Whenever I’m craving a midnight snack and confronted with a disappointingly empty fridge, I find myself inevitably revisiting some of my favourite food-centred films to temporarily staunch my appetite. This would, however, prove to be a fatal mistake, as I quickly become engrossed in the electrifyingly fast-paced cooking scenes, followed by the rumbling in my stomach as dozens of mouthwatering delicacies grace my screen. So, by popular demand, here are my top three films for my fellow foodies. A warning in advance: please do not watch these movies on an empty stomach, or you will end up sad like me.
No Reservations (2007) dir. Scott Hicks
The romantic comedy/drama follows Catherine Zeta Jones as Kate, a talented but intimidating head chef of a fine-dining restaurant in New York City’s Lower Manhattan. Kate is terrible at relationships but knows her way around recipes and kitchens, like the back of her hand. Forced to see a therapist by her boss, she would rather reveal the best ways to perfectly cook a quail — broiled, poached, or preferably roasted to a slight touch of pink, and accompanied with a truffle sauce — then discuss her feelings. Her predictable life is upended when her sister is involved in a fatal car accident. Trapped in a whirlwind of grief, the unexpected guardianship of her surviving niece, and the entrance of Nick, the newly hired, Pavarotti opera-loving, sous chef, who is determined to learn the secret of Kate’s saffron sauce, Kate is forced to confront that life is not a perfect recipe.
The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014) dir. Lasse Hallström
Hassan Kadam is a young cook with a natural-born gift for recognizing the beauty of ingredients. He trained under the tutelage of his mother in Mumbai, India, before she was murdered. Displaced and burdened with heartbreak, the Kadam family builds a new life in Europe, eventually settling in a small but picturesque French village after a chance accident. Papa Kadam, the family’s patriarch, decides to introduce mouthwatering Indian dishes like tandoori, chicken masala, saag aloo, and more, to the rigid, escargot and ratatouille-obsessed, French community. What culminates is a clash of cultures: a fierce, but oftentimes hilarious, rivalry between the newly established Maison Mumbai, and the one-Michelin star classic French establishment a hundred feet across the street. Hassan’s commitment to his cultural food traditions, his mother’s legacy, and familial duty soon become entangled and challenged when he becomes attracted to French cooking and ingredients.
Toast (2010) dir. S.J. Clarkson
A truly underrated gem, Toast is based on the true childhood story of renowned British chef and food writer, Nigel Slater. Nigel’s passion for food was certainly not inherited from his parents, who insist on only eating food that comes out of a can. Up to that point, Nigel confessed that he’s only ever had vegetables that have been preserved in aluminium cylinders. A futile attempt, from a then nine years-old Nigel, to make spaghetti bolognese ends in disaster as Mr. and Mrs. Slater refuse to indulge in such an unfamiliar dish, to which the latter then suggests having toast for dinner instead. Soon, Nigel’s mother falls ill, leaving him alone with his ill-tempered father (I swear the family-member-dying-trope is just a coincidence). Nigel must then reckon with a child’s grief of losing his mother, just as Mrs. Potter enters the scene, seducing Mr. Slater with her cheeky antics and signature lemon meringue pies. The film’s cinematography is whimsical, capturing the nostalgia of the ‘60s in warm, bright pops of colour that elevate the delectability of the savoury dishes and baked goodies featured on screen, including sponge cakes, apple tarts, pork pies, and more, even somehow successfully making the disgusting jello-salads of the 20th century appear delicious.
