Still Hungry?

Thinking on my favorite food scenes in film

By now maybe you’ve made a dent in your Thanksgiving leftovers and are starting to crave something—anything—else. Allow me to come to your aid. A tweet got me thinking on my favorite food scenes in film and I’m desperate to hear yours. These are in reverse order, but not numbered, mostly because I have yet to figure out how to get rid of the automatic numbering here on substack. Alas. Hope you enjoy.

Lady and the Tramp. The first of two Disney films on this list, this is maybe the most romantic scene in film history. And you can’t look at spaghetti and meatballs without thinking about it. Admit it.

Soul Food. So much of this 1997 takes place in the kitchen, demonstrating the primacy of food and family in the lives of the Joseph family of Chicago. What I love about this film is how deftly it integrates African American history and food traditions into its deliberations of a family in crisis. A beautiful film that Adrian Miller suggested I watch. I’m glad I did.

When Harry Met Sally. Yep. That one. A lot of us came of age that day.

Pulp Fiction. The film in which Samuel L. Jackson became Samuel L. Jackson. And no one scene blasted Jackson into the cultural consciousness like the apartment scene. Jackson’s delivery is fun and terrifying all at once. “That is a tasty burger!” And we get the greatest Bible quote that ever wasn’t. Just brilliant.

Beauty and the Beast. My single favorite song in any Disney film is the one voiced by Jerry Orbach’s romantic candelabra, Lumiere. Arguably the best film of Disney’s post 1989 renaissance (The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, B&B, Aladdin) and maybe the best Disney film ever, Beauty and the Beast is loaded with great songs (I love Gaston’s). But when this song opens into a chorus line-esque production towards the end, there is no equal. And the food looks good, too.

Chef. The movie that spawned a hit Netflix cooking show starring Jon Favreau and chef/consultant Roy Choi. Look, this entire film is nothing but food porn and you can take your pick of favorite scenes. You can also find the recipes for the film right here. Youtube wouldn’t let me include any one scene so I’m attaching the trailer here in case you haven’t watched the film yet. It’s family friendly and one of my favorite comfort films. Oh, and for heaven’s sake, learn to make pasta in garlic and oil. You’ll thank me later.

Goodfellas. At the end of the day, it has to come back to the prison scene in which Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill tells us about life in the can. It’s really not too bad he says, and then Martin Scorsese gives us maybe the best garlic scene in the history of film. The movie is stuff with other scenes too, notably the meat sauce at the end. But here, it’s all garlic. You can never have enough.

So what did I miss? Hit us with your choices in the comments below.

---

Some of you have been asking. Yes we are absolutely doing a Napoleon podcast and you’ll be getting it next week. We’re recording Sunday and it should be ready Monday, two days ahead of our regular pod, which will be The American President. It’s gonna be a fun week.

In the meantime, check out a couple fun food themed episodes below.