Films to Eat By

Where I work, I can basically watch movies all day. I know what you're thinking... "That's not a real job!" Well whatever you want to call it they pay me to watch three channels of movies. I do do a little bit more than just watch movies all day but that's what I usually tell people. Explaining that "I work at a playout facility for a cable movie network" is usually followed by vague and confused expressions and a lot of "That sounds great... what is that?" So it's much easier to say that I watch movies for a living, and when you have access to approximately 1000 films at any given time, you come across some that involve food. If you're hungry, it can be either very satisfying or extreme torture to watch. Or if you are experiencing cravings of any kind you might want to exercise caution before watching a food flick...because it may lead to extreme bingeing.


I recently watched a movie called Tortilla Soup, it's about a Mexican-American family whose tradition is to regularly sit down together for a lavish banquet despite what hardships life throws at them. Its somewhat reminiscnet of Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman, without the insightfulness, Hector Elizondo plays the likeable father and passionate chef who is at the centre of all these feasts. The movie is ok, its watchable, but it is defnitely worth sticking around to watch the scenes where Hector's character Martin is preparing all the meals. All of the food looks just divine, its one of those lick the screen opportunities and will no doubt leave you hankering some good ol' hearty soul food.

Here are some other movies to watch if you are wanting a bit of audio-visual chow, but if you can't be bothered I suggest a quick flick to the Food Channel should do the trick:

Babette's Feast, should warm your heart and soul.
La Femme du Boulanger (The Baker's Wife), haven't seen this one but I suspect it has a lot of bread making.
Chocolat, need I say more..
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, an oldie but a goodie, Gene Wilder is great.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
God of Cookery, hillarious Hong Kong flick, has shades of Iron Chef
Tampopo, Japanese noodle western
Simply Irresistable, reccomended if you like desserts.

Im sure there are countless more I've forgotten so I'd love to know what are your favourite foodie flicks?