Ramen Heads

Malaysia's multiculturalism is unrivaled throughout Southeast Asia and is reflected in its cuisine. Roving foodie Merrilees Parker begins her journey on the Malaysian peninsula with the native Orang Asli people of Kelantan She then heads off to the stunning Islamic East coast to cook a rich curry using freshly caught mackerel. In the ancient spice capital of Melaka, Merrilees cooks up a storm with fiery Laksa soup in the style of the Nyonya. In the Cameron Highlands, 5,000 feet above sea level, there is a notable English influence. The island of Penang is Merilees' next stop then she visits the capital, Kuala Lumpur, one of the fastest growing cities in Southeast Asia.

In this special edition of Globe Trekker Chinatown, Lavinia Tan, Justine Shapiro and Megan McCormick travel worldwide to explore the magic and mystery of Chinatowns across the globe. Lavinia Tan begins the journey in Malaysia and Singapore where overseas traders led the earliest migrations of Chinese people. The journey continues from there to the United States, where Justine Shapiro visits San Francisco. Megan McCormick explores New York s Lower East Side, home to the largest Chinatown in the Western Hemisphere. After a short trip to London s Soho district, Lavinia Tan ends this journey with a visit to Hong Kong exploring the world famous film industry and the 21st century migration of Chinese back to their homeland.

Alice Waters, winner of the San Francisco Foundation 2006 Community Leadership Awards (The John R. May Award) - for transforming our relationship with food. Through her promotion of sustainable agriculture and the slow food movement, she fights obesity and fosters a clearer understanding of how the natural world sustains us. Alice and the Chez Panisse Foundation's Edible Schoolyard educates public school children on the importance of growing and cooking fresh, nutritional food.

Why wheat, one of the staple food of humanity, is becoming a poison for a growing number of people today ? An investigation on the emergence of a new gluten-free products market. And yet, the real cause of this sudden tsunami of grain intolerance remains a mystery. How come all of a sudden, many of us no longer support cereal, highly nutritious in protein? Have recent changes in our eating habits triggered the epidemic? Is wheat not the good old grain we've been eating for 10,000 years? Scientists, activists and committed farmers are trying to uncover the truth on the real qualities of industrial foods.

A documentary that exposes the shocking truths behind industrial food production and food wastage, focusing on fishing, livestock and crop farming. A must-see for anyone interested in the true cost of the food on their plate.

In this remarkable journey, Planet Food travels the world to see how control of the spice trails, over the last five millennia, has made great cities and destroyed ancient civilizations. Our guides travel from the Molucca Islands of Indonesia, the original home of cloves and nutmeg, to the Indian province of Kerala, with its native pepper and cardamom. Additional stops include Venice, Beirut, Cairo and other significant places in the spice trade that created and toppled empires.

An organic farmer in Maine sets out to transform the prison food system. Seeds of Change captures the intersecting stories of life-long farmer Mark McBrine and several incarcerated men as they harvest their own meals from a five-acre prison garden unlike any other.

With nutritionally-depleted foods, chemical additives and our tendency to rely upon pharmaceutical drugs to treat what's wrong with our malnourished bodies, it's no wonder that modern society is getting sicker. Food Matters sets about uncovering the trillion dollar worldwide sickness industry and gives people some scientifically verifiable solutions for curing disease naturally.

FOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURD is a feature documentary about the Black food justice movement. Family-friendly, funny, and moving, this 60-minute film connects the legacy of slavery, land loss, and climate change to our fight for food security.

We all love food. As a society, we devour countless cooking shows, culinary magazines and foodie blogs. So how could we possibly be throwing nearly 50% of it in the trash? Filmmakers and food lovers Jen and Grant dive into the issue of waste from farm, through retail, all the way to the back of their own fridge. After catching a glimpse of the billions of dollars of good food that is tossed each year in North America, they pledge to quit grocery shopping and survive only on discarded food. What they find is truly shocking.

Documentary about the making of Juzo Itami's film "Tampopo" (1985).

Travel journalist Rudy Maxa and Washington, D.C. restaurateur Daisuke Utagawa present three distinct regions of Japan, focusing on the nation's food and food producers. From the ramen of the northern island of Hokkaido, to the sushi of Tokyo, to the Wagyu beef raised on the southern island of Kyushu, food is a window on the soul of Japan.

A conversation between Idrees Khan and his mother on how the celebrate their Trini culture in Orlando

The last ten years have seen a phenomenal explosion in the organic food movement as it has moved from niche market to mainstream. Today, it is the fastest growing segment of the food industry attracting all of the major food corporations. THE NEW GREEN GIANTS looks at a number of these new and old organic corporations and shows how they are managing, or in some cases, failing to live up to the idealistic dreams first espoused by the back-to-the land folk of the late sixties and early seventies. The documentary also looks at some of the bigger questions surrounding organic food. Is it really healthier? Is it truly organic? Is it possible to grow from a mom-and-pop operation to become a huge supplier of major grocery chains? Is it actually sustainable? Is it realistic to think the world can be fed organically?

Morgan Spurlock subjects himself to a diet based only on McDonald's fast food three times a day for thirty days without exercising to try to prove why so many Americans are fat or obese. He submits himself to a complete check-up by three doctors, comparing his weight along the way, resulting in a scary conclusion.