aloud why they’re going on this date, their first, as they break the fourth wall and let viewers in on aspects about themselves. But go they do, to meet for just a coffee. It’ll be quick — minutes, not hours — no real commitment involved. They chat, as thought bubbles, some animated, reveal what they’re really thinking. Meanwhile, customers at other tables do their own thing, like the one who’s typing away on her mini laptop, crafting a story about the couple she’s observing.
The date goes well enough for them to arrange to meet again. Next week. For a cocktail. Then gyoza and ramen at a tiny but overflowing Japanese restaurant in a huge indoor food market, and a multi-course fine-dining experience at what has got to be a Michelin-starred establishment. And so it continues as the unnamed woman and the unnamed man learn about each other and connect with each other through their shared passion of food, and become intimate through their mutual attraction and undeniable chemistry.
But insecurities and doubts bubble up, and an unresolved emotion seeps into consciousness and the relationship, like eggy juices oozing out of a too-liquidy frittata onto one’s plate.
Foodie Love is an exquisite series. Like an amazing meal, it brought the storytelling equivalent of sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami to the screen — leaving me fulfilled and looking forward to more of the same. (My fingers are crossed for a second season.)
Filmed in Spain, Italy, France, and Japan, the eight-part drama stars Spanish actress Laia Costa (Victoria, No me quites) and Argentinian actor and director Guillermo Pfening (The German Doctor, Nobody’s Watching).
Foodie Love, which premiered in the US a month ago, is currently available for streaming on HBO GO, HBO NOW, and HBO via HBO Max and other partners’ platforms, including HBO on Amazon Channels.
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