麻豆社

Eating is synonymous with cinema. As a recent episode of The Kitchen Cabinet explored, food and film go together like movie cops and doughnuts.

We’ve trawled the annals of film history and gathered together a veritable smorgasbord of memorable moments the combine fine dining with unforgettable films.

Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi epic Close Encounters features the latter as Richard Dreyfuss’s character Roy Neary constructs the location of the alien rendezvous point (Devils Tower in Wyoming) out of mashed potato while at the dinner table with his family.

This famous scene has been parodied in the films UHF and Canadian Bacon and on TV in episodes of Spaced, The X-Files, That '70s Show, The IT Crowd and The Simpsons.

For every delightful soufflé or lovingly prepared risotto served in a romantic location that punctuates film, the dark side of food is also present. And none is darker than the notorious Brazilian food sequence in Bridesmaids. Or rather, it’s the consequence of the Brazilian food that’s notorious.

As Kristen Wiig’s character attempts to outshine and impress the rest of the bridal party, she takes them to a little South American place she knows.

Unfortunately, she also exposes them all to food poisoning, right before a wedding dress fitting.

Cue the befouling of a fancy boutique with lashings of vomit, use of a sink in a way it wasn’t intended and a bride undertaking some unforgettable curb-side squatting.

The film is awash with food references (a favourite theme of the writer Nora Ephron) from apple pie served in a very particular way to coconut cake with chocolate sauce.

Garlic in Goodfellas (1990)

Food, especially Italian cuisine has always played an important part in the films of Martin Scorsese.

Even in prison his characters eat well.

In one unforgettable scene, Wiseguy turned squealer Henry Hill describes the intricate process of making an evening meal behind bars involving garlic sliced finely with a razor, a pasta course, steaks, lobsters and the finest meats, cheeses and bread; all washed down with some fine Scotch.

Kid’s films seem obsessed with various health code violations, as illustrated by Pixar’s beloved peon to fine dining involving a restaurant infested with rats.

One particular rat called Remy happens to be a cooking whizz and helps a hapless chef called Linguine reach his full potential in the kitchen.

The denouement occurs when a hard to please food critic is served the titular dish, which reminds him of home cooked meals and melts his heart.

This multi Academy Award winning adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic novel, adapted by playwright John Osborne, has the word ‘bawdy’ running through it like a stick of Blackpool rock.

Perhaps the bawdiest (and most memorable) moment is a rather ribald dining scene featuring our hero (played by Albert Finney) and his housemaid Jenny Jones slurping down fruits and gnawing of turkey legs in a highly seductive way.

Director Tony Richardson refused to cut a shot involving Jenny and an oyster which the censors objected to and so the film received an X rating.