Traveling and good food: the world’s best combination is coming yet again as Netflix announces the release date for Season 5 of Somebody Feed Phil. The travel documentary series follows writer and producer Philip Rosenthal as he travels the world and tries local cuisine from different cities, but he doesn't necessarily go to the best restaurants: the idea is to meet people and enjoy the food as if he were a local. The new season will see Rosenthal visit five new cities, and it premieres in late May.
Somebody Feed Phil’s new season is set to open up the menu in Oaxaca, Portland (Maine), Helsinki, Portland (Oregon), and Madrid. Out of these five cities, two of them might provide some wildly different episodes: Oaxaca cuisine includes some traditional Mexican specialties such as tamales and tapas, but the city is also known for its daring recipes that include chapulines (grasshoppers). Helsinki, in Finland, is an interesting destination, since the capital’s food culture is now growing and includes a mix of Asian and Nordic cuisines. These two destinations are sure to make for very different experiences that will inspire you to travel and, of course, eat.
Not that Rosenthal – who writes, hosts and executive produces the series – hasn’t met and dined at exotic locations before. In past seasons, the series star visited places with a strong street food culture such as Saigon, in Vietnam, Marrakesh, in Morrocco, Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, The Mississippi Delta, and also tried food from world-famous cities like New York, Seoul, and London.
If you are a fan of Somebody Feed Phil – or just a fan of food and travel-related content in general – the series will have an early screening as part of Netflix’s comedy mega-festival Netflix is a Joke. Rosenthal himself will host the screening of the episode centered around Oaxaca, as well as take part in a Q&A moderated by Jimmi Simpson. The screening takes place at Avalon on May 3, and you can purchase tickets at the event’s website.
Somebody Feed Phil accumulates critical acclaim as each season comes by, with critics praising Rosenthal’s distinct sense of humor as a selling point of the show. The series has been nominated twice at the Emmys, which includes a nomination in the Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program category. In addition, the show won the Critics Choice Real TV Award as Best Travel/Adventure Show, and Rosenthal was named Male Star of the Year twice, taking home the prize in 2021.
Phil Rosenthal is the creator of the long-running comedy series Everybody Loves Raymond. After the successful run of the series from 1995 to 2005, Rosenthal decided to do a food and travel show called I’ll Have What Phil’s Having, which aired on PBS in 2015. Somebody Feed Phil is considered a spiritual sequel to the showrunner’s first cuisine series.
Netflix premieres Season 5 of Somebody Feed Phil on May 25.