53 Food Movies To Make You Bring Out Your Cooking Utensils

 

Away with the elitist idea that only the selected few can cook! Remy the rat has only one dream in his life, and that is to cook like his idol, Chef Gusteau. If that means he has to physically manipulate his human counterpart Linguini, then so be it. Soaked in a Parisian vibe and love for French cuisine, this movie is as heartwarming as it is deliciously fun.

 

Before Willy Wonka, Johnny Depp was in another chocolate-making movie that tells a story of a woman and her daughter who arrive in a small traditional French village to set up a chocolate shop. At first, they face a lot of resistance from the locals, but gradually their kindness — and very delicious chocolate — help them change the community for the better.

 

Carl Casper is a successful chef, but he has lost his creative spark. After his lava cake is criticized by a food critic, Casper does something no respectable chef would dream of doing in their worst nightmares — he opens a food truck and drives around the country with his old friend and line cook, and his young son. The movie manages to combine a perfect balance of respect for food and criticism of the elitist food culture and the people that create it.

 

A lot can happen when two cultures meet, especially when neither of them are ready to compromise their traditions. While Toula and Ian may be fine with each other’s differences, their families are horrified to learn about the eating habits of the other side. And yet, it is food — and love — that will bring them all together to a happy ending.

 

Admit it, how many times did you dream of being one of the kids who won a ticket to the Wonka Chocolate Factory? This film is filled with desserts beyond your wildest imagination and makes you wish a chocolatier like Willy Wonka did exist in real life.

 

Sure, the food in this movie is not exactly something that will make your mouth water, but it does play a huge role in the story nonetheless. Protagonist Flik and other ants have to work and collect food for the grasshoppers who promised them protection from other predators, but after a while, they realize the grasshoppers only use them to get food. The movie tells the story of unfair and oppressive food systems that make you rethink the way modern society is organized.

 

Studio Ghibli is famous for making its food scenes very vivid and inviting, but the breakfast scene in this one could easily take the cake. Not only is it incredibly beautiful and flowy, but it also showcases the nature of every character, even Calcifer, the sentient fire that keeps the Moving Castle, well, moving.

 

Somewhere in one of Tokyo’s many subway stations, there is a sushi place called Sukiyabashi Jiro. The place can only serve ten people, and getting a reservation is nothing short of a quest. This documentary explores the life and career path of Jiro Ono, the owner and sushi master of the restaurant, who at the time the film was made was 86 years old.

 

Julia Child’s cookbook on French cuisine is regarded as nothing short of a textbook. But back in 1950s Paris, Julia was just another woman who followed her diplomat husband to a foreign land and was trying to carve a path for herself. And as Julie Powell, a modern-day food blogger, recreates Child’s recipe for her followers in the hopes of becoming famous, we are left to wonder how similar, though separated by decades, the stories of the two women are.

 

This movie has a lot to its credit to keep you glued to the screen till the very end. After all, it is not every year that a foreign film wins the Academy Award for Best Picture. And just like many other details, food is used to highlight the social imbalance between the classes in Korean society. One of the most vivid examples is the ram-don scene, where the mother of the poor family has to cook a dish that combines cheap noodles with high-quality beef, just like these two families have to connect their lives.

 

It all starts with a mistake, like any romantic meet-cute. Two lunchboxes get mixed up, and this is how Ila and Saajan learn of each other’s existence. What follows is an exchange of letters, delicious lunches, and a contemplation of whether one should succumb to their fate or break out of an unhappy place and build their own happiness.

 

If you ever thought that yelling chefs, overworked servers, and horribly mixed orders were the fruits of a writer’s imagination, you couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, everyone who has worked in the catering industry will tell you that movies are more likely to underplay the real chaos that takes place in any industrial kitchen. So when you watch the hijinks of this movie, rest assured that all of this could have happened in real life.

 

Loosely based on Judi Barrett’s book of the same name, this movie tells the story of Flint Lockwood, who invented a machine that turns all sorts of weather into various kinds of food. And yes, it is as chaotic and fun as it sounds. But besides food literally falling from the sky, the animation also deals with the complicated relationship Flint has with his father.

 

You have probably heard the thought that your cooking reflects your emotion. In this movie, this saying comes to life in the most literal way. At times absurd, at times tragic, at times joyous, and at all times dedicated to the food it depicts, Alfonso Arau’s masterpiece will introduce you to a family that tries to navigate their way through the hardships of relationships and the necessity of keeping up with the times.

 

Telling the story of a mother and her anthropomorphic bao son, this short animation will manipulate you into feeling all the emotions. With a great take on the inevitable separation of children from their parents, it is a must-see for every parent and child.

 

A small and absolutely not-famous pizza place is more than just a place of work for three young girls who are trying to find their place in life. While they go through heartbreaks and reconciliations, an influential food critic comes to Mystic Pizza. His review can decide the fate of the establishment.

 

Jenna makes great pies and gives them great creative names. Apart from that, everything else is crumbling in her life: an unwanted pregnancy, loveless marriage, and an affair that shouldn’t be there in the first place. There is also a big pie competition she wants to participate in. This lighthearted comedy will make you fall in love with pies even if you’ve never tried one before.

 

Tampopo (dandelion in Japanese) is a widowed chef who runs a ramen shop. Two truck drivers decide to help her on her quest to make the perfect bowl of ramen, which up until now she’s failed to do. The movie uncovers individual relationships with the food we eat and ventures into exploring the sensuality of both cooking and consuming food.

 

A lot has been said about fusion cuisine. Some love it, some object to it, but what really happens when two different cultures come together in the kitchen? This movie explores the idea of cultural differences and similarities, blood and acquired family, and above all, dedication to your calling.

 

Several close friends reunite in Baltimore before the wedding of one of them. As they choose a diner as the place for their meetups, there will be a lot of eating as well as discussing both matters of utmost importance and completely trivial ones over a plate.