There's nothing like getting in the Thanksgiving spirit by snuggling up and watching your favorite food film on a brisk fall weekend evening. And there's certainly no lack of them.
There are films on the sweeter side, detailing an intense and all-consuming pastry competition in France to a single mom moving into a French village to open a chocolate shop. There are cartoons like Ratatouille which lovingly depict a rat with a very fine, cultured palate. Tortilla Soup delves into mandatory Sunday dinners with family. And a recent favorite, The Help, features that drool-worthy chocolate pie.
Entire articles have been devoted to the best food films of all time and literary journals often put out long lists of food films.
Related: On Demand: 10 Food Movies and TV Shows on Netflix Instant
(Images: Netflix)
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Comments (50)
Tampopo, surely, for fun. Kings of Pastry was impressive and fascinating and reminds me why I really don't enjoy French pastry.
Tampopo!! And Big Night and Babette's Feast. Babette's Feast was my first favorite.
If you liked Tortilla Soup be sure to watch Eat Drink Man Woman, the Taiwanese film it was based on. No movie has ever made me drool so much.
I still love Babette's Feast.
Babette's feast, En Tiempos de Azucar and Like Water for Chocolate
Love Big Night!... "Sometimes the pasta wants to be alone."
Tampopo!
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. Ok, so it gets pretty gruesome at the end. Still a great movie (and the costumes by Jean Paul Gaultier are amazing!)
God of Cookery might be my favorite.
Chocolat and Mostly Martha! I also quite like Love's Kitchen -- I've always had a girl crush on Claire Forlani. I think the poor reviews are from people who don't like Gordon Ramsey.
I forgot to mention Julie and Julia has been playing in our house every night -- can't get enough of Paris and Meryl Streep (forget Julie).
@tallsarah, great choice. I'd also go with Chocolat, Woman on Top, and My Dinner with Andre.
No contest! Tampopo FTW!
Waitress wasn't that bad, Chocolat neither, but my all time favorite is Bella Martha. It was Americanized as No Reservations, but the German version is so much better...
Chocolat... Mmmm =)
Chocolat! Mmm, also Simply Irresistible, which everyone else always hates.
Chocolat is good, but I always cry happy tears when the critic is transported back to his childhood by tasting a single bite in Ratatouille. Nothing beats that feeling.
My favorite, still to this day: Eat Drink Man Woman.
Tortilla Soup was a vapid remake that just didn't have me loving ANY of the characters, not even the Dad/Chef.
I second Eat Drink Man Woman! And it looks like I'm going to have to see this Tampopo movie!
How could I forget Like Water for Chocolate!
Julie and Julia is at the top of the list, for sure. It's a good rainy day movie. I love Fried Green Tomatoes, too. Oh and Delicatessen. But I guess from the last two one might deduct that I have a cannibalistic streak.
Every year before Thanksgiving, I watch Pieces of April. Fabulous film about connection and what makes a family, all centered around the preparation of Thanksgiving dinner.
Like Water for Chocolate, Big Night and Bella Martha are my favorites.
Dinner Rush ... surprised not to see it on the list!
Kings of Pastry, hands down. I've seen it way too many times. Like Water for Chocolate is my favorite "fiction" film.
@sarf- I saw a double feature of Delicatessen with The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. I don't remember which was shown first... but I went out for dinner afterwards with no ill effects!
No one's going to mention Sweeney Todd?
Like Water for Chocolate is great.
If I had editing facilities, I'd cut the "Julie" parts of Julie and Julia and just enjoy Meryl Streep as Julia.
Oh man I loved Kings of Pastry. As an endurance athlete I can can totally sympathize with these guys and the endless hours of preparation they put in for one event. I also watched a documentary not long ago about a culinary arts program in a Phili High School. It was super inspirational and made me teary eyed at more than one point in the film. Darn, I can't remember the name though!
I love No Reservations!
EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN!!!! its awesome!
tampopo! Agreed!
My favorites are Ratatouille and Kings of Pastry. Very good.
A Touch of Spice is amazing - its hard to get a copy of though...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378897/
Eat Drink Man Woman
Big Night
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
Julie & Julia (Just Julia Please!!)
Like Water For Chocolate - I dream of chiles en nogada
Delicatessen
Chocolat
Movies that have awesome cooking/eating
scenes:
Girl With A Pearl Earring
The Age of Innocence
The Joy Luck Club
Scotland, PA - Because setting Macbeth in the 70's in the fast food world is awesome.
Hannah and her Sisters
Honorable mention for a TV series - Upstairs, Downstairs - Mrs. Bridges is the bomb.
HK flick: God of Cookery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_of_Cookery
Love Big Night! Eat Drink Man Woman too!
The Raman Girl
Julie & Julia -- I agree with the others that it would be best if it was just Julia, but what can you do?
I also liked Waitress, mainly because I can't not like something with Nathan Fillion in it.
"Mostly Martha" and "Big Night" which has a great soundtrack to play while cooking...
Julie & Julia (2009)
The Ramen Girl (2008)
Ratatouille (2007)
No reservations (2007)
Like Water For Chocolate (1992)
Chocolat and The Waitress. Both are my favorites!
Chocolat and The Waitress. Both are my favorites!
http://brittanysblogofrandomthings.blogspot.com/
So glad to see so many Tampopo fans! I agree!
I really loved Waitress and it's treatments of her love of pies.
Chocolat is one of my all time favorite movies. I also loved Babette's Feast, but I haven't seen it in a long time...
My Favorites Are:
Hannah and her Sisters (not so much about food, but they return to Thanksgiving 3 times in the movie)
Dinner with Friends
Dinner Rush
Waitress
No Reservations
Julie and Julia (I could have done with more Julia)
Under the Tuscan Sun
I vote for "Big Eden"!
Just curled up on the couch last night to Babette's Feast and a big mug of chamomile tea! Also Ratatouille and Chocolat
Looks like I need to get a copy of Tampopo, stat!
But I was *SO* excited to see Big Night in this photo. I LOVE that movie. And Stanley Tucci in general. Only partly because if we were married, I'd be Tara Bellucci-Tucci.