Food in Films [General]
Jun 23
No foodie movie list would be complete without this odd one from 1985, Tampopo! ( www.imdb.com/title/tt0092048/ ) Part of the review goes like this "Woven into this main story are a number of smaller stories about the importance of food, ranging from a gangster who mixes hot sex with food to an old lady terrorizing a shopkeeper by compulsive squeezing of his wares"
Jun 23
an enthusiastic ditto on Tampopo, and to the Capt'n, Ratatouille was much better than i thought (feared) it was going to be when i found myself being dragged to it. I'm glad i watched it ... and ended up watching it a second time w/ god-daughers. The food critic character is classic.
Jun 23
I forgot to add this to my faves list:
Soylent Green (1973) info link here ---> www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/ <---
Even though this was a 1973 sci-fi thriller based in the year 2022, it still holds up today, somewhat.
It's about a future food called Soylent Green.
Notice how the word Soylent is so close to Soya and the word Green ? well .... the word speaks for itself nowadays.
I can just imagine, somewhere during a President's Choice Organics think-tank session, where someone says ... "Let's do a soya based product and call it Soylent Green". yeeesh.
Jun 23
Da Butcher;
Guess ya didn't see it yet but this topic Eat Drink Man Woman - Ang Lee, --->www.ottawafoodies.com <---
was the spring board for this Food in Film topic.
In the opening scene (hk.youtube.com), I really liked the use of a barrel smoker/bbq and when the chef blows up a dead duck like a balloon. Kinda funny, in a sick way.
Jun 24
How about God of Cookery? An adorable tale from the maker of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle. Ahem:
"A famous restauranteur in Hong Kong loses his edge, and is tossed out of his food empire into the streets by a competitor in an all-or-nothing contest. Down and out, he is taken in by a cook at a street-snack stall, and together, they go on a quest to make the perfect snack food. In this quest, many lessons are learned, and many funny moments unfold. In the end, of course, all is well, and the epicure is reminded that all good food is soul food, after all, and he once again reigns as the 'God of Cookery.'"
Jun 24
Who could forget the FOOD PORN from Sophia Coppola's 2006 film Marie Antoinette... there were feasts, banquets and of course that extremely decadent cake scene.
Which serves as a segway to another food review...
I was recently in Stratford, Ontario and stopped in on a local cafe called Let Them Eat Cake for lunch. The place is a favourite with the locals, and serves an all-day breakfast and light lunches. All the food looked fantastic, great sandwiches, soups and salads... but lets just say as it was a Girlie Weekend, so we decided to be a bit crazy and order dessert for lunch. LOL.
We each chose a different type of cake (and we were happy to share & compare). As it turned out quite by accident all 3 cakes had different types of "icing" so it gave us an idea of just how talented this shop was. One gal ordered the Hummingbird Cake (with cream cheese icing), another had the Raspberry Torte (with butter cream icing) and I chose the Black Forest Cake (which of course is basically just whip cream for icing). All the desserts were FANTASTIC! And the slices were huge, we couldn't finish it all, each wedge was about 3 inches wide, 6 inches long and 8 inches high... all this for $ 4.75 / slice. So if you are ever in Stratford check this place out, just one block from the downtown Avon Theatre.
Jun 24
You can't miss La Grande Bouffe (1973). The film tells the story of four friends who gather in a villa for the weekend for the express purpose of eating themselves to death. Bouffer is French slang for "eating" (the Italian abbuffata means "great eating"). It's a nice movie.
Captain Caper
Let's open up the topic a bit further, to include other Foodie Films, including the good , the bad and the stinky.
Some of my faves:
Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) 1992
Babettes gæstebud (Babette's Feast) 1987
Chocolat 2000
Should I rent "Ratatouille" or "Life is Sweet" ?