Films that make you want to eat!

[BunnieBear]

I love to work up an appetite by watching a film with great food imagery. Other than "Eat Drink Man Woman," "Big Night" and "Chocolat," what do you suggest? I have heard that "Tampopo" has some great dumpling shots, but can't seem to find it anywhere. I would welcome any suggestions about what your favorite "food film" is!

[Kholvaitar]

Mr. Bean's Holiday--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-2isH...

[Beach Chick]

Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke..

[illycat]

I agree with Babette's Feast, but another I haven't seen mentioned is Age of Innocence the food was gorgeous. This and other period pieces that show the kooky extravagance of meals and their presentation in times gone by are pretty interesting.

[annabana]

I am a complete rat-o-phobe so as much as I love Disney animated movies and food I just cannot watch (and I tried) Rattatoille. So many of the great Tracy/Hepburn movies have great food scenes--the curried lamb dinner in "Adam's Rib", the 'i'm the boss lunch" in "Pat and Mike" and the reconciliation breakfast in "Woman of the Year." "Soul Food" always makes me hungry. Love the goulash boarding house dinner in "Yankee Doodle Dandy" spaghetti and meatballs in "The Apartment" , scrambled eggs with Nick and Nora Charles, Tilly's steaks and pies in "Guess'Whose Coming to Dinner," and tho its not a great flick, love that sandwich and custom dinner in Spanglish.

[marmite]

Jurassic Park, when the kids return to the visitors' center after being chased by dinosaurs for 2 days, chow down on the big spread of food, and look at each other and smile.
Day Night Day Night has a lot of food scenes- pizza, hot pretzel with mustard, candy apple... I wanted to be eating all those things while I watched the film.

[bigmackdaddy]

Ice cream sundae, the exact ones Fred served in the drugstore in The Best Years of Our Lives.

[Docsknotinn]

Steel Magnolias. How could the bleeding Armadillo grooms cake with the red velvet interior not make you want cake?
Nine 1/2 Weeks......Stawberries have just never been the same since!
smirk

[malvern girl]

I don't think anyone has mentioned "Tortilla Soup." I believe the food in the movie is done by the women that used to be on Food Network's "Two Hot Tamales" show. Anyway, it all looks wonderful and IMHO it's a really good movie.

[kkak97]

Of course there is "Babette's Feas"t my all time favorite food movie; love "Big Night" and the soundtrack is fantastic we play it frequently.

But no one has mentioned "Dinner with Friends" with Dennis Quaid, Greg Kinnear, Andy McDowell, and Toni Collette. Everytime I watch it I want to try the lemon almond polenta cake...and the pumpkin risotto, with grilled lamb. It is just a great show on relationships and food.

[cor]

Sex & the City (the series) always makes me want to go out to eat and drink!

I would imagine the movie will want me to go eat and drink as well.

[Phaedrus]

Sex & and City makes me want to do certain things too. But eating and drinking isn'tone of them.

[diablo]

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (old school version with Gene Wilder) always makes me hungry for candy goodness....

Also The Godfather and Goodfellas always make me hungry for red gravy Italian food. Same with The Sopranos even though it's not a movie (yet). Apparently all I need to see is Italian people on screen....;)

[bigmackdaddy]

Two scenes in the Godfather Two. The first where Vito Corleone (DiNero) is eating lunch and about to be fired from the salumeria and the scene where Vito, Clemenza and Genco are discussing how not to pay Fannuci the $600 over pasta and wine.

Three asides, the food fight in Animal House, the bbq scene in Menace To Society and the banquet in Enter the Dragon.

Two of the funniest/sickest, the ending of The Thief, The Cook.... and Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom, Thugee banquet.

[jlafler]

Gangster movies never make me hungry because I find the bloodshed so nauseating. I'm a wimp, I guess.

[bigmackdaddy]

I feel the same way about chick flicks. Especially anything with Mathew McConnahy or Richard Gere. Do you remember the "countdown" on Sesame Street? Say if the number were"12", at the end you'd see a singing chef walking down a flight of stairs holding twelve chocolate butter cream cake then whoops! He'd fall down?

I just found this after searching You Tube. http://youtube.com/watch?v=1wxHeWaXa_...

[mielimato]

Tampopo, definitely.

Also, In the mood for love, chungking express or any other wong kar-kai movie. there is always a good noodle soup scene somewhere in his movies.

Also don't you think it is very telling that most American movies rarely involve good scenes about food (not including American remakes of foreign movies like "no reservations"), as if food and the sensual and social aspect of food is absent from daily life in the States.

[jlafler]

It's odd, isn't it, that one of the few American movies that shows people really enjoying a meal is Alien -- in the scene where they're all chowing down after waking up from suspended animation. Not that it makes you want to eat, because what they're eating doesn't look great.

[mielimato]

So true! I had not thought about that connection--hunger and food in the context of American "horror" movies.

Along the same lines, there is the movie The Hunger with Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie and Susan Sarandon. Don't know if the movie is American but that's another great movie about "food" and hunger...

[FoodieKat]

Btw, David Bowie was also in another ill-fated movie with a foodie title, called 'The Linguini Incident'. Yum (not necessarily talking about the food for once. Lol).

[Phaedrus]

Or is an animated film: Ratatouille.

[richardiculous]

"Ratatouille" makes me want to eat AND cook.

[Sloth]

Just about any film by Les Blank is sure to get my tummy rumbling. Especially "Always for Pleasure" and "Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers". Irma Thomas talking about her red beans and rice in the former is about as food porn as it gets.
Fortunately, some of his films are now on DVD.

[tatamagouche]

Not to revive an old topic, but Blank made a doc last year called "All in This Tea" following a tea expert from Berkeley on his travels through China, looking for the best old toothless poor farmers using ancient methods, dogged by businessmen from factories all the while. It's pretty fascinating.

[Canthespam]

I second Babette's Feast. The movie gets off to a s l o w start, but is worth watching when it speeds up. Also, I love the eating scene in Tom Jones - Albert Finney and the woman we think is his mother. Pure greasy, lusty sex at it's best.

[Chew on That]

Caramel! I haven't even seen it but the previews are droolworthy.

[charlesbois]

Truffaut's Argent de Poche, where the little stubborn girl is left home at the apartment, so she gets on her father's bullhorn and shouts "j'ai faim, j'ai faim" to the neighbors, and they send her a cooked trussed chicken, a huge loaf of bread and some wine in a picnic basket. Hilarious and appetite stimulating.

[Canthespam]

I loved the part where the little neighbor boy insisted that wine be included in the little girl's meal. Only in France!

[jaws1970]

Don't forget the Thomas Keller tutorial on the Spanglish DVD on How to make the best sandwich.

[jhopp217]

A great extra was in Once Upon a Time in Mexico where Robert Rodriguez shows how to make Puerco Pibil. There's a clip on YouTube that shows the dvd extra

[ajs228]

Those scene's really did make me want to eat, as I watched them, then went and made both dishes. Awesome.

[Heyteacher]

Waitress - I LOVE pie and I was CRAVING it when we left the theater.

[miss_bennet]

Just the way Keri Russell stirred the mixtures was amazing. Really, the only reasons I liked the movie were its pies and music selection. Apparently someone out there has heard more than the Hallelujah chorus form Messiah. That made me very happy.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i finally just saw 'waitress' yesterday, and i've been craving her 'lonely chicago pie' ever since!

the other movie that always makes me crave pie is 'true romance' - when clarence & alabama go for a slice at the diner after they meet in the movie theater.

oh, and 'last holiday' with queen latifah definitely made me want to eat.

[Sra. Swanky]

Gotta add "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle!" When the Crave hits, it hits hard!! ;o)

[pharmnerd]

I was thinking about that one too. Reminded me of when, total spur of the moment, a friend and I drove to Vegas, just to get the fish and chips at Lucky Seven in the Main Street Station casino. Turns out, was removed from the menu, but was no biggie as we were still in Vegas.

[beelzebozo]

in "ducktales the movie: treasure of the lost lamp," there is a scene in which the genie is hiding in a small decorative tree eating potato chips and various nuts. as a kid, this always looked like the most delicious meal i'd ever seen in my life. the genie really sells how much he's enjoying this stuff.

[ReelMike84]

Wow, that's old school. When I think of that movie I think of the HUGE sundae that fell out of the sky into the inflatable pool. I really wanted that.

[BunnieBear]

I also like "What's Cooking,"--the Thanksgiving movie in cross-cultural Los Angeles. Thanks for the tip for finding "Tampopo!"

[Phaedrus]

I second Eat Drink Man Woman. The Hollywood remake a la hispanic cooking is good too: Tortilla Soup. The Wedding Banquet is excellent also, as well as The Joy Luck Club. Tampopo is awesome, especially the scenes in the French restaurant and the room service scene with the shrimp.

[Veggo]

The companion french films "Jean de Florette" and "Manon of the Spring" leave me craving anything french.
It is a good thing that among 25 posts to date, nobody has mentioned "Reefer Madness".
Finally, if you want to stunt an appetite, the final scene in John Waters' "Pink Flamingos" will get it done.

[Chocolatechipkt]

I love Jean de Florette and Manon! They don't necessarily make me hungry ... but they're just so good. :)

[thew]

and she is SO beautiful!

[jhopp217]

Watch Old Boy when he orders "I wan t eat something alive." You may never think of eating again. Aside from that, it's one of the most brilliant films ever made.

While it's not really a food movie, no movie has made me crave more than Sideways. I wanted a bottle or three just with the movie. The fact it was a good movie was even better. Silly movie that brings on a craving was Harold & Kumar go to White Castle. But the greatest food/movie was 9 1/2 weeks. Although the craving I got wasn't nevessarily for food!

[hannaone]

For those who haven't seen it, Old Boy is available for rent from NetFlix.
They also have Tampopo, and I believe several other foreign (to America) food films are also available. Check out their foreign language selection.

[melly]

They finally got Tampopo??

[hannaone]

Their non American selection has improved quite a bit.

[miss_bennet]

I definitely joke about that scene in Oldboy. I mean, talk about method acting! De niro has nothing on that guy! I keep wondering how many times they had to do that shot. "Oh, you know what? There was too much shadow on your face. Yeah, you're gonna have to do it again. Can we another octopus, please?"

However, it is a very disturbing film. That must be said.

[kobetobiko]

No Reservations with Catherine Zeta Jones. When she described the dish to her doctor, I wanted to have that dish too!

[hannaone]

Not a movie, but a K-Drama series:
Dae Jang Geum: Any of the royal kitchen cooking scenes gets my mouth watering.
My Lovely Samsoon: A story about a female Korean French pastry chef.

[viperlush]

Lord of the Rings-
Aragorn: Gentlemen, we do not stop till nightfall.
Pippin: What about breakfast?
Aragorn: You've already had it.
Pippin: We've had one, yes. What about second breakfast?
[Aragorn turns and walks off in disgust]
Merry: I don't think he knows about second breakfast, Pip.
Pippin: What about elevenses? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper? He knows about them, doesn't he?
Merry: I wouldn't count on it.

Marie Antoinette- Just watched it yesterday and I am seriously craving whipped cream and fruit covered pastries.

[pharmnerd]

Ha. Or, towards the beginning of the Two Towers, when Gandalf and gang come upon Pippin & Merry smoking and one of 'em states "The salted pork is particularly good." Kinda made me hungry for a sec.

[cayjohan]

So much about the fictional Hobbit culture makes me hungry. Hey: an agrarian people who grow, cook, and enjoy food in a larger context than eating on their own sofa? And really, the Hobbit lust for mushrooms (yum)? What's not to like? How forward looking? Then again, the books were written in the 1940s, and people did similar then, too.

[vvvindaloo]

i remember loving the food scenes in Marie Antoinette and walking out with little recollection of anything else! 1,000,001 pretty little tartelettes and petit fours....

[Husky]

La Grande Bouffe
http://imdb.com/title/tt0070130/

[ReelMike84]

Wow I actually thought about that movie but I didn't think anyone else would have. Talk about one crazy ride through gluttony, sex, and at times flatulence.

[spyturtle008]

Not a movie that has food as a central component, but Jet Li's Fearless sent me out of the theater scurrying in search of some authentic chinese...

[soupkitten]

or how about the kung-fu cooking part of "iron monkey"?

[Phaedrus]

I stand awed. I didn't think anyone else on here knows Iron Monkey, let alone the kung-fu cooking scene.

[soupkitten]

:)

[thew]

man i saw that movie first time on some public access channel, untranslated, and a poor bootleg.... and i so wanted to see it again, but didn't know what it was called, or how to find out.. so i resigned myself to never seeing it again.... and then a few years later it got rereleased with subtitles, because of the success of crouching tiger

i couldn't believe, that no only was i seeing it again, but in a fresh good quality print, AND i could follow it in english!

[ESNY]

Half Baked?

[FeelingALittleBreadish]

"Fatso," especially the scene where the main character and his chubby checker start to talk about sucking the jelly out of a jelly donut and inserting a Reece's peanut butter cup in its place.

[dolores]

Fatso, my choice too.

Also, it makes me cry.

[vvvindaloo]

me too. i also love Dinner Rush

[glutton]

Babette's Feast is commonly mentioned among my friends, but it did not do as much for me as Big Night and Eat, Drink, Man, Woman. To be honest, the scene in Godfather when they're making the marinara sauce always made me want to eat....

[pharmnerd]

Yeah, every time I make a marinara sauce I actually think of that scene. I always thought it was from the Sopranos, but maybe it was from the Godfather.

[Val]

Yep, that scene is in the Godfather when Clemenza is showing Michael how to make marinara...great scene! Love the big old glass jug of wine when he adds the red wine also.

[pharmnerd]

Ok, that's it.

[jhopp217]

Are you talking about the scene from Goodfellas where Paulie is slicing the garlic with a razor blade?

[woofer]

soulfood

[ReelMike84]

First two to pop into my head are the Neverfeast sequence in the film "Hook", and the film "Eat Drink Man Woman." The whole film is centered around some tasty looking Chinese cuisine.

[pharmnerd]

Tampopo.

[jlafler]

Yes. My favorite scene is the noodle-slurping scene in the Italian restaurant.

[maria lorraine]

jeezus, that is one hilarious scene. One of the best short food scenes ever.

[E Eto]

I just saw Tampopo recently almost a decade after I'd seen it last. It was surprising to see two young Japanese actors who have made their way to Hollywood films: Ken Watanabe (Letters from Iwo Jima, Last Samurai, Memoirs of a Geisha) and Koji Yakusho (Babel, Memoirs of a Geisha, Shall We Dance -- a Japanese film but one that did well in the US). I didn't dawn on me who they were until an hour into the film.

[BunnieBear]

I would love to check this out...where did you see it recently? I couldn't find it at the regular (Netflix, Blockbuster) places nor online...

[chowfamily]

We bought a copy on Amazon.com and have watched it several times, so for us it was worth the purchase. Be forewarned, it may give you cravings for noodle soup!

[melly]

I agree. Tampopo.

[Local]

Big Night, with Stanley Tucci. one of my favorites- you'll be craving good italian food. Great music, especially the "instrumental" piece "Dinner" that's played with nothing but utensils and silverware.

[Honeychan]

"The God Of Cookery" is funny, and makes me hungry every time I watch it. Made by the same Hong Kong director who did "Shaolin Soccer" Tampopo is fantastic, and well-worth finding, for all the ramen.

[Ben7643]

OH man "Chocolat" for sure I saw one movie can't remember the name but the woman cooked her emotions into her food boy did that movie make me hungry......

[BunnieBear]

Oh, "Like Water for Chocolate,"--also fantastic!

[AnnVL]

Are you thinking of WOMAN ON TOP? Ooooh, la la - caliente! All the peppers!

[sfumato]

Chocolat makes me want chocolate in all forms! Dark straight, hot in a cup, fondue... mmmm!

[stolenchange]

Heh, that was the first film that came to mind for me, too!

And "Under the Tuscan Sun" makes me crave limoncello.