Saturday, July 16, 2016

A Bit Of Neither Here Nor There about Food Films From Here And There

At one time, folks used to say that eating scenes characterised Bengali films. We explained it away with the infamous famines. This was in the Seventies.

In the Eighties, I observed some very prominent focus on eating in Tamil films - including songs that highlighted food somehow.
This is a song about leftover rice and some fish curry. At one point, the heroine, in fact, mimes the gestures of grinding the masalas. 

Yet, for all the food related names, even Bollywood, with its Cheeni Kum and Lunch Box, has not given us a food centric film. 
There are several Hollywood names on lists. But I can't remember one where food is the real star. 

Whereas French cinema has plenty. Do try and get your hands on L'aile Ou La Cuisse for I can only give you a teaser of things to come 

However, it was only when I found the Korean Let's Eat - you can watch a trailer here -  and Fermentation Family that I could claim that there really existed films where food hogged the limelight. The Koreans have a host of films and dramas revolving around food.

But it's only when I ventured into Japanese that I found food a star! I've already drooled over Tampopo but almost every Japanese film or drama I've seen, especially of late, has a thing with food, from the cutest Bento Boxes to an almost obligatory scene involving talking with your mouth full. 

Quite a few of them are exquisite experiences and I recommend Little Forest: Summer and Autumn but in the meantime here's a music video from Little Forest: Winter and Spring

I would really like to know if you have any favourite food film, especially if it's from a region I have not covered here - please do let me know in the comments section.

I leave you with a trailer for one of my all time favourite food films from Japan.

And, of course, there are bound to be books on the subject!

  

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