The Taste of the Soul

Whenever Erik van Loo – the present chef and owner of restaurant Parkheuvel in Rotterdam – thinks about potatoes, he always remembers his father's potato-crème-soup, a butcher from the province of Limburg. Erik still makes the same soup, if only a little more refined, to serve the patrons at Parkheuvel. Cees Helder, the first Dutch chef to be awarded a third Michelin star, was his predecessor. Helder handed over the restaurant at its peak and remembers the last piece of veal he prepared there with great melancholy. The third key figure in this documentary about cooking as a form of art, taste en deep felt emotions is master taster Paul van Craenenbroeck, whose judgement was crucial in getting a Michelin star. Flavour and taste can never be transferred on film, but the appealing photography, rich in close-ups, tries to make the experience as tangible as possible. What starts with the birth of a lamb or grows on the oyster beds, ends up sparkling on a plate like a modern work of art.