21 Movies You Should Watch If You Love Food
Kind of gives the term “chewing scenery” a whole new meaning.
1. Chef (2014)
Carl (Jon Favreau) is a chef at an upscale restaurant who feels stunted by the repetitive menu insisted upon by his boss. When he loses his temper and consequently his job, he gets back to his cooking roots making Cuban sandwiches in a food truck with his estranged son.
Most Delicious Scene: Carl’s seductive and simple pasta with pesto.
Where You Can Watch It: Netflix.
2. The Lunchbox (2013)
Young, neglected housewife Ila (Nimrat Kaur) in Mumbai sends an extra-special lunch to her husband via the city’s sprawling courier service in the hopes of rekindling the flame. When it is mistakenly delivered to a solitary widower (Irfan Khan), the two begin a sweet though deluded relationship.
Most Delicious Scene: The paneer, in all its iterations.
Where You Can Watch It: Amazon.
3. Chocolat (2000)
Single mother Vianne (Juliette Binoche) and her daughter move to rural France and open a chocolaterie across the street from the local church. Their sweet indulgences and Sunday hours (gasp!) cause a moral uproar, unaided by the arrival of swarthy gypsy Roux (Johnny Depp). But really, how long can people hold out against chocolate?
Most Delicious Scene: Anytime a piece of chocolate passes Johnny Depp’s lips. UNF.
Where You Can Watch It: Amazon.
4. Big Night (1996)
Brothers Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci) are Italian emigrants who have opened a restaurant in New York. Primo is the sophisticated chef who will not bow to patrons’ pedestrian expectations of Italian fare; Secondo is the smooth-talking manager who just wants to run a good business. When they’re tapped for a special benefit concert, they attempt to compromise and pull out all the stops for their “big night.”
Most Delicious Scene: The unveiling of the timpano.
Where You Can Watch It: Netflix.
5. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
This now-classic food documentary follows 85-year-old Jiro Ono, a world-renowned sushi chef completely devoted to his craft. Watching relentless pursuit of perfection is equal parts awe-inspiring, soul-crushing and totally mouthwatering.
Most Delicious Scene: Jiro sushi course “concerto.”
Where You Can Watch It: Netflix.
6. Babette’s Feast (1987)
Set in a remote 19th Danish century village, two sisters forlorn lead a strict life spent caring for their father, the local minister. Years after missed opportunities to move away and the death of their father, they take in French refugee, Babette Hersant, as their servant. Babette repays the sisters for their kindness with a decadent French meal.
Most Delicious Scene: The feast, of course!
Where You Can Watch It: Hulu Plus.
7. Like Water For Chocolate (1992)
This movie is all about the passionate affair between Tita (Lumi Cavazos), a beauty from a traditional Mexican family who is forbidden to marry, and Pedro (Marco Leonardi), the young stallion who has stolen her heart. If that doesn’t get you, here’s the twist: Everything Tita cooks is infused with her emotions, causing powerful and not always pleasant reactions in all who consume it.
Most Delicious Scene: Tita’s quail in rose petal sauce.
Where You Can Watch It: Netflix.
8. Waitress (2007)
Jenna (Keri Russell) is a melancholy and pregnant waitress practicing the art of pie-making at her diner in the hopes of winning the local bake-off and earning enough money to leave her husband. All that changes when a cute new doctor comes to town, and the myriad pies become less a job for Jenna and more a form of therapy.
Most Delicious Scene: “Earl Murders Me Because I’m Having An Affair” Pie.
Where You Can Watch It: Amazon.
9. Ratatouille (2007)
Remy (Patton Oswalt) is a rat with a sophisticated palette. When he comes across the kitchen of a fantastic French restaurant, he teams up with the awkward garbage boy Alfredo Linguini (Lou Romano) to bring both their cooking dreams to life. Hijinks ensue.
Most Delicious Scene: When Remy whips up his first soup.
Where You Can Watch It: Amazon.
10. The Trip (2010)
Steve Coogan is asked to tour the finest restaurants of Northern England. When his girlfriend backs out, he invites his best frenemy and fellow comedian Rob Brydon instead. Get ready for incredible cuisine, beautiful countryside, and spot-on Michael Caine impressions.
Most Delicious Scene: Every time Rob orders the scallops.
Where You Can Watch It: Netflix.
11. Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
This movie centers around the dinner table of a widowed, masterful Chinese chef and his three grown daughters in Taipai, Taiwan. Each heavenly Sunday meals brings a fresh clash between the modern, independent daughters and their traditional father.
Most Delicious Scene: The opening sequence. The precision! The steam! THE MEAT.
Where You Can Watch It: Amazon.
12. Haute Cuisine (2012)
Based on a true story, Hortense Laborie (Catherine Frot) is a celebrated chef in small-town France who is suddenly tapped by the President of the Republic to be his personal cook. Though she faces mad shade from the mostly male kitchen staff and more attention from the president, Laborie finds power in her indisputably amazing cooking.
Most Delicious Scene: The president’s midnight tartine snack with black truffles.
Where You Can Watch It: Netflix.
13. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
A poor boy wins a chance to visit the most glorious chocolate factory ever imagined by mere human minds. Even the wallpaper tastes great! Dude who owns it is kind of strange, though.
Most Delicious Scene: THE CHOCOLATE ROOM.
Where You Can Watch It: Amazon.
14. Romantics Anonymous (2010)
The French and their chocolate, amiright? It’s the cute story of the owner of a small chocolate factory and his new chocolatiere, both painfully timid but totally passionate about their work.
Most Delicious Scene: The chocolate tasting.
Where You Can Watch It: iTunes.
15. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (2009)
Misfit scientist Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) has created a machine to turn water into food, which goes haywire when it starts converting the water in the atmosphere: It starts raining food! So basically all your childhood—ok, adulthood—dreams come true.
Most Delicious Scene: The ice cream storm!
Where You Can Watch It: Amazon.
16. Spinning Plates (2012)
This delectable documentary follows three unique chefs, each serving very different in their own amazing way. From Michelin-rated to backyard BBQs, this movie explores how it doesn’t matter what or where you cook, just that you have a passion for food.
Most Delicious Scene: The twisted artistry of yuba, shrimp, orange, miso.
Where You Can Watch It: Netflix.
17. I Am Love (2009)
This film is about a Russian woman Emma (Tilda Swinton) who marries into a powerful Milanese family, though haute living leaves her feeling unfulfilled. Enter Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini), a talented chef who rewakens her passion for life with—what else?—food.
Most Delicious Scene: The prawns.
Where You Can Watch It: Amazon.
18. Bottle Shock (2008)
Ok, it’s about the rise of respectability in California winemaking, but you need something to wash down all these food films! Parisian sommelier Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) comes to Cali in 1976 to find the best wine to go head-to-head with its French counterparts in a blind taste test.
Most Delicious Scene: The Judgement of Paris.
Where You Can Watch It: Netflix.
19. Spirited Away (2001)
When young Chihiro and her family make a pitstop on their way to their new home in the Japanese countryside, they wander into an abandoned amusement park secretly ruled by demons and spirits. When her parents are turned into pigs, Chihiro must find a way to barter with the master of the spiritual bathhouse for all of their freedom.
Most Delicious Scene: When the spirit No-Face is all of us: “Just keep the food coming! I want to eat everything!”
Where You Can Watch It: You can buy it on Amazon.
20. Marie Antoinette (2006)
A dramatic interpretation of the lavish lifestyle of Marie Antoinette in the years leading up to the French Revolution. It’s hard to tell what’s more delicious: all the scandal or all the cake. (JK it’s obviously the cake.)
Most Delicious Scene: So many balls, so many pastries.
Where You Can Watch It: Amazon.
21. Julie & Julia (2009)
The drool-worthy retelling of one woman’s attempt to cook through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Start watching for the food, keep watching for Meryl Streep.
Most Delicious Scene: Boeuf bourguinion and raspberry Bavarian cream.
Where You Can Watch It: iTunes.
Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/laurenpaul/movies-all-food-enthusiast-must-watch
