Around the Kitchen Table -- Our Favorite Foodie Movies + books #giveaway

LESLIE: Mr. Right and I live in the country, six miles from the nearest town and thirty miles from the nearest movie theater. So though we both love movies, we don't make the trek often. Oddly, we tend to "go to the movies," rather than watch from the couch, in the winter. Yes, the roads can be tricky then, but we're less distracted by fun things like hiking, sailing, and gardening!

And we adore food movies. Sadly, there haven't been any major food flicks in the last few years, at least not that I'm aware of, though I did read that one of my faves, Babette's Feast, is being remade -- two older, unmarried sisters in modern-day Minnesota take in a refugee.

Making a list is like the old TV commercial said of potato chips---bet you can't eat (watch, name) just one. Mine---not in order, because that's impossible---are probably Chocolat (2000), Julie and Julia (2009), and Mistress of Spices (2005), a lovely movie featuring a young woman who moves to the US from India and brings her love of spice with her.

Got a favorite? Or a favorite eating scene? (I know, I know---hard to top Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally, but there are others!)   

Leave a comment below to win a veritable FEAST of books! 

🎥

Krista: One of my old favorites is While You Were Sleeping. Romcom, of course, but there's a scene where they are eating a delayed Christmas dinner. Everything in their lives has gone haywire but the mom just can't stop talking about how creamy the mashed potatoes are.

🍏

Maya: My favorite foodie movie is from the 1990s--Big Night. It's set on the Jersey Shore in the 1950s and revolves around two brothers whose restaurant serving genuine Italian food is having trouble competing with the red-sauce eaterie across the street. The brothers go all out for an Italian feast on the "big night," hoping it will rescue their business. It's a great movie about food and family.


Leslie: Maya, great choice -- I love Big Night! And it stars Stanley Tucci, who plays Paul Child so wonderfully in Julie and Julia!

🎥

Daryl: Oh, Leslie, that scene between Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal at the diner is a classic! And Rob Reiner's mother's retort: "I'll have what she's having."  LOL  One of my favorite foodie movies is Chef starring Jon Favreau. A head chef quits his restaurant job and buys a food truck in an effort to reclaim his creative promise. I also really enjoyed The Hundred-Foot Journey, described as a succulent treat about family, nationality, and the mysteries of good taste.

🍲

Lucy: I've watched Julie and Julia many times over, (Meryl Streep is such a master!) and also loved The Hundred-Foot Journey (though the book was even better.) My grandkids love Ratatouille--I'm going to watch that with them. And two documentaries I enjoyed are Spinning Plates and Kings of Pastry.

🎥

Peg: That scene with Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal will forever be a favorite! It was filmed at Katz's Deli on the lower Eastside of Manhattan. They even have a sign indicating which table they sat at! I learned about it while researching for my Murder, She Reported series.  I also loved Julie and Julia, The Hundred Foot Journey and Chocolat.

 It may seem like an odd choice for a "foodie" movie but the Godfather trilogy is filled with eating scenes--Sunday dinners, wedding feasts, meals at restaurants in Little Italy.  And the scene where Michael learns how to make sauce.

🍝

Ellie: I’m with Daryl on The Hundred Foot Journey. It’s one of my all-time favorite foodie movies and anytime I watch it, I have a serious yearning to create an Indian feast! A close second for me is The Lunchbox, another movie featuring Indian food that not only makes me hungry for spicy curries, but also makes me want to travel to India. Side note, Irffan Khan, who stars in the film has been a legend in Bollywood for years, so I love that he’s gaining a following throughout the globe.

Leslie: Oh, The Lunchbox! Mr. Right lived in India as a young man and we actually have one of those cool brass stacked lunchboxes that he brought home!

🍎

Vicki: I have to confess that this is so NOT my topic. I'm not a movie lover and almost never go to them. Off hand, I can't think of any foodie movies. I did love the scene in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, where the Hobbits list their daily meals -- Second Breakfast, anyone?

DENISE: I hate to admit it, but I don't really notice food in movies too much. But one that comes to mind is Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe. I really wanted to taste that bombe she was making.

🎥

Linda:  I have to go along with Lucy and Peg - Chocolat was almost my very favorite food movie.  I could actually luxuriate in the flavor of the chocolate from the descriptions. And there were oh, so many to delight in. And Ellie was so right about The Hundred Foot Journey. However, my all-time favorite, although one I haven't watched in too long a time, is a Danish movie with English subtitles, Babette's Feast. It was one of the first I watched consciously searched out as being a foodie movie and it didn't disappoint. I'm hoping it's still available in some remote internet universe. Actually, I see it's available on Amazon but I'll have to save up my pennies for it!

☕

Cleo Coyle: We remember that hilarious bombe, Denise! Marc and I are also fans of the zany Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? and so many of the films already mentioned. We’ll just add two more for anyone interested. Like Daryl, we loved Chef (see trailer here), a sweet, funny film that tells the universal story of a talented person who is facing the common issue of professional burnout. It’s a very personal story for filmmaker Jon Favreau, who shows us how to rediscover the passion in our professions, while also reminding us how important it is to temper ego and ambition with love and joy. There are similar universal themes in Bradley Cooper’s Burnt (see trailer here), a fast-paced look at the pressure-filled life of a chef whose expectations for excellence have taken a brutal toll on his life and the lives of those around him. It’s another journey of discovering how important it is to evolve as a human being or risk destruction. Both movies also celebrate the joy of cooking with gorgeous, vibrant food photography, and both films are highly authentic. The filmmakers hired real chefs as consultants on their sets to ensure the screen action was as close as possible to the real thing.

Finally, because so many of us are fans of Julie & Julia, made by the late great writer/director Nora Ephron, we’re sharing (below) one of our favorite scenes from her wonderful film.

With refreshing honesty, Julia Child (as played by Meryl Streep) expresses how all of us foodie folk feel about what we (really) like to do!

Click the white arrow in the window above to play the video clip.

If you don't see the window, you can watch the clip by clicking here.

GIVEAWAY

What's your favorite foodie movie? 
Leave a comment for a chance to win. 
(Include your email address so we can contact you; US addresses only.) 

The entrees and cast:  

Beyond a Resaonable Stout, by Ellie Alexander
Fatal Roots, by Sheila Connolly
Roux the Day, by Linda Wiken
Sifting Through Clues, by Daryl Wood Gerber
  Tell-Tale Tarte, by Maya Corrigan
The Dog Who Knew Too Much, by Krista Davis