Like many cineasts, I have a special fondness for food films, may it be fictional or documentary. I am a foodie myself, and I used to write a food column -- so I guess loving food films is only a natural extension for me. I think it was the combination of having seen Babette's Feast and Eat Drink Man Woman that convinced me this was a niche of film I was very much attracted to, hence the making of this list.

For my purposes, I have included both narrative/fiction and documentary films. But I have specifically chosen films that treat food [1] as a metaphor, or [2] as a plot device, or [3] as a character in the film itself -- meaning to say, they have to be central to the very spirit of the film. I have also chosen films that set about celebrating cuisine and cooking, and not the polemics and problems about food culture. Hence, no Super Size Me and other films of its kind that shed light on problems like bad nutrition or bad farming practices. [They are important, but they do not fit well with the nature of this list.]

I have also not chosen films that are only about food tangentially, like the marvellous Boiling Point, which is about a day in the life of a harried chef [but not about what he is cooking]. Or Frankie and Johnny, which centers on two diner workers and how they fall in love [but not about what they serve]. Or Butter, which is about a food sculpting competition, or The Founder, which is about the founding of McDonald's, or Waiting, which is about the lives of wait staffers. Or Eat Pray Love, where the food part may be delicious, it's really about privilege. Or Eating, which is really about women and their precarious relationship with eating. Or The Big Restaurant, which is really a thriller involving exploding flambee. I'm not sure Sausage Party is about food -- but they are certainly about sentient food items. Nor Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory [or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory], which may involve chocolate, but also ... not. Nor Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which seems to be about food only accidentally.

And since this is a "celebration," I have also not chosen films that use food in a grotesque way -- hence no The Platform or Next Floor or Jidlo, all wonderful films that use eating as a commentary on capitalism and greed.

Click "Read Notes" for links. TBA means "to be accessed," with no link available as of last update. Dead links are inevitable, and it will take me time to update those.