In honor of the upcoming Oscars, Cooksden has created its own Culinary Cinema awards. Categories include "Best On-Screen Feast," "Sexiest Food Movie," "Best Food Documentary," "Best Restaurant Industry Movie," "Funniest Food Movie," "Most Disturbing Food Movie," and "Best Leading Actor/Actress in a Food Movie." Nominees for the big award, "Best Food Movie," include Big Night, Chocolat, Eat Drink Man Woman, La Graine et le Mulet, Tampopo, Babette's Feast, Ratatouille, and The Scent of Green Papaya. Check out the site to see the results.
Personally, I think Like Water for Chocolate - the movie that had thousands of home cooks attempting to make quail in rose petal sauce - should have been in the running. What's your favorite food flick?
Getting together for dinner and a movie can be one of the most prosaic (Domino's and Blockbuster) of gatherings. But it can become something significantly more special if the food and the visuals connect.
When I was a broke, just-outta-high school teen, my roommates and I would host Godfather parties, for which we'd make a lot of pasta, get some jugs of cheap wine and follow the rule of shouting "Godfather!" then clinking and drinking every time someone got whacked.
There was a "cases of champagne and little black dresses" Breakfast at Tiffany's birthday party, but the master of the art was my great friend Mr. Diva, who threw annual, movie-themed award show parties, paying homage to Picnic (fried chicken) or Blue Velvet(cherry pie and PBR).
I've been to movie theaters with upscale food before. The Landmark theater near my house serves fancy cheesecakes and local beer. However, here's one that is new to me - movie theater seats with a button to call a waiter.
Village Road Show Gold Class Cinemas is set to open 50 theaters in the US in the next 5 years. Tickets to see movies at these theaters will cost $35 - no food included. However, for your big bucks, you will get the privilege of lounging in a comfortable recliner, pressing a button, and having someone serve you made-to-order meals (including sushi).
I wonder if the waiters will serve during the movie or only before. A waiter standing in front of me as the Titanic sinks sounds worse than that tall guy with the big head who always sits in front of me.
Would you pay $35 for the gold class movie experience?
We at Slashfood absolutely love movies and food, whether it's a quiet night in with take-out and a DVD, a date night out in a restaurant followed by a movie, matching food to movies, movies about food, or talking about foods that might come up in movies.
Premiere.com also like food movies, since this year, there are at least three movies that involve it: Keri Russell in Waitress, the Pixar film Ratatouille that has every good foodie clamoring for eggplant, zucchini, and tomatoes, and No Reservations, the movie that came out this past weekend. In honor of these food movies, Premiere.com lists the 20 Most Mouth-watering Movie Moments, which I'm re-printing here (after the jump). Your favorite food movie or food scene in a movie not listed? Tell us!
It's a common scene in the movies. The family leaves the kitchen or dining room unguarded, distracted by some meaningful event, such as a proposal, death, natural disaster or mental breakdown - whatever constitutes "meaningful" in the movies these days - and returns to find most of dinner missing and Fido licking his chops on the floor.
Unless you have a big dog with quick reflexes, it's more likely that your pup or your cat will snag a bite or two of food than a whole meal. And just about everyone who has owned an animal has caught them red-pawed at one time or another. Now, that's not my kitten in the picture and I probably would have shooed him away before thinking to snap a photo, but that is an extremely cute shot that brings up the question of what "people foods" do your pets tend to go for when they have the chance?
Personally, I've had a cat that would go for macaroni and cheese if I wasn't looking and neighbor whose dog would watch for unguarded egg dishes (making brunch a tricky meal to enjoy).
I'll be keeping a closer eye out the next time I make waffles, just in case.
This isn't about the food you take into the movies, but about the food you see in the movies. Rebecca Epstein has complied a list of movies that prominently feature food in some way, from the obvious, but classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to the "dining etiquette and culinary xenophobia" of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The list is the most comprehensive that we've seen to-date and it is growing all the time, as Epstein continues to add relevant films from all over the world. Will the list eventually capture every foodie moment? Perhaps, although there are so many food movies that it might take the work of a full-time staff just to check every movie.
Not that that's a bad thing, mind you. Just pass the popcorn and sign us up to help out!
One reason that some people prefer to carry big bags into the movies is that they are perfect for storing extra snacks and drinks, so the lines at the concession stands, not to mention their high prices, can be avoided. We know that we're not supposed to do it, but slipping a can of Coke or a bottle of water into a handbag will save a few dollars and you can pick out a snack at the store that is something other than the standard theater offerings.
Speaking of theater offerings, another reason to consider taking your own snack is that most movie theaters are diet disasters - even if you're not actually on a diet. A large popcorn with butter can have more than 1,500 calories and 120 grams of fat. Movie sized boxes of candies usually contain multiple servings, so those calories can add up quickly if you're munching in the dark.
A snack bar or a small bag of trail mix will satisfy you better than a tub of popcorn, since it won't leave you feeling greasy and bloated from eating way too much in a short time. Hard candies and other regularly sized sweets are better options, or you could even bring a bag of sliced apples if you want to be a really healthy snacker.
Admit it: you've done it at least once. What's your favorite food to sneak into the theater?
I'm not vegetarian (though I did try a vegan lifestyle for about a year), but I love this idea of a vegetarian film festival. Organizers of New Zealand's first ever Vegetarian Film Festival will be showing selected movies that have vegetarian themes, ranging from "light" like the indie film Shooting Vegetarians to "heavy," like the story of a live sheep export campaigner in Jill's Film.
But it's not just vegetarian in the movie, it's vegetarian at the movies as well, with concessions stands selling popcorn, vegan ice cream, and contests in which festival-goers can win vegetarian wines (aren't all wines vegetarian!??!) and vouchers to vegetarian restaurants.
The film festival will take place in Auckland and Christchurch, New Zealan on October 8 in conjunction with World Vegetarian Day.
In the movie Grease, Danny Zuko gets stranded at the drive-in theater when Sandy storms out on him. As he sings a strange advertisement for the snack stand rolls on the screen behind him, complete with dancing sodas and trick-trained hot dogs. The song is great, but it is hard to tear your eyes away from those anthropomorphized snacks. I saw this video of about one of those snacks, giving a little backstory and spinning out a rather clever little tale of what happened to Jerome, the Marching Gumdrop, when he left "The Lobby Gang" - featuring Pops Corn, Bonnie Bon Bon, Smokey (a pack of cigarettes isn't exactly refreshing, but whatever), Hot Doggy and Sodey Pop - and struck out on his own.
It's strange, it's funny and, as if that weren't enough, it stars a talking gumdrop.
"At 30,000 feet, snakes aren't the deadliest thing on this plane"... not if there's a cake involved, anyway. The picture shown here is small, but this birthday cake is based on Samuel Jackson's upcoming movie, Snakes on a Plane (due to potentially offensive language, the full cake is after the jump). Somehow, "snakes on a cake" has more of a ring to it than the original title, though it is clear that the movie would have to be much shorter - on account of a cake being much smaller than a plane and able to accommodate fewer snakes. This is a great choice of birthday cake for a movie buff.
Wired News has a hilarious analysis of limited-edition sugary cereals inspired by summer movies. All of us out here in the bloggosphere owe a debt of gratitude to Lore Sjöberg, who took one for the team by sampling these insulin-shock inducing breakfast cereals.
He leads off with Kellogg's Pirates of the Caribbean, which he quickly dismisses as sort of a combination of Cocoa Puffs and Count Chocula, not that that's a bad thing. His description of the chocolate pearl-shaped cereal with pirate-shaped marshmallows had me busting a gut. He likens the marshmallows to bowler hats, extracted incisors and a silhouette of Bob Ross. Guess they couldn't figure out how to make it look like Johnny Depp.
Yesterday's New York Times featured an article about food movies past, present and future. Of course, there's talk of the usual suspects like Tampopo and Big Night, but the gist of the article is that there are plenty more food movies to come, especially from American filmmakers. Of note are a remake of Mostly Martha, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, and an adaptation of Julie Powell's blog-based book Julie & Julia. The latter is to be written and directed by Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle, Bewitched) for Columbia Pictures. Anthony Bourdain even weighs in on Adam Sandler's performance in Spanglish.
Fast Food Nation, the movie, is due to hit theaters nationwide this fall and after the tremendous publicity it has received, as well as both positive and negative press, I'm sure you're all dying to see the preview. Well, here it is. It doesn't give away much, but it does give you a tiny taste of what the movie is going to be like. The cast includes Greg Kinnear, Patricia Arquette, Luis Guzmán, Ethan Hawke, Kris Kristofferson, Avril Lavigne, Esai Morales, Wilmer Valderrama and Bruce Willis. For more information, check out the official site, and for more video clips, head over to the Fast Food Facts site.
What's so "charming" about this film is that it basically lacks a plot or a narrative structure. In fact, the whole 102 minutes of this film center around a single, simple conceit: the thwarted dinner party. With a cast of snooty French citizens and a surrealist ax to grind, Bruñuel takes the viewer on a wild, winding trip through the absurd distractions in the everyday life of the French bourgeosie.
I've been to movie theaters with upscale food before. The 
The Super Bowl is almost here. Check out some 
It's a common scene in the movies. The family leaves the kitchen or dining room unguarded, distracted by some meaningful event, such as a proposal, death, natural disaster or mental breakdown - whatever constitutes "meaningful" in the movies these days - and returns to find most of dinner missing and Fido licking his chops on the floor. 
This isn't about the food you 
One reason that some people prefer to carry big bags into the movies is that they are perfect for storing extra snacks and drinks, so the lines at the concession stands, not to mention their high prices, can be avoided. We know that we're not supposed to do it, but slipping a can of Coke or a bottle of water into a handbag will save a few dollars and you can pick out a snack at the store that is something other than the standard theater offerings. 
I'm not vegetarian (though I did try a vegan lifestyle for about a year), but I love this idea of 
"At 30,000 feet, snakes aren't the deadliest thing on this plane"... not if there's a cake involved, anyway. The picture shown here is small, but this birthday cake is based on Samuel Jackson's upcoming movie, 
Wired News
Yesterday's New York Times featured an 
If you've ever had the pleasure of renting Spanish director 
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