Written by Camila Nakamura
Last month, I was surprised by a movie that came quietly, without a lot of marketing (which I ended up watching because of pure luck): The Taste of Things by Tran Anh Hung. It is a film about food that I will discuss shortly, but I thought that alongside it, I would recommend some other food-related movies that I love.
The Taste of Things (2023)
Starting with the one that inspired this article, this film by Tran Anh Hung is set in the French countryside and explores the romantic relationship between a chef and his personal cook, who bond over their love of the culinary arts. It is a delightful story loaded with dynamic and hypnotic cooking scenes.
Babette's Feast (1987)
This is a classic, once again, linked to French cuisine. To be completely honest, I don’t remember this one having a very strong and defined plot other than it being the tale of a mysterious French housekeeper who decides to cook for her neighbours in a small, dull Danish village.
Tampopo (1985)
This takes a complete turn from the previous movies, as it is about Japanese cuisine. It is the story of Tampopo, a restaurant owner, trying to make the perfect noodle soup with the help of some recurring customers passionate about cuisine. Episodes of this story intercalate with short stories that are also centred around food - an interesting choice that I don’t think I’ve seen elsewhere. If you want to see something completely different in terms of innovation of the format or just a sweet story about food, don’t skip this one!
Isle of Flowers (1989)
Almost tangential to the topic of this article, but I just had to mention this one because I think more people need to watch this! It is a 13-minute Brazilian documentary about food waste - how food is produced, sold and thrown away. The editing of this short is super fast-paced and very innovative for the time it was made - it resembles something made for the internet. It is available on YouTube with English subtitles, so I would 100% recommend this if you have 13 minutes to spare.
My name is Camila, and I am a second-year student, majoring in Law & Society. I was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil, and moved to Toronto at the end of 2022. In my free time, I like playing the piano, and exploring the city, but my favourite thing to do is watching movies. I am passionate about cinema, so you’ll probably see me talking a bit about that here!
I have always enjoyed writing because I the process of finding the words to communicate a thought and organizing them is very fun, so I am glad that I found the LA&PS Voices at York, to keep doing an activity I am really interested in.
— Camila Nakamura