The Fascinating World of Culinary Cinema

Ahhh.......Cinema. The most popular source of entertainment for the common man since olden times. Weirdly enough, it isn't vital to our daily survival, yet it sure does feel like it. We need movies to teach us how to dream, love, act, think, and escape. We don't make movies for artistic expression and then make movies to survive (I could be wrong......Fast X is coming out soon). But, food is necessary for our daily survival and it's also necessary for our expression. Sometimes, the food we cook daily without even thinking, just to get by, tells a lot about us as a society and us as people. Food is weird, isn't it? So I wanted to see how such a weird thing is encapsulated in movies and there are many, believe it or not.

Image via Flickr by Fernando Galeano

Cinema is storytelling. When someone thinks of storytelling, they immediately think about movies. There are interesting scenes about food that are portrayed in movies but I wanted to find movies that were centered around food or culinary arts. I picked out movies that I personally like and think represent different aspects of food and cooking. After you read this, you might think there might be other ones that might deserve more recognition, and they might actually. So, why don't you let me know in the comments below and maybe I will find some that I couldn't find?

I have decided to shed light on 6 different movies that showcase different ways how food is looked at and the characteristics it possesses: (Also, a fellow friend of mine who is a movie-lover helped me write about these movies. So, thanks for helping me do this Kavya! Follow her IG: @kkuraparthy)

1. Ratatouille (Food through the eyes of an artist)

Ratatouille. (2023, May 31). In Wikipedia.

If you have not seen this movie or even heard of it, you are officially living under a rock. (not really, I just find it conformative to say it) Probably the most popular movie to ever be made about food. Ratatouille entails the story of Remy, an anthropomorphic rat who loves to cook, finding himself helping his human friend, Alfredo Linguini, by cooking as him in a fine-dining restaurant in Paris. If that description confuses you, I don't blame you.

Ratatouille is a beautiful movie that shows that great artists can come from anywhere regardless of who they are and what they are perceived to be. This is taken from two famous quotes from the movie, "Anyone can cook" by Auguste Gusteau, who is a famous chef (name based on Auguste Escoffier), and "Not anyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere" by Anton Ego, who is a famous food critic. This movie is my first introduction to the concept of food invoking a memory. It is also responsible for making the dish "Ratatouille", a French vegetable stew, really famous. Thomas Keller, who is a famous American chef and restaurateur, was approached by Pixar for recreating this dish in a modern and creative use. Safe to say, he created a dish that is probably the icon for "food from a movie".

If you still haven't watched it, go and watch it now............not now........after you finish reading this.

2. Chef (Food as a social connector)

File. (2018, June 30). In Wikipedia.

This movie made me ask myself, "Hey, isn't that guy 'Happy' from Iron Man?" Yes, this movie was directed by Jon Favreau who was also the protagonist of the film. Chef is a movie about well.....a chef who gets sick of working in a high-end restaurant that doesn't allow him to cook what he wants to cook. He quits his job and opens up a food truck and in the process, he bonds with his 10-year-old son.

Everything that I like about cooking came from this movie. Fun fact: The chef's storyline in the movie is loosely based around Chef Roy Choi, who is a Korean-American chef who owns multiple restaurants and the Kogi food truck. Chef Choi was also the executive producer for this movie and helped create many of the cooking shots in the film. This movie led to the increased popularity of many dishes such as Cubano, Pasta aglio olio, Grilled cheese sandwich, Hashbrown, Choco Lava cake (which I have posted on my Instagram....so do check out), etc.

"Chef" has everything that a food-centric, feel-good film should have. From orgasmic food shots to wholesome comedy to father-son bonding moments. This movie really shows us how food can bring people together and how it managed to bridge the gap between a father and his son. It also stands as a good representation of how chefs act in real life. Most of our impressions of chefs are still stuck at Hell's Kitchen. This movie is a visual treat for culinary enthusiasts, and I still am surprised to meet many young chefs and culinary students who haven't FRICKING SEEN THIS MOVIE YET!!!!!.........Do yourself a favor and watch this tonight.

3. Julie and Julia (Food as a purpose in life)

Julie & Julia. (2023, April 11). In Wikipedia.

Two hours and three minutes of pure joy and comforted.....ness......whatever. I like to write and I like to cook. Therefore, I like this movie. Julie and Julia is a movie that is based on the book written by Julie Powell who is a writer and an author. Her book is based on her blog written in August 2002 where she decides to cook 524 recipes from Julia Child's cookbook, "Mastering the French Art of Cooking" in 365 Days and then write about it on her blog. If you don't know who Julia Child is, I would suggest you look her up. She is a pioneer in bringing the teachings of French cooking to the servantless American cooks.

The movie starts off with Julie and Julia, both moving to new places. Julia Child moves to Paris with her husband Paul Child, and Julie Powell moves to Queens, New York from Brooklyn, New York with her husband Eric Powell. The story encompasses how Julie Powell gets more and more connected with Julia Child through her recipes, and how she finds similarities between both of them throughout the movie. One common thing between both of them is, both of them were lost and saved by food. Another wholesome movie that managed to make me have a positive outlook on life........for 2 hours......and then, everything went back to normal.

Watch this, if you love Meryl Streep and if you don't, you will after this.

4. Cook up a Storm (Food as a tool for Equality)

Cook Up a Storm. (2023, March 8). In Wikipedia.

I referenced this movie in my previous article about Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma, to illustrate my point about common people's food and food of the high-class society. The movie tells the story of Sky Ko, a traditional Chinese diner chef, and Paul Ahn, a Michelin-starred Korean chef fighting off in various competitions. The movie portrays the classism of high-end French cuisine towards diner-style Chinese cuisine. It represents the stories of both the chefs, their backgrounds, their upbringing, their ideals, etc.

Although the story of the movie is a bit shallow, it is a visual treat for the audience. Some of the scenes in the movie went viral over social media, such as the salmon filleting scene, the making of the beggar's chicken, etc. One thing which is common for both the protagonists is both of them have Father issues. Stay with me on this one. They both want to achieve their goals for their fathers but in different ways. How different? Well, you should watch it then!

I would recommend it as a fun watch. If you like to watch something just to relax, then I would recommend you watch this.

5. Burnt (Food, as if it were a battlefield)

Burnt. (2023, May 31). In Wikipedia.

When I was running out of culinary-centric movies to watch some time ago, I stumbled upon Burnt. When I first saw the movie, I thought to myself, "Huh....That guy is acting a lot like Gordon Ramsay if he were a drug addict" and guess who is the Executive Producer? Jamie Oliver- no it's Gordon Ramsay, and the movie makes a lot of sense when you understand Gordon Ramsay produced it.

Right, movie story: Adam Jones is a two-Michelin-starred chef who self-destructs due to his ego and drug addiction. He decides to clean himself up and achieve his third Michelin Star by starting a restaurant in London. The opening of the movie shows Adam Jones shucking oysters and counting them as part of his "penance" for his attitude in the past. Later on, he assembles a team of chefs for a restaurant that he literally "pirates" from a friend of his.

Food represents stories and sometimes, those stories are dark, painful, and hard. This movie encapsulates all of that, but in my personal opinion, it fails to add any depth to the story. The dialogues and the characterization of the individuals make it seem like........well, an episode of Hell's Kitchen. There is little to no character development and it only happens in the end......for a brief second. If you are interested, I would recommend that you watch the Burnt review by Josh Scherer on the youtube channel Mythical Kitchen. He expresses his contempt for this movie and it's fun to watch him rant on it completely.

But, I would still recommend that you watch Burnt and let me know what you think about it.

6. Hunger (Food that drives you to succeed)

Hunger is the most recent one of all the ones I have written. It's a Thai-based movie, about a young street chef, Ayo, who gets an offer to work in a fine dining kitchen led by a hardcore chef. The story is about how Ayo pushes herself to become one like him.

There are some pretty interesting views on food in this movie. Some things are not discussed openly and are not accepted by us as a society. "What you eat represents your social status, not your love", Although to an extent it is true, I don't necessarily agree with it. But it shows food in a different light and how it drives a person to succeed. The movie portrays the difference in backgrounds of both the chefs and how their worlds collide.

One of the quotes from the movie is, "The real winners are always the ones who hunger the most"........could use a little bit of grammar, but this line encapsulates what the movie is about.

So that's it folks, we went on a list that started from pretty wholesome and family-friendly to pretty dark and pessimistic outlooks. These are only some of the movies which represent food and the stories associated with it. There are more to discover and more that are yet to come. I hope that you will watch some of these or all of them and let me know your thoughts. That's it for this week!

See you next time!