Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory has got to be probably one of my favorite movies (obviously the one with Gene Wilder…not the weird Johnny Depp Michael Jackson-esque version from 2005). That movie was filled with wonder, amazement, and also lots of fun food + candy. I mean who wouldn’t want a piece of gum that tastes like a three course meal? Okay…maybe no one. That kinda sounds gross. But the chocolate river and ginormous gummy bears hanging from trees like fruit? Yes. Sign me up!
That got me thinking about other movies that center around scrumptious bits of food. Disney’s Ratatouille is another movie that checks all those boxes. Who could resist watching Remy slice up gorgeous vegetables to make the titular dish?
Let’s Chat: What’s your favorite movie that centers around food or has a great food scene and why?
A scene from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
Oh was also going to add Big Night! Then had to think back, maybe Chocolat with Juliet Binoche and Johnny Depp, or Like Water for Chocolate - to this day I tell my kids all their emotion goes into the food - whatever they are feeling - so don't bother cooking of they are angry etc. - but I haven't watched any of those movies in years. Hard to think of a good contemporary food film.
I'm not sure if I'd call this my favorite, but I've been thinking a lot about the scene in the 1996 version of Matilda where Bruce has to eat the entire cake. As a kid watching this, it felt like the scariest thing that could ever happen — getting caught eating cake and then having to eat a cake almost the size of me. And then at the end when all the kids rally together to cheer for Bruce and encourage him...I think I could still recite this scene from memory.
Well I have to mention some of the gorgeous food scenes from Japanese animated movies, especially anything Ghibli. There is also a movie that I saw on Netflix called "Flavors of Youth" which has so many gorgeous food scenes that I can't even pick one to highlight.
I adore the 1996 Stanley Tucci/Tony Shalhoub film "Big Night", so much so that I was inspired to try and recreate the film's crowning food, timpano--a huge baked pasta drum filled with pasta, meats, cheeses, eggs, sauce and more--at the height of my 2020 stir-craziness.
(It was delicious, but food like that demands a crowd that I wasn't going to convene in 2020.)
Oh was also going to add Big Night! Then had to think back, maybe Chocolat with Juliet Binoche and Johnny Depp, or Like Water for Chocolate - to this day I tell my kids all their emotion goes into the food - whatever they are feeling - so don't bother cooking of they are angry etc. - but I haven't watched any of those movies in years. Hard to think of a good contemporary food film.
Julie & Julia has to be one of the top "food-appreciation" movies for me.
I feel like as a kid, any food looked better in cartoons, like popcorn weirdly?!
Or the pretty patties in spongebob. Ahh, simpler times.
I'm not sure if I'd call this my favorite, but I've been thinking a lot about the scene in the 1996 version of Matilda where Bruce has to eat the entire cake. As a kid watching this, it felt like the scariest thing that could ever happen — getting caught eating cake and then having to eat a cake almost the size of me. And then at the end when all the kids rally together to cheer for Bruce and encourage him...I think I could still recite this scene from memory.
Eat Drink Man Woman is an all-time fave. Also really enjoyed Luca Guadagnino's I Am Love back in the day. Underrated!
Well I have to mention some of the gorgeous food scenes from Japanese animated movies, especially anything Ghibli. There is also a movie that I saw on Netflix called "Flavors of Youth" which has so many gorgeous food scenes that I can't even pick one to highlight.
I adore the 1996 Stanley Tucci/Tony Shalhoub film "Big Night", so much so that I was inspired to try and recreate the film's crowning food, timpano--a huge baked pasta drum filled with pasta, meats, cheeses, eggs, sauce and more--at the height of my 2020 stir-craziness.
(It was delicious, but food like that demands a crowd that I wasn't going to convene in 2020.)