Ratatouille (2007) |
Remy is cartoon rat. He also has pie-in-the-sky dreams of becoming a chef. Due to traumatic circumstances (typical Disney), he finds himself in the sewers of Paris, not far from Auguste Gusteau's famous French restaurant. Gusteau is dead, and his devious sous-chef has taken over, hoping to create a food packaging business. Remy teams up with garbage boy Alfredo Linguini, and the two take over the kitchen, soon discovering a secret that could undo the wicked chef.Como Agua Para Chocolate
(1992) | Like Water for Chocolate (this Mexican film's English title) is the surreal tale of Tita, a woman who pours her emotions into food as she cooks. Her true love is Pedro, a man weaving in and out of the story just long enough to spoil an important meal. When Tita's sister marries Pedro, and Tita is tasked with preparing the wedding reception meal, the emotional gut-wrenching of heartbreak is physically experienced by all who consume what Tita prepared. The film, in Spanish with English subtitles, brings the viewer on a culinary love story unparalleled in American cinema.Babette's Feast
(1987) | This film routinely makes lists of great food films, but it's more than food porn, it's a kind of treatise on epicureanism, pitting the pleasures of the table against the abstemious and austere ethos of 19th-century Denmark. But when the food finally arrives in this film, it's lush and wonderful, rich with colors missing from the drawn and pious lives of these Scandinavian prigs. The film earned its Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.Julie & Julia
(2009) | In 2002, a New Yorker named Julie Powell created a blog where she attempted to cook all 524 recipes from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In what's most certainly the first adaptation of a blog to the big screen, writer-director Nora Ephron throws in elements from Child's autobiography My Life in France to create a narrative that weaves the lives of both women. Amy Adams plays Powell, while the inimitable Meryl Streep plays Child in all her eccentric glory. And while the real-life Child reportedly brushed off Powell's blog as a mere stunt, Julie & Julia draws a parallel between the two women, with the joy of cooking and expressing love through food serving as the constant.Chef
(2014) | Jon Favreau takes the viewer on a journey through food-porn heaven in Chef. He plays a professional chef who quits his job after blowing up a food critic who talked a ton of shit. To redeem himself, Favreau repurposes a food truck and hits the road with John Leguizamo. Chef features extended mouthwatering scenes that show Favreau cooking up a storm. — mt
