The Most Memorable Movie Food Scenes We Can’t Stop Thinking About

In the midst of what feels like seemingly endless bad news right now, it’s nice to find a few bright spots. So, when I stumbled up on this thread on Twitter about the best food moments in movies from TV writer Monica Heisey, I had to share. It made my day a little bit happier, and maybe it will help you, too.

TV writer Monica Heisey asked: “Just-me-and-my-boyfriend-alone-in-our-apartment theory,” she said, “everyone has a movie meal that looms large in their mind.” Hers is the scene in Miss Congeniality where all the beauty queens eat pizza and beer, but then she puts the question out to the world, noting we’ve been alone for five days — clearly we need this tasty crossover content — “send screenshots OBVIOUSLY.”

There are a few clear favorites: pretty much anything with pizza, both live-action like the prompt and animated, as in A Goofy Movie.

There’s a fair amount of animated food answers — basically all of Studio Ghibli, a bunch of Disney movies, even the leaf in Land Before Time.

There’s also a few from the obvious food movies: the candy in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the bruschetta in Julie and Julia, and the timpano in Big Night. But really the most interesting answer, and one that came up over and over again was the chocolate cake scene in Matilda.

Reading through the list highlights the importance that small nuances in a movie’s food scene make — Annie running out on fresh squeezed orange juice and a full breakfast in The Parent Trap, Emilio Estevez’s absurd lunch in The Breakfast Club, the dinner Robin Williams serves in Mrs. Doubtfire, and the grilled cheese in The Devil Wears Prada.

Currently at 7,500 replies, the question clearly struck a chord with people, leading them to scroll through their mental Rolodex of great movie scenes and pull out the tastiest ones. Given that nobody’s going anywhere any time soon, it seems like the perfect list from which to pull your next evening entertainment.