The Apple TV+ French Drama 'Carême's Trailer Mixes Food & Pleasure

The French period drama Carême represents Apple TV+'s latest foray into the world of international programming, joining shows like Liaison, La Maison, and Drops of God. Based on the biography of real-life French chef Antonin Carême, the series chronicles his rise from poverty-stricken origins to culinary fame across Europe, including being credited with codifying the so-called "mother sauces" – Velouté, Béchamel, Allemande, and Espagnole – on which classic French cuisine is based. If the first trailer is anything to go by, it will do its best to sex up French history by telling the story of a famous chef who also happens to be a spy for the government.

Carême was perhaps most well known as a pâtissier (a pastry chef), particularly for his ambitious pièces montées — elaborate, towering table decorations sculpted in sugar —which became famous throughout the country. The series trailer features such a display, a constructed sugar replica of the famous glass pyramid outside the Louvre, which is burned away to reveal decadent candies underneath.

The Apple TV+ drama appears to be leaning hard into the idea of Careme as a celebrity who easily attracts women, power, and attention. It's a read that makes sense given that his notable patrons included famous figures as varied as Napoleon Bonaparte and Tsar Alexander I of Russia. Though there's no historical evidence for this particular side hustle, rumor had it he was also a spy for French foreign minister Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, using his access into the world of the Paris elites to pass information to the government.