Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Foodtastic’ On Disney+, Where Keke Palmer Hosts A Food Art Competition That Liberally Uses Disney IP

Food competition shows seem to fall either in the Chopped category, with one-off contests, or the Great British Baking Show/Top Chef category, with an ongoing contest that culminates in a big prize in the finale. But none of these shows use Disney’s intellectual property. Foodtastic is a food art competition, hosted by Keke Palmer, that leans heavily on Disney’s IP, making for projects that have a lot of potential to be fun. Read on for more.

FOODTASTIC: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: We see Keke Palmer playing a lab technician that, in the narrator’s words, “Desperately needs a nap.” She dreams she’s transformed into Micro Girl.

The Gist: Palmer’s sketches, not all that far from the sketches she puts on her TikTok and Instagram feeds, is a cute way to introduce us to each episode of Foodtastic, where Palmer hosts a food art contest that heavily depends on Disney’s intellectual property to shape the challenges. Episodes will revolve around Ant-Man, Cars, Star Wars, The Avengers, The Muppets, Beauty And The Beast, Toy Story and others.

The format is more in the Chopped vein, where three new teams compete in every episode. The prize? A pin and the pride that they won against some of the best food artists out there. The judges are food art experts Amirah Kassem and Benny Rivera, with Amirah judging the storytelling elements and Benny reviewing the technical acumen used.

In the first episode, the food artists are tasked with creating a scene where Ant-Man fights Yellowjacket or Ghost in an everyday environment. The teams have to keep in mind proportions, of course, as they create their scenes. As the artificial sun makes its way over the studio (we’re guessing it’s a 12-hour build), Palmer and the judges visit each team to find out their plan and see how they’re going; of course there are discussions on their progress.

With a few hours left in the build, a surprise is thrown in; the teams have to incorporate The Wasp in the story they’re trying to tell, and make sure she’s not there as an afterthought.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? As we mentioned, Foodtastic is basically the Chopped format, but food art is what’s being made. In that regard, it hews somewhat more closely to School Of Chocolate.

Our Take: Foodtastic is a fantastic-looking show. You can tell that Disney money went into the complex set, which changes with each episode to reflect the IP that’s being used. And, of course, the contestants are fantastic food artists who are able to do some creative stuff — like using ramen bricks to make an anthill. But the format itself doesn’t do the contest any favors, and the bubbly Palmer is the only one keeping the show from being a slow-paced mess.

Because of the complexity of the challenge, there’s no “fast round” on this show, or multiple rounds like you might see on Chopped. So after getting the challenge, the rest of the 40-minute episode consists of the teams carving, molding and building, with the inevitable side interviews with each team. We’re given some background information on the teams, but it’s not enough to latch onto one of their stories and root for someone throughout the episode.

There’s also no chance that these expert food artists will really screw up, despite what the editing may have you believe. Indeed, any mistakes made or inadequacies pointed out by the judges were minor quibbles. Minor quibbles does not make for compelling reality TV.

Also: Maybe Disney could have pried open its vault, told Scrooge McDuck to stop diving into the coins for a second, and come up with some actual prize money instead of a few pins and a sense of pride. Being a food artist may or not be a lucrative gig, and having some money on the line would have made things more exciting for viewers. It’s one of the reasons why Chopped works, because the chefs really can use the prize money being given; hearing how a prize would change things for the winner would have made the show more interesting.

That being said, Palmer is such a presence that we’d watch the show for her goofy sketches during the episodes and her extremely positive, warm, and inclusive hosting. We love the fact that she asks each team “How do you feel?” when they present their builds, before going into anything involving how the builds were constructed and the judges’ comments were.

What Age Group Is This For?: We’re not sure why, but Foodtastic is rated TV-PG. Maybe there’s some minor language issues. But, for the most part, this is a show that can be enjoyed by everyone.

Parting Shot: Palmer, as the lab tech, wakes up from her dream and says that she’d love to be “Lab tech by day, Micro Girl by night.”

Sleeper Star: Not sure why, but we like it when Amirah and Benny speak to each other in Spanish. That sets them apart from other judges on shows like these.

Most Pilot-y Line: We just wished these shows would be a little more transparent about the time pressure these contestants are really under. With an hour left, it seemed that all three teams were far from done, but then the completed builds all looked polished. Yes, that’s more boring than the “rushing to get done montage”, but that’s so cliché at this point, we just roll our eyes when we see it.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Foodtastic is watchable because of Keke Palmer’s dynamic presence and the fact that the contestants are such experts in the Disney IP that they’re working with — or at least they studied up before entering the studio. But the show’s pacing could be a whole lot better.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Foodtastic On Disney+