A New Documentary Remembers Chef Fatima Ali

If you need a nudge back to in-person dining — or that long-abandoned cacio e pepe recipe — book an evening with director Peter Ferriero’s documentary Her Name Is Chef.

Viewers ride sidecar as host Leia Gaccione interviews six chefs pre-pandemic — Fatima Ali, Esther Choi, Elizabeth Falkner, Juliet Masters, Caroline Schiff, and Hillary Sterling — about their entry-level days, harassment, and machismo in the kitchen.

Told collectively, their stories show a pattern of resilience from women in the industry, and how siloed individuals push forward against abuse and systemic inequity.

Food Network regulars might remember one subject, Fatima Ali, who won a 2012 episode of Chopped, and was a fan-favorite contestant on Bravo’s Top Chef: Colorado in 2017.

Shortly after Top Chef, the Pakistani cook was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Ewing's sarcoma, and a few months after filming Her Name Is Chef, texted the director saying her cancer had returned.

She passed away in January 2019 at age 29.

Ali’s story is given ample breathing room in the film’s second half, pivoting the documentary’s guiding tenor from resilience toward something like culinary carpe diem.

It becomes a tribute to the late chef, and is at its strongest when showing intimate moments between Ali and her family, and among her peers.