Non-food movies with one great food scene

[rlibkind]

All the other movie topics seem to be about food-centric movies, i.e., Babette's Feast, Who's Killing the Great Chefs of Europe, etc.

What about movies that that really aren't about food, but may have one or two fantastic food scenes.

The first movie with a memorable food scene I recall seeing was Tom Jones with that lascivious supper shared by Tom and Mrs. Waters.

Oysters were a key component of that meal, as they are in the most recent movie I've seen (just tonight), Mr. Bean's Holiday, wherein Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean fails to enjoy the briny molluscs at Le Train Bleu served by waiter Jean Rochefort (who was one of the victims in Who's Killing . . . ). After seeing this you will never idly grab for a cell phone in your bag again.

What other scenes (from movies that don't have food as a central part of the plot or setting) featuring food have you enjoyed?

[cathrynapple]

What about City Of Angels, where Nicholas Cage has never tasted food, and asks Melanie Griffith to describe the taste and texture of a ripe pear? That was lovely.

[Margo]

Ken Russell's Tommy. Ann-Margret in baked beans.

[dockhl]

When Harry met Sally, diner scene

"I'll have what she's having!"

Estelle Reiner (Rob Reiner's mom)

[Lenski]

On a related note and on topic.

I found this book in Spain and it includes a recipe inspired by a movie that some of the big names in contemporary cuisine created. You will find the link here 35 mm

Among the many recipes....

- La costilla de Adán, Grant Achatz. (Adam's Rib)

- Descalzos por el parque, Heston Blumenthal. (Barefoot in the Park)

- El imperio de los sentidos, Andoni Luis Aduriz. (Empire of the senses....)

- Kill Bill: volumen 2, Carles Abellán. (A very funny recipe, perfect for Abellan)

- La naranja mecánica, Albert Adrià. (A Clockwork Orange)

- Play time, Willie Dufresne.

- La tentación vive arriba, Joan, Jordi y Josep Roca. (7 year itch)

[Peter Green]

Great food scenes in non-food movies?

Not in any particular order:

- The chicken eating scene in Lord of the Rings III. Admit it, we all look like that when we eat bbq chicken with our fingers.

- 5 Easy Pieces is the standard reference piece on how to order food

- The Challenge has a wonderful kaiseki section

- P ( shameless plug) has some great liver eating scenes. Mind you, so does the original Night of the Living Dead. but maybe these qualify as food movies?

- Indiana Jones II for outre dining

- The dinner scene in Besson's La Femme Nikita where she finds out about her first mission

- Besson again, in Wasabi, were Reno does the finger grab into the wasabi

- I don't know if it qualifies, but in the Dune film, there a part where Rabban Harkonnen takes a bit out of a cow (if my memory doesn't fail me). That seemed oddly Ethiopian.

This is fun. I'll have to think of more.

[mizducky]

The pie fight scene in "The Great Race."

For a movie not about food as such, "Gosford Park" has a whole lot of scenes that turn on food, its preparation, serving, and consumption, especially the class nuances involved--including a hunting party.

[johnnyd]

The dinner scene in Galaxy Quest.

The hosts go to great pains to get some indigenous food from some crazy planet for Alan Rickman's character.

[andiesenji]

I will never forget that food scene in Tom Jones.

However, the one film in more recent years that I found to have the most charming food scene, was in the Moroccan restaurant in Sabrina, when Julia Ormond keeps fingering the rose petals.

The conversation in that scene seemed to be taking place on several different levels.

It's difficult to believe that it was released 12+ years ago.

[Meanderer]

I've always enjoyed the scene from Local Hero where Peter Riegert and Peter Capaldi discover their main course for dinner was Trudi the rabbit.

[NancyH]

Any film directed by Juzo Itami (of Tampopo renown) has a great food scene - Taxing Woman I & II, The Funeral and Minbo - none of which are about food per se.

[toddw8877]

What about "As Good As it Gets" with Jack and Helen Hunt. The scene in the restaurant is priceless, especially if you've waited tables.

MELVIN

(calling) Two crab dinners and pitcher of cold beer.

(to Carol) Baked or fries?

CAROL

Fries.

MELVIN

(calling) One baked -- one fries.

STARTLED WAITER

(shouting back) I'll tell your waiter.

Edited January 28, 2008 by toddw8877 (log)

[Porthos]

Hook: Peter Pan (Banning) having his first meal with the lost boys going from "Ghandi ate more than this" to the whimsical food the boys got to eat.

[JimH]

How about "The Seven Samurai", rice never seemed so plain to me after that movie.

Milla Jovovich as LeeLoo in the Fifth Element eating food for the first time, chicken I believe.

[Carolyn Tillie]

There is a beautiful scene in Diva where Serge explains to his young protegé how to properly butter a French baguette.

"This is my Sartori -- and the French are envied the world over for this..." stunning

Also, the fig-eating scene in Ken Russell's Women in Love. Incomparably erotic.

[maggiethecat]

All those hilarious mentions of risolles in "Captain's Paradise."

[Shelby]

Moonstruck has a couple of scenes that I always remember. The one where Cher cooks Nicolas Cage a steak and says "you'll eat it bloody".

The other is when Cher's mom makes oatmeal and "toad in the hole"--eggs in the middle of toast.

Also, The Godfather has several.

[Shelby]

Oh, and there's a great movie called Woman On Top http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0206420/

The whole movie centers around sensual cooking!

[Grovite]

There are several throughout Goodfellas. Who can forget the "Funny Guy" scene, cooking in prison, the mailman's head in the pizza oven or Henry's brother stirring sauce?

[racheld]

There's the overflowing Campbell's Tomato Soup in a heavy white ceramic diner mug in the bleak cold reality of Rizzo's flea-ridden digs. But in his dreams he's dressed in white flannels, called by the admiring hordes to give the finishing touch to an elegant dish in the sunshine of a beachful of ladies who adore him, before he strolls off, straight and whole, to his wonderful soft-focus life.

I've always found it touching that in midst of all that gritty harsh grind that he lived, he dreamt of cooking.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Hardly great, but if you have a strong stomach, there are several "dinner" scenes that are quite memorable in Peter Jackson's Dead-Alive.

This one is on You-Tube. Sorry, it is 10 minutes long and the dinner sequence is the last five minutes.

WARNING: Only for those not seriously grossed out....

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Also, here is the famous Fig Scene from Women in Love.

[divalasvegas]

Pirates of the Caribbean when the evil undead pirate Barbossa played by Jeffrey Rush has sets out a sumptuous spread for the kidnapped heroine Elizabeth Swann played by Keira Knightly who's extremely hungry. After she delicately starts to eat Barbossa tells her (paraphrasing) "to not be so dainty" at which point she dives in eating a huge hunk of bread and takes a large chunk out of what look's like a turkey leg. Barbossa then, with a big grin on his face, asks her if she'd like some wine with that and pours her some which she inhales. In mid-gulp, after noticing how entranced he is with her eating, she stops and says with horror "it's poisoned." As most of us know, it's not; it's just that Barbossa cannot enjoy food or drink and is living vicariously through her. Great scene.

Splash when Tom Hanks' character takes the mermaid played by Darryl Hannah to dinner trying to get her to behave "normally" on land orders steamed lobster for her and she pounces on it, devouring it shell and all.

Jurassic Park (the first one) when after barely escaping with their lives, the two kids make it back to the park's headquarters where there is every kind of food and sweets a kid could want. Yet as they stuff themselves they freeze in mid-bite to feel the tremor of the two Velacoraptors who are intent on feasting upon them. The trembling jello was a wonderful touch.

[hathor]

Does Sweeney Todd qualify?

mmmm.....meat pies.......

[Megan Blocker]

When Harry met Sally, diner scene

"I'll have what she's having!"

Estelle Reiner (Rob Reiner's mom)

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There are a ton of good restaurant scenes in WHMS (the setup of Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher's characters, the first diner scene ("Days of the week underpants..."), the first time Harry and Sally hang out as adults - I could go on).

It's one of the things that makes the film feel so true to New York. You barely ever see people in their homes; they're always meeting up at a restaurant.

Let's not forget Big! The scene with the pate, caviar and baby corn is priceless.

[racheld]

There's a lot of wedding dinnering and lunching in Cousins but those are certainly not the crux of the movie, despite its being about a huge, love-to-eat Italian family and the couple who seem to get thrown together at every one of the parties.

They go on a sunny, swells-of-music motorbike ride down the coast, spend the afternoon in a little cottage at a tourist camp, and wake to order from the small restaurant down the road. They lie there considering what they'd like to eat.

Scrambled eggs, an egg roll each, fries and ketchup, a chocolate cake, champagne-- all the necessary food groups.