Food and movies
A heated discussion about movies during lunch got me wondering: What good movies are out there about food? or bad ones?
I'm into comedy, action and suspense movies myself, so it took some delving to think of movies I have seen that involve food.
The first one that came to mind was 'Waiting'. It is a comedy and it takes a look into the workings of a restaurant similar to an Applebee's or TGIF's.
I loved this movie because it was pretty funny and real from what I've heard from friends who have worked at restaurants such as the one portrayed in the movie.
It did take a while for me to really trust anything served to me when I ate out but as soon as I took a bite of my favorite burger somewhere, I was fine.
I didn't see the 'Chocolat' and such movies, but in high school French we had to watch a French movie that I actually came to love.
'Babette's Feast' is kind of a dramedy. From what I can recall about the plot is about a woman chef from France who comes upon a small isolated town in Denmark and for a special occasion asks to be the one in charge of preparing dinner.
In case some don't know, in France, dinner consists of seven courses. The little townspeople who attend the celebration are very religious and don't believe in indulgence and praise.
Yet they can't help but rave and moan in delight as they are treated to this amazingly grand and relishing feast.
There are more stories brewing under the guise of this feast and celebration but you'll have to rent the movie to find out.
Send me your favorite or not-so-favorite movies with food themes. I'm ready with fork, knife and remote!
Road Trip - There's a scene where the characters go to a diner... and then bad things happen to their food: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVLe_QJ0xf8
Harry Potter - The books and movies always include a generous helping of food. There's a lot of time spent dining in the great hall on roast beef, sausages, pies, rolls, puddings, etc. There's also a lot of desserts and drinks: Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, mead, Butterbeer, cauldron cakes... the list goes on.
Dude, what about Ratatouille? You know when the rat was all like cooking and then people were all like, "oh no, that rat is, er, not able, er supposed to be in the kichen." But then he totally made this awesome stuff, and some good things with food items. And then the food reviewer guy was all, "I like rats." That was awesome.
When I think of food in movies, the first one that pops into my head is "Hook" - Spielberg's early '90s story about a grown-up Peter Pan that returns to Neverland. There's one memorable scene when Peter Pan first visits the Lost Boys. They sit down to eat and the Lost Boys dig in with gusto - only Peter thinks they're crazy because he sees no food. He's reminded to use his imagination and soon the table is filled with a glorious feast!
"Like Water For Chocolate." A tale about a young girl who is forced to care for her evil mother and never marry even though she falls in love with a boy who loves her, too, but ends up marrying her sister. She was the cook in the family and all of her emotions came out in the food she made. If she was sad, her food made people cry. If she was in love, her food made people..um... well, you know. When her sister became hateful, her food made her bloated and gassy with foul breath.