One of life's great pleasures is eating, an influence that movies have no interest in escaping. Some of the greatest films revolve around the pressures and passions of the restaurant industry or just an individual's love of cooking. Food is one of humanity's equalizing constants; everyone eats.
Even outside of movies focused explicitly on food preparation, filmmakers feature sequences filled with loving shots of food and eating. Food scenes can mean many things, depending on the context and mise-en-scène. The simple act of eating a steak can humanize larger-than-life characters or establish them as savages, all through how they cut the meat.
10 Reservoir Dogs' Diner Scene Establishes A False Calm
Quentin Tarantino is one of modern film's great voices, having established himself through his particular method of blending specific speech patterns, false senses of security, and violent tension to create vibrant movie worlds. His directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs, opens with the film's cast in a diner, arguing over Madonna lyrics and tipping etiquette, all to hide the horror to come.
Reservoir Dogs is not Tarantino's most violent film by a long shot. Still, the down-to-earth diner conversation establishes a false sense of safety before the action explodes into the film. Viewers are forced to accept the difficulty of judging someone from a short interaction, which ends up being one of the film's larger themes.
9 Cypher Appreciates A Steak And Chooses Servitude
The Matrix is filled to the brim with iconic imagery, though this label is usually used to describe its action scenes or perhaps Lawrence Firstborn sitting in a chair. One scene, where the traitorous Cypher discusses his goals with the film's quintessential antagonist, Agent Smith, is a shockingly humanizing look at the movie's secondary villain.
Agent Smith is sitting at a table with Joe Pantoliano's Cypher, while the resistance member explains his reasoning for betraying his allies. Cypher has fought long enough, only to learn that he doesn't get the girl and that life outside the Matrix will never really get better, even if the forces of Zion win. He just wants to enjoy a steak and not think about it.
8 Paddington Can Warm Any Heart With Marmalade
There are few films as heartwarming as Paddington 2, though that number gets even smaller when considering the nature of the subject matter covered in the film. It follows the adventures of Paddington Bear, a CGI bear cub who moves in with a family in modern London.
When Paddington is framed for theft and thrown into an English prison, he must find a way to protect himself from the rough criminals that populate his new home. He is able to bridge the gap with his recipe for marmalade sandwiches, which, with the help of his new friend Knuckles, the cook, brings a new status quo of cooperation and kindness to the jail.
7 Dancing And Milkshakes Are The Core Of Pulp Fiction
-Cropped.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1.5)
Pulp Fiction is filled to the brim with amazing performances. In the film's iconic milkshake scene, John Travolta's Jimmy Vega is tasked with showing a good time to his boss' wife, Uma Thurman's Mia Wallace. The film's theme of destruction through romance finds its way into Vega's story in this encounter, all over a $5 milkshake.
Vega has just returned from a European tour and, in a storyline echoing Lancelot's betrayal of King Arthur, begins to fall in love with Mia. They bond over the ridiculousness of a milkshake that expensive and emotionally seal the deal through a smooth-as-silk dance routine.
6 Lady And The Tramp Redefines Romance
It's an odd truth, but for many of a particular generation, the early defining romantic image is of two dogs accidentally kissing while eating spaghetti. Lady and the Tramp may not be the most famous of the early Disney animated films, but this scene has far transcended the film in which it appears.
Lady and the Tramp tells the story of a forbidden love between Lady, a wealthy Cocker Spaniel, and Tramp, a mutt living on the streets. It's a testament to the power of animation that this scene works so well, with Tony serenading the canine couple with his accordion as they eat.
5 Sally Seizes Control Of Katz's Deli
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1.5)
When Harry Met Sally's most iconic scene starts as a simple conversation between acquaintances turned friends, Harry and Sally. They begin with Sally expressing her disgust for Harry's treatment of women, but end with the film's greatest line, "I'll have what she's having."
The scene's power rests in its dueling tones. Harry is confident in his prowess as a lover, thinking that women are always left vocally satisfied by him, but he is too prude to even use the word "orgasm" at an audible volume. Sally, on the other hand, seizes all the energy in the room as she loudly, and publicly proves how convincing a woman can be.
4 Harry Potter Finds A Taste Of Luxury
Harry Potter had a tough life, growing up neglected in his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon Dursley's house. While the exact details of his neglect are left up to the imagination, there is an implication that he has not been adequately fed, certainly not to the same standards as his cousin, Dudley.
When Harry arrives at Hogwarts in The Sorcerer's Stone, he encounters his first taste of excess. Instead of the poor silent child shoved under the stairs where no one will find him, Harry enters a world where he is unequivocally the main character. The opening feast, welcomed by Dumbledore himself, is just the beginning of many gifts Harry is given as his life enters a new chapter.
3 Jurassic Park's Most Intense Scene Begins With Jello
There are many powerful moments in Jurassic Park; its most tense sequence features its youngest characters, Lex and Tim Murphy, some jello, and a professional kitchen. In a rare calm moment after the escape of the park's dinosaurs, the children's safety is jeopardized by a pack of velociraptors.
In an echo of Jurassic Park's earlier "shockwave in a cup of water" shot signaling the arrival of the T-Rex, the jello being eaten by the children begins to shake. Lex and Tim have moments to escape to the park's kitchen, where a deadly game of hide and seek begins between the Murphy children and their ancient predators.
2 Denethor Eats Tomatoes Like A Monster
In The Return of the King, all seems lost to Pippin. He hasn't heard any word from Frodo and Sam since they were attacked by the Uruk-Hai; he is separated from Merry and has found himself in the service of Denethor, Steward of Gondor, father of the late Boromir and all-around angry gentleman.
While forces of Gondor are doomed to attempt to reclaim the city of Osgiliath, the young hobbit is instructed to sing for the steward while he eats his meal. Reluctantly, Pippin sings "Edge of Night," a haunting tune about missing home. Meanwhile, Denethor absolutely destroys a chicken and salad like a savage beast, blood and tomato dripping down his lips and cracking cartilage echoing through the hall.
1 Spirited Away's Dream Logic Begins With Gluttony
Spirited Away, arguably the greatest of Hayao Miyazaki's films, exists on the border between dream and reality, with its logic informed by ideas rather than logical consequences. It being with a simple lesson: that greed is destructive to everyone involved, and teaches lessons of identity throughout its runtime.
Miyazaki begins Spirited Away with its initial lesson on greed, while enacting a frightening transition to its dream-like world. The film's protagonist, Chihiro, wanders into an abandoned amusement park with her parents when they are struck with hunger. Chihiro is too frightened to eat, but her parents tare into the mysterious food found in unmanned stalls, quickly losing their sense of self and morphing into literal pigs. Chihiro must save herself, while paying for her parents' greed.