Food for thought

The big screen, apart from having the ability to make everything look larger than life, always manages to romanticise, eroticise and elevate even the most insipid object to a completely new level. Food and movies go together like, well, popcorn and movies.  Since food is one of the central themes of life, it stands to reason that it would make a good theme for the cinema, and there have been some great movies based on life’s gastronomic pleasures.

To me, to be a true food movie, the film should embody the same trait that makes for a great chef; passion for the food.  You should leave the theater so inspired that you want to sprint either straight to a great restaurant or to the kitchen. It’s time for dinner and a movie.  Pour a glass of wine, and enjoy the show.  These movies may make you laugh, make you cry or may inspire you, but they are all sure to make you hungry.

1.       Soul Food (1997) Another movie based on the Chinese film Eat Drink Man Woman (I really need to see that movie) this time from the African-American point of view.   Without the family dinners of Mama Joe once she is hospitalised, her daughters begin to splinter apart, only to find their way inspired by Mama’s soul food.  A fine cast led by Vanessa Williams and Vivica A. Fox, this later became a TV series.

2.       Woman on Top (2000) A movie where a woman uses her cooking skills to escape a bad marriage, this time the stunning Penelope Cruz as a Brazilian chef turned cooking show goddess.  The movie is quirky and goofy, yet Cruz is adorable in the lead, and with food as a metaphor for life she learns that she does not need a man in her life, she needs to cook and be her own woman.

3.       Chocolat (2000) Juliette Binoche is wonderful as a drifter who along with her young daughter opens a chocolate shop in a conservative 1960 French town.  The town is mostly won over by her exquisite chocolate with the exception of the evil town mayor who organises a boycott of her decadent immoral treats.  Johnny Depp is along for the ride as an Irish gypsy.  A fun, sexy and entertaining film filled with great performances.

4.       Ratatouille (2007) You didn’t think a blog wouldn’t  have this utterly charming animated gem on my list, did you?  The Oscar winner for best animated film, it follows the adventures of an aspiring chef, and the gastronomic genius rat that helps him cook.  It is remarkable how many true food principles are on display in this film, but the true message is that anybody can cook!

5.       Julie & Julia (2009) The movie that drew droves of foodies to theaters follows the true story of blogger Julie Powell, played with abandon by Amy Adams who attempts cook her way through legendary chef Julia Child’s seminal cookbook “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”  The movie is really parallel stories of two women chasing their dream.  In the role of Child, Meryl Streep is astounding (isn’t she always?) embodying the iconic chef.  The inspiring message of the movie is basically how Child lived her life; follow your dream, it doesn’t always have to be perfect, and don’t apologise for the first two. 

Mistress of spices?

When Penelope Cruz served up the spaghetti with juicy tomatoes and stringy cheese, men world over heaved a collective sigh. She was clearly the Woman on Top as the sexy, saucy and seductive chef Isabella, who had the men lusting and drooling. In today’s world women chefs may be few and far in number, with male chefs like Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver and Anthony Bourdain dominating the kitchen, but TRPs soar when the women preen, pose and stir up a storm.

What is it exactly that has women chefs scoring over men when it comes to TV? Ask any guy and he will simply say, “When Nigella Lawson gets on TV and teaches me a thing or two about how to chop onions, believe me I have my eyes glued. She is easily one of the hottest chefs I have seen and is it any wonder then that I’d rather watch her than a constipated Gordon Ramsay?”

We live in the golden age of chefs. Between your Batalis and Bouluds, your Vongerichtens and Riperts, your Masas and Morimotos, the arena is brimming over with cooking legends who not only practise world-class gastronomy, but also manage to turn themselves into million-dollar mega brands and names to reckon with. But sparing the occasional mention of a Martha Stewart or a Betty Crocker, the new range of celebrity women chefs seem to rely more on their glamour quotient to sell food. It is no wonder then that famed English chef Nigella Lawson has constantly been under the scanner for her flirtatious manner of presenting, and has been titled the ‘queen of food porn’ by critics. Also named as one of the world’s most beautiful women, Nigella has been accused of relying heavily upon her attractiveness and sexuality as a device to engage viewers.

When ex Lady Rushdie, Padma Lakshmi exploded on to the cooking scene; the viewers just couldn’t make sense of what they were seeing. Here was the ultra glam, highly sexy supermodel, who one would believe couldn’t make a proper cup of tea, telling us how to splutter mustard seeds in order to make the perfect sambhar! I’m sorry but when I think of Padma Lakshmi telling me how to cook the perfect meal, I just can’t take her seriously because these women only seem to sell their food through their fab looks and perfect 10 bodies. Hell, give me a Sanjeev Kapoor any day!

Also joining the bandwagon are chefs Anjum Anand and Rachel Ray. While yummy mummy Anjum’s well spoken Indo-Brit accent and flirtatious manner have led to her being dubbed the Nigella Lawson of Indian cuisine in Britain, Rachel Ray's foxy manner of presentation with her oohing, aahing and lip-smacking, has the men cheering loudly.

Lets face it - the women seem to be able to sell themselves mainly due to the glamour quotient; it helps when we have a scantily clad Padma Lakshmi talking to us about the merits of peanut oil, or when a voluptuous Nigella Lawson tells us how to make the perfect molten chocolate cake. It would be fair to say then that these women are primarily TV personalities and chefs later. That being said, I don’t see the men complaining; they may whimper, but it’s certainly not out of remorse!