A list of 12 essential food-focused movies across genres
I once tried to watch a film about food while eating a microwave meal. This was a mistake on several levels—aesthetic, moral, possibly spiritual—but the main problem was that halfway through Babette's Feast , I looked down at my grey pasta and felt something close to despair. The people on screen were experiencing transcendence via ortolan and blinis. I was experiencing regret via a plastic tray that claimed to contain carbonara. Food films do this to you. They make you reconsider your life choices. They make you want to cook something elaborate, or at least eat something that required more than three minutes and a pierced film lid. They remind you that food is never just fuel—it is memory, culture, love, rebellion, and occasionally a small edible act of revenge. So here, arranged with no particular system beyond "these are excellent and will make you hungry," are twelve of the best food-focused films across genres. Some are quiet and contemplative. Some are joyful....
