Food in Film
Food has often been essential to cinema. A catalyst which brings people together, it can be used for dramatic confrontation, as a comic device or even a metaphor for the meaning of life. Preparing, presenting and consuming food can evoke a mood that is sumptuous, homely, seductive, disgusting or just plain funny. Eloquent in conveying complex messages, food is a perfect vehicle for expressing the subtext in drama and comedy and for revealing intricate aspects about class, emotional states or gender. Sometimes, as in the movies "Babette's Feast" and "Tampopo", it is the real star. In this compilation below, we take the high ground and take a wide view of the social and symbolic meaning of food in film..
Right: Scene from Gabriel Axel's triumphant "Babette's Feast".
Like Water for Chocolate (1992)
7.2/10
Director: Alfonso Arau
Starring: Lumi Cavazos, Marco Leonardi, Regina Torne
A delicious love story with exquisite comedy adapted from Laura Esquivel's best selling novel. Young Tita is forced to nurse her sick mother and, unti... Read more
Goodfellas ( Blu-ray ) (1990)
8.7/10
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Paul Sorvino, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco
Martin Scorsese's violent true-life gangster epic which follows Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) as he rises through the ranks of the Mafia. Upon turning FBI i... Read more
GoodFellas (1990)
8.7/10
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Paul Sorvino, Lorraine Bracco, Joe Pesci
Martin Scorsese's electrifying gangster saga chronicles three decades in the Mafia with Irish-Sicilian mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and his "wisegu... Read more
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (Blu-ray) (1989)
7.7/10
Director: Peter Greenaway
Starring: Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, Alan Howard, Tim Roth
A feast (in more ways than one) for followers of writer/director Peter Greenaway's work. Set around a high-class English restaurant, it involves the g... Read more
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989)
Director: Peter Greenaway
Starring: Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, Alan Howard, Tim Roth
A feast (in more ways than one) for followers of writer/director Peter Greenaway's work. Set around a high-class English restaurant, it involves the g... Read more
Mystic Pizza (1988)
6.2/10
Director: Donald Petrie
Starring: Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts, Lili Taylor
The comedy that takes a bite out of the seaside resort of Mystic, Connecticut, home to three young waitresses who decide their futures look as appetis... Read more
Eat the Rich (1987)
6/10
Director: Peter Richardson
Starring: Lanah Pellay, Nosher Powell, Fiona Richmond, Kathy Burke, Robbie Coltrane, Katri...
In direct opposition to the advice of Jonathan Swift, (whose 'Modest Proposal' of 1729, suggested the Irish poor sell their children as livestock to e... Read more
Babette's Feast (1987)
7.8/10
Director: Gabriel Axel
Starring: Stephane Audran, Jean-Philippe Lafont, Jarl Kulle
Awarded the Best Foreign Language film of 1987 by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Stephane Audran is Babette, an exiled French cook-... Read more
Tampopo (1986)
7.4/10
Director: Juzo Itami
Starring: Ken Watanabe, Tsutomu Yamakazi, Nobuko Miyamoto
One of the funniest, most enjoyable, satirical comedies is this treasure of a movie, the plot of which, loosely concerns the quest for the perfect Jap... Read more
Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom (Blu-Ray) (1984)
7.6/10
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Amrish Puri, Dan Aykroyd, Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Philip Stone, Ric Young,...
A prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) set in 1935, the year before, the professor, archaeologist and adventurer by the name of Indiana Jones is... Read more