Meals on reels: Movies that got the attention of your plate

Our days begin and end with food. We meet our friends at restaurants, we travel to check out food from other cultures, we celebrate by having food, and when we are depressed, we eat more to deal with it. It’s fair to say that our lives are all about food. Here are some films that put food right at the very heart of their stories.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

With its ‘chocolatey everything’, this sumptuous film is like a feverish dream. Candy trees, bonbon shrubs, geese laying golden chocolate eggs and a massive chocolate waterfall that flows down into a cocoa river! If you are the type to crave dessert, dive into this sugary dinner party.

Chef

Cuban sandwiches are the cornerstone of this feel-good ‘foodie’ film, in which Chef Carl Casper regains an appreciation for life and becomes closer to his son. With tonnes of appetising goodies and an upbeat charm, the film will give you restaurant goals that will make you want to open your own.

Chocolat

This film about a woman, her daughter, and her unusual chocolate shop is all about love for cocoa. It often feels like a fairy tale, making you want to reach for the box of chocolates. Charming, soothing, and whimsical, this one is the cinematic equivalent of a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

Stanley Ka Dabba

A poignant film about friendship, survival, and hope, this one evokes nostalgia of all the school tiffin boxes you have eaten out of. The very premise of this Hindi film is based on the hunger pangs Stanley experiences every day, and the insatiable lust for food that his ‘khadoos’ teacher has. 

Julie And Julia

Based on a true story, this dramedy follows the story of a hopeful writer, Julie Powell, as she cooks 524 of celebrated chef Julia Child’s recipes in 365 days, and blogs about them along the way. This all-time classic will inspire you to don an apron and conquer French gastronomy.

The Lunchbox

In Mumbai, the ever-popular tiffin service sees 5,000 dabbawallahs deliver 2,00,000 meals every day. A tiffin delivered to a wrong address, brings lonely housewife Ila and Saajan, a grouchy office worker, closer in a seemingly innocent friendship through letters hidden within the tiffin box. 

Babette's Feast

This Danish movie, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, is set in 19th century Jutland, Denmark, where two devout sisters live a life removed from the carnal pleasures. They find themselves affronted by unadulterated temptation when Babette, a young widow, offers to cook a true French feast. 

Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana

This film might just be the story of any Punjabi family that runs a popular hotel. It has everything for a delicious viewing — from a secret recipe that made the family’s business famous to the everyday running of a restaurant by the eccentric household. It proves yet again that creating outstanding and innovative recipes takes time.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Do you sometimes wake up starving and imagine food falling from the sky? This super-gratifying film makes your foodie fantasy come true by having inventor Flint Lockwood create a gadget that turns water into food, and before long, it’s raining cheeseburgers, spaghetti, and chicken. 

Salt and Pepper

Two food lovers connect over a wrong phone call in this beautifully shot Malayalam film that features a variety of scrumptious South Indian dishes. The title song, Chembavu, features visuals of famous eateries across Kerala such as Zain, Sagar, Paragon, Bombay, Buhari, Ananda Bhavan, Paradise, and the unique three-metre tea stall in Kumbalangi.