Both Indian film industry and movie industries abroad have created amazing food-themed movies at different times. Food and films go a long way. It is food that spices up the journey of story-telling; making the experience, all the more memorable.
Let’s take a stroll down the memory lane, to some of the evergreen food movies in the Celluloid which will catch the fancy of the Cine-goers and foodies alike.
Take a look at the 15 Scrumptious Food-themed Movies:
1. Daawat-e-Ishq – 2014
Daawat-e-Ishq, an Indian food movie is a run of the mill story depicting the tale of a lower middle-class girl, who dreams big of going to America and change her life. In due course of tasting success, she experiences an encounter with a young man who incidentally turns out to be a chef, enchanting anybody with his aroma of biryani and flavors of kebabs. Then starts the real twist when both discover themselves that they are head over heels in love with each other.
2. The Lunchbox – 2013
Starring veteran actors Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in lead roles, ‘The Lunchbox’ is one of the entertaining food-themed movies of Indian Cinema. The film rotates around the mistaken delivery of a lunchbox by Dabbawalas or lunchbox service (trend popular in Mumbai) that finally leads to a relationship between Saajan (a widower on the verge of retirement) and Ila (an unhappy housewife).
The movie proceeds with their exchanging of notes through the daily lunchbox. The story is beautifully weaved revealing the significance of food in every phase of our lives. Ila cooks mouthwatering Indian dish Kofta Paneer (dumplings prepared with cheese, potatoes and nuts infused in tomato gravy) for Saajan.
3. Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana – 2012
Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana can be identified as one of the ideal movies for chefs. The movie revolves around the frantic search for a recipe for the much-craved chicken curry, “Chicken Khurana.” The protagonist Omi Khurana (starring-Kunal Kapoor), a brash young man returns to his native village in Punjab after fleeing from London. On his return, he finds that his grandfather (starring -Vinod Nagpal ) a well-known chef of the locality and restaurateur of “ Khurana dhaba”(their family restaurant) has forgotten the secret ingredient of their signature dish.
After his grandfather’s death Omi tries to track down the recipe and finally, he could reinvent the secret ingredient. Undoubtedly, for a chef, this is the most important moment of his life when he could manage his family’s old restaurant crisis and change their fortunes.
4. Stanley Ka Dabba – 2011
Although not amongst those core food-themed movies, yet, Stanley Ka Dabba makes a huge impact on every viewer’s mind. The movie takes us back to our school days when we considered break time quite important. The movie reveals the fact that in every child’s life ‘Tiffin Box’ is a prized possession. The movie shows how children at school keep waiting for the tiffin breaks to savor on the delicious food items tenderly cooked by their mother.
The movie also depicts intricately that sharing food with classmates give another level of enjoyment. The film also portrays the hardship of protagonist ‘Stanley’ ( Partho Gupte ) who is not so lucky to enjoy food during tiffin time like other fortunate children and understands the value of food. Stanley Ka Dabba is a beautiful portrayal that teaches us how we tend to take food for granted when we have everything to eat in abundance.
5. Cheeni Kum – 2007
A must-watch amongst several popular restaurant movies, this film talks about a witty yet egoistic chef played by Amitabh Bachchan, working in a top Indian restaurant in London. The theme in Cheeni Kum, the movie being food, the main story revolves around a tiff of the chef with a 34-year-old beautiful guest coming down to the restaurant on Zafrani Biryani. Tiff rolls to conversations, meetings and finally to an effervescence romance between the unconventional lovebirds.
6. Bawarchi – 1972
This 1972 hit, has yesteryear star Rajesh Khanna as the main protagonist. Raghu (Rajesh Khanna) takes employment in an ever-bickering Sharma family. His skill lies in multi-tasking ranging from dishing out lip-smacking food within a minutes time, leaving householders in a state of shock to pitching words of wisdom in accurate times. At the fag end of Bawarchi the audience also gets to experience him as a peacemaker in this ‘family of feuds.’
Let’s shift our focus from Indian cinemas to Hollywood films; there are hoards of food-themed movies which are hard to resist.
7. Eat Drink Man Woman – 1994
Eat Drink Man Woman is a Taiwanese film and can be considered in the genre of food family movies. The story revolves around Mr. Chu (Sihung Lung), a widower who has earned a reputation as the Chinese master chef has three unmarried daughters. According to the story, each Sunday Mr. Chu arranges for a glorious banquet for his daughters and the dinner table becomes the family forum.
8. Tortilla Soup – 2001
Tortilla Soup is a 2001 American comedy-drama film starring Tom Musca, Ramón Menéndez and Vera Blasi in the main roles. The movie is based on the film Eat Drink Man Woman. The food lovers can watch this film to enjoy glimpses of many gourmet dishes on the table arranged for the multi-course meals.
9. Ratatouille – 2007
Ratatouille, an animated food movie shows Remy, an idealistic and ambitious young rat, gifted with highly developed senses of taste and smell. Inspired by his idol, the recently deceased chef Auguste Gusteau, Remy dreams of becoming a cook himself. When an old woman sees his clan, they are forced to abandon their home; Remy is separated from them as a result of the woman’s gunshots. He ends up in the sewers of Paris and eventually finds himself at a skylight overlooking the kitchen of Gusteau’s restaurant.
10. Julie and Julia – 2009
Julie & Julia, an American comedy-drama film shows a contrast in the life of chef Julia Child in the early years of her culinary career with that of young New Yorker Julie Powell. This is among the top cooking movies because it has mention of 524 recipes in 365 days in Child’s cookbook. The movie reveals the challenge taken by Powell, who decides to cook every recipe in mentioned in her cookbook by Julia Child in one year. The movie cast includes Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Chris Messina and Stanley Tucci.
11. Haute Cuisine – 2012
Haute Cuisine, a French comedy-drama is based on the true story of Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch. The story portrays her real-life incident on how she was appointed as the private chef for François Mitterrand. The story proceeds with the immediate appointment of Hortense Laborie (Catherine Frot) by the President of the Republic (Jean d’Ormesson) as his cook. She was appointed for creating all the president’s meals at the Élysée Palace. The movie is a truly inspiring one for all ambitious chefs.
12. The Trip to Italy – 2014
In The Trip to Italy, a food critic had been asked to visit different parts of England and write about the best restaurants present out there. Rob has been commissioned by a newspaper to go on a driving tour of Italy from Piedmont to Capri, partly following in the footsteps of the great Romantic poets. Steve joins him and as they journey through the beautiful Italian countryside, they talk about life, relationships and their careers. The Trip to Italy is one of the popular food-related movies of its times.
13. The Chef – 2014
Carl is a talented chef who loses his job, after an artistic conflict with the owner of the restaurant. Post that he opens up his own truck restaurant, where no one else tells him how to cook. The Chef is a wonderful and engaging food truck movie.
14. East Side Sushi – 2016
East Side Sushi, best food movies is a feature-length film with Diana Elizabeth Torres as the protagonist. Juana, a single Mexican-American mother, lives with her young daughter and widowed father who has several jobs from tending her father’s fruit cart to working at Mexican taquerias. Finally, she is hired as a sous chef at the Japanese restaurant Osaka. In the movie, her journey starts off as a kitchen helper and simultaneously she develops her love for making sushi dishes. Eventually she starts preparing signature sushi dishes on her own time. In the movie, she was also seen entering a contest “Champions of Sushi,” Her recognition as a Sushi chef increases.
The film depicts her struggle of becoming a sushi chef in gender-biased Japanese society. It’s a must watch movie for those who aspire to become a chef with some signature recipe on their name.
15. Woman on Top – 2000
Woman on Top is one of the admired American fantasy romantic comedy films starring Penélope Cruz, Murilo Benício, Harold Perrineau Jr. and Mark Feuerstein. The movie is a story about Isabella (Penélope Cruz) who suffers from motion sickness throughout her life. Her ailment has kept her restricted indoors and this way she took up to learn cooking. The story proceeds with her becoming a renowned chef as an adult. In the second part, she is also seen hosting a live cooking show, Passion Food. The film closes with her running a restaurant together with her fiancé (Toninho). A must see film for all those who love cooking.
Rounding Off
In the epilogue, it can well be stated that; food and celluloid’ share a close bond since time immemorial. Human minds bond over food and when the film gets involved in the package, the combo indeed becomes a deadly one; which is impossible to escape.
