10 Food Movies That Won’t Appear On My Top 10 List

In preparation for the upcoming Julia and Julie, I, along with every other food blogger, is busy compiling a list of the top 10 food movies. In the course of my list, I discovered as interesting a list–movies that won’t appear on the list.

If you are interested in a comprehensive list of food movies, here’s a great place to start:

http://www.gastronomica.org/foodfilms.html

1.  Tampopo – a Japanese spaghetti western in downtown Tokyo. Why not? The food scenes are second to the story. Where’s that at?
2. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover – a restaurant kitchen the size of Grand Central station. The food is secondary to a story of domestic abuse, crime,  and sociopathy. The final scene, with the beautifully caramelized corpse, small penis sticking in the air, is enough to turn you vegetarian. Or at least give you pause at your next pig roast.
3. Mystic Pizza – more about the story, but it is impossible to watch without wanting a slice or six.
4. Chocolat – the Mystic Pizza of chocolate (or maybe the other way around). You need a couple of pounds of some rich dark chocolate confections to get through it.
5. Diner – “You going to eat those French Fries?” Makes you want to sit at the next table but not really about food.
6. Sweeny Todd / Delicatessen / Eating Raoul etc. – No. Just No. (I also find menus for The Road Kill Cafe disgusting and not at all amusing. Perhaps it’s just me.)
7. Like Water for Chocolate – the book has accompanying recipes and those pomegrate decorated chilis rellenos are still on my to cook list. Don’t know why it doesn’t make it for me.
8. Sideways – Should be in the accompanying Top 10 Spirits Movies. Probably tanked Merlot sales for a year and the discussion of how to taste wine should be on every freshman’s must-see list.
9. The Freshman – should be on it for the Exotic Foods Eating Club and for B.D. Wong in a funny pre-Oz role. It is one funny movie, but just not enough food for me.
10. Five Easy Pieces – the famous chicken salad on toast, hold everything but the toast must have been fun to act but it’s mostly annoying. Unless it’s “symbolic” of the lack of imagination in the American wilderness, in which case, it’s just pretentious.