on the big screen
June 15, 2010
Top 5 Favorite Food-Friendly Movies
In addition to cooking in real life, I enjoy spending time watching movies about food and cooking as well. I find that sometimes I get inspiration for meals and presentation styles from the media, and seeing cooking in action always gets me enthusiastic for cooking. Movies about food and the culinary world also spread knowledge to the ordinary person, which I enjoy as well. Here, I have counted down my favorite culinary based movies ever! Here they are…
1. Julie & Julia: Staring, Amy Adams & Meryl Streep (2009)
Julia Child and Julie Powell find their lives intertwined. In 1949, Julia Child is in Paris, wondering how to spend her days. She tries hat making, bridge, and then cooking lessons at Cordon Bleu. There she discovers her passion. In 2002, Julie Powell, about to turn 30 and underemployed with an unpublished novel, decides to cook her way through “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in a year and to blog about it. Though separated by time and space, both women are at loose ends… until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible.
2. No Reservations: Staring, Catherine Zeta-Jones & Aaron Eckhard (2007)
In Manhattan, the workaholic Kate is the chef of the 22 Bleecker Restaurant owned by Paula, who sent her to a therapist because she had no other interest in life but cooking and controlling her kitchen. When her only sister dies in a car accident, Kate becomes the guardian of her niece Zoe, who can not overcome the loss of her mother. Paula orders Kate to take a couple of days off to care of Zoe; when Kate returns to the work, she finds that Paula hired the sub-chef Nick without her approval. Nick explains that he is honored to work with Kate, but the jealous Kate does not trust him and believes he wants her position. When Zoe gets close to Nick and invites him to have dinner with Kate and her, she changes her feelings for Nick. But when his work is recognized by the clients of the restaurant, Kate believes she committed a mistake
3. Ratatouille: Staring (the voices of), Patton Oswalt & Lou Romano (2007)
A rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family’s wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the sewers of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unlikely – and certainly unwanted – visitor in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant, Remy’s passion for cooking soon sets into motion a hilarious and exciting rat race that turns the culinary world of Paris upside down
4. Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off: Staring, Taylor Ball & Mark L. Taylor (2003)
Eddie Ogden is his pa’s pride and joy as well as the Groundhogs team’s only asset as baseball talent. Then Eddie discovers a taste and talent for cuisine. Although his brothers Andy and Alex, pa as well as classmates enjoy his dishes, they only mock cooking, so he arranges and ‘accidental’ registration for him and two friends in Home Economics. Only Eddie -secretly again- and nerdy bitch Bridget Simons enter a national cooking competition for school-kids. Ma finds out and to his surprise proves supportive, as well as the teacher, who once won the competition herself
5. Chocolat: Staring, Johnny Depp (2000)
Vianne Rocher and her young daughter are drifters who are met with skepticism and resistance when they move to a conservative town in rural France and open a chocolate shop during Lent. As Vianne begins to work her magic and help those around her, the townspeople are soon won-over by her exuberance and her delicious chocolates – except for the mayor, who is determined to shut her down. When a group of river drifters visit the town, Vianne teaches the townspeople something about acceptance, and finds love for herself along the way.
(plot descriptions courtesy of www.imdb.com)
