PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Food Safari-Series 4 (2012)

Food Safari-Series 4 (2012)

If you create a user account, you can add your own review of this DVD

Released 6-Mar-2013

Cover Art

This review is sponsored by
BUY IT

Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Lifestyle Deleted Scenes-Over 60 minutes
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 2012
Running Time 250:00
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered
Dual Disc Set
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Toufic Charabati
Studio
Distributor
SBS
Madman Entertainment
Starring Maeve O'Meara
Case Amaray-Transparent-Dual
RPI ? Music Carlo Giacco


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     Food Safari is now quite a long running series on SBS, although this season dubbed Food Safari 4 is a return to the original format. Since Food Safari 3 in 2008/09, this Maeve O'Meara hosted show has had a couple of seasons where the focus has been on one cuisine and has included a guest host. First came Italian Food Safari with Maeve and Guy Grossi and then French Food Safari with Maeve and Guillame Brahimi. The concept here returns to the original concept of the host being more the official taster who goes on 'safari' to a different place or cuisine in each episode. She visits professional chefs either in their workplace or their homes, or home cooks in their own kitchens, and watches them prepare a dish and then shares it with them and sometimes their friends and family.

     This particular release by Madman Entertainment features the ten episodes of Season 4 (or 6 depending on how you count), which first aired on SBS in 2013.The cuisines covered in this series are Peruvian, Cypriot, Filipino, South African, Lao, Polish, Afghan and Danish along with two episodes where Maeve investigates the mixed multi-cultural cuisines in Darwin & Broome.

     Maeve is a good host who obviously has a great interest in different cuisines and cultures. The slightly repetitive nature of her responses to the dishes can grate on occasion. Regardless this is a wonderful show with lots of interesting dishes and big personalities.

     The ten episodes are spread over two discs, with six on the first and four on the second plus extras.

     Recommended for foodies.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

     The video quality is very good.

     The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

     The picture was quite clear and sharp, very consistent with the digital television presentation. Shadow detail is very good.

    The colour was excellent.

     There were no noticeable artefacts.

     There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired which are clear and easy to read in SBS yellow.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is good.

     This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s.

     Dialogue was clear and easy to understand throughout.

     The music mostly consists of the theme tune which becomes a little too much over time.

     The surround speakers were not used to any great degree but it is not really important for a show such as this.

     The subwoofer was not used .

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

     The extras are 16x9 enhanced.

Menu

     The menu features music and scenes from the show.

    Disc 2

Bush Food with Neville (7:46)

     Extra scenes of Maeve and Neville, an aboriginal guest looking for bush food and discussing its properties both from a taste and health perspective.

Drinks Around the World (6:56)

     A compilation of things from various episodes focusing on drinks such as Tea, Coffee & alcoholic drinks from different cultures.

Dumplings (5:12)

     Featurette about Shanghai style dumplings.

Maeve's Favourite Implements I (3:34)

     Maeve discusses some interesting and useful kitchen implements including whisks, drum sieve & a potato ricer.

Maeve's Favourite Implements II (6:56)

     Maeve discusses some interesting and useful kitchen implements including woks, steamers & Paella Pans.

Maeve's Favourite Implements III (4:34)

     Maeve discusses some interesting and useful kitchen implements including ceramics, clay pots and tagines.

Maeve's Favourite Implements IV (5:21)

     Maeve discusses some interesting and useful kitchen implements including mortar & pestle, coconut scraper and cuisine specific tools.

Sausages (7:07)

     Maeve visits an Italian sausage maker in his shop.

Spice Master Class (6:23)

     Despite being misspelled on the menu, this extra is a worthwhile interview with spice master Herbie about using and keeping spices.

Herbie's Essential Spices (8:19)

     Herbie discusses his favourite spices and gives tips on what to look for when purchasing.

Sweets Around the World (7:41)

     A compilation featurette of the various sweet things made by different cultures including Indian, Thai, Greek, Italian & Lebanese.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    This is an All Region release.

Summary

    A quality local cooking and cuisine show now into its fourth (or sixth) season.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is good.

    60 minutes plus of extra scenes make for excellent extras (essentially 2 extra episodes!).

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel Bruce (Do you need a bio break?)
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Review Equipment
DVDSONY BDP-S760 Blu-ray, using HDMI output
DisplaySharp LC52LE820X Quattron 52" Full HD LED-LCD TV . Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderBuilt into amplifier. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationMarantz SR5005
SpeakersMonitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer

Other Reviews NONE