I’ve always loved movies that feature food as a major component of the story. The movie doesn’t necessarily have to be about cooking, restaurants, or chefs for it to be satisfying to me. It only needs to have scenes dedicated to showing how the food is prepared. Bonus points for detailed close up shots or audio that captures the sound of preparing food.
I think this love affair might have started when my uncle gifted my brother and I Ponyo on DVD when were kids. The young fish-girl named Ponyo is obsessed with ham and, like a lot of Ghibli movies, there are a lot of scenes showing Sosuke’s mother preparing food for the children.
There’s something about watching somebody quietly and diligently prepare food that really comforts me. In the spirit of holiday coziness, I watched and re-watched a few more.
Sweet Bean (2015)
The tone of this movie started off light and quirky and then transitioned to being much more serious and poignant towards the end and I’m not sure how they did that so seamlessly. I’ll have to rewatch this one.
Also Tokue’s process for making the bean paste (and Sentaro’s confusion at watching her speak to beans as if they are people) was so funny and sweet to watch.
Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
This one also mixes in a bit of romantic comedy which is my second favorite kind of movie! The movie is about an emotionally repressed father of three daughters who expresses his feelings through cooking (he is a renowned chef). The daughters are going through their own life dramas and romances so the Sunday dinners are a grounding point throughout the movie. I thought the similarly-stubborn-daughter-and-father dynamic between Jia-Chien and her father was the rewarding to see evolve throughout the story.
Julie & Julia (2009)
This was one of my favorite movies for a while. It’s about a woman who takes it upon herself to cook and blog about every recipe in Julia Child’s tome of recipes, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, for a year. Its uplifting and funny as Nora Ephron movies always are. Also, watching Julia slog through years of drafts for that cookbook is always motivating.
The Taste of Things (2023)
This movie was so devastating I actually felt as if a sliver of my chest cavity was being carved away! This is not about cooking as stress relief. It shows that side of craft that feels really serious and devotional and sensual. The unfolding of the relationship on screen is gorgeous, as are the closeup shots of the food.
Little Forest (2018)
This one is about a girl who moves from Seoul back to her rural hometown because “she is hungry.” The movie explores all of the ways hungriness can manifest, one of them being hunger for food that you were raised eating. After finding her childhood home empty (her mother moved away without telling her), she cooks recipes her mother used to make for her when she was younger.