Jon Favreau's Chef is in all good cinemas now.
The Food: Steak.
Why So Hungry: It’s not The Matrix telling us that the steak Joe Pantoliano is eating ‘is juicy and delicious’. It’s the way that piece of succulent rare meat hangs seductively on the fork. Ignorance may be bliss but it could still make a vegetarian book a table at The Hawksmoor.
2. The Film: Ratatouille
The Food: Ratatouille.
Why So Hungry? Ratatouille used to be a meal you slopped out of a can you found at the back of the cupboard on a cold January. Yet Disney Pixar’s animated delight made this basic dish a memorable meal.
The moment discerning restaurant crtic Anton Ego (voiced by Peter O’Toole) samples the delights of the ‘peasant dish’, he’s whipped back to being a ‘piccolo ragazzo’ sitting at his mother’s table. We imagine it’s a bit like reliving your student days with a Pot Noodle, but better. It helped that it was served in decorative slices and placed on a tiny mound on a pretty plate. For some reason, that makes food look posh. Who doesn't like posh?
3. The Film: Matilda
The Food: Chocolate cake.
Why So Hungry? Punishment never looked so darn delicious as the naughty Bruce Bogtrotter (Jimmy Karz) was made to consume a cake the size of a mattress for his sins. We’d happily swap 100 lines for that giant chocolate fudge cake that made our mouths (and eyes) water in the 1996 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic.
4. The Film: Jiro Dreams Of Sushi
The Food: Sushi.
Why So Hungry: Those tiny bits of fish caused big belly rumbles as we watched chef Jiro Ono orchestrate his fine dining sushi experience like a conductor at the Royal Albert Hall. With shots that are the wet dreams of a M&S ad, this documentary could make us crave a sliced goldfish on Ryvita.
5. The Film: Super Size Me
The Food: Mcdonald's.
Why So Hungry? Watch Morgan Spurlock’s documentary Super Size Me on a hangover and with the volume turned down, and you’ll totally find yourself something that’s served up in a paper box from the golden arches. Double the risk of heart failure? Meh. We’ll take fries with that.
6. The Film: Uncle Buck
The Food: A giant pancake (and lots of sausages).
Why So Hungry: The size of the pancakes whipped up by Uncle Buck (John Candy) for little Miles’ birthday made us want to go out and buy a bigger frying pan. We didn’t just want to eat that massive pancake, we wanted to sleep on it. Or maybe use it as a trampoline.
It was as if a UFO landed on the kitchen table and erupted maple syrup all over itself. The birthday candle in the whole tub of butter? That was the icing on the cake.
7. The Film: The Trip To Italy
The Food: ALL OF IT. But mainly the linguine.
Why So Hungry: Choosing which dish was our favourite from The Trip To Italy was almost as tricky as choosing which impersonation from Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon was the best. They’re all so good. Yet when it came to the grub the swishing sound of the sea and the clang of the kitchen as a busy chef tossed clams around a sizzling pan, made us want to pop to Italy for a fish supper. Or just to Lidl for a £1.99 pack of vacuum-packed muscles.
8. The Film: Pulp Fiction
The Food: An overpriced milkshake.
Why So Hungry: That $5 shake in Pulp Fiction looked like it was worth every cent. Uma Thurman didn’t exactly ‘do a Sally’ when she seductively sipped up that ‘pretty f*cking good milkshake’, but the slow bat of her eyelids and the toying with her cherry said it all...she was in heaven.
9. The Film: Goodfellas
The Food: Lobster, salami, cheese, pasta sauce, veal, beef, pork, fresh bread and medium rare steak.
Why So Hungry : If meals are really like this in prison, lock us up and swallow the key. The precision of which Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino) slices the garlic for the pasta sauce (just one of the many, many courses to their meal), makes all that mafia tomfoolery just bloody water under a bridge.
10. The Film: Lady And The Tramp
The Food: Meatballs and spaghetti.
Why So Hungry: Love is... unapologetically slurping up pasta strings from a shared plate of bolognaise, allowing tomato juice to flick in each other's eye, and rolling the last meatball to your lover’s side of the plate. This meal didn't just make us want spag bol, it makes us want to try harder on Tinder.
11. The Film: It's Complicated
The Food: Chocolate croissants.
Why So Hungry: What’s cuter than watching 50 something year-olds getting stoned on pot? Watching them get the munchies and make fresh croissants comes close. This is a feat not to be scoffed at. After a smoke, most people can barely make it to the fridge - or so we hear.
These courting lovebirds (Meryl Streep and Steve Martin) manage to knock up a batch of pain au chocolat without burning down the house, and manage to channeli Ghost’ s potter wheel scene using pastry for clay. Impressive.
12. The Film: The Lunchbox
The Food: Proper home cooked Indian food.
Why So Hungry: When you expect a soggy sandwich but end up with a stack of freshly-prepared home-cooked curries, you know you’ve been a good person in your former life. Saajan (Iffran Khan) was the happy victim of a misplaced lunch lovingly prepared by frustrated housewife Ila (Nimrat Kaur). Ila’s cooking was neglected by her husband, but Saajan was fine to pick up the not so sloppy seconds.
13. The Film: Eat Pray Love
The Food: More pasta.
Why So Hungry: Food is the substitute for sex for Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) who finds herself eating her way out of a heartbreak. Finding yourself suddenly single can mean the caress of a bedfellow is a little less frequent, and Liz clearly had an itch to scratch.
After she enviously gazes at a young couple in a passionate PDA, she quickly orders herself a bowl of pasta. Watching Julia prolong the enjoyment of her meal like some sort of tantric sex session made this scene a mouthwatering one.
14. The Film: Chocolat
The Food: Chocolate. And Johnny Depp.
Why So Hungry: Back in 2000, things were simpler for women. We liked all of two things - fancy chocolate and Johnny Depp. Chocolat director Lasse Hallström knew this and put two and two together... and made phwoar*.
*Phwoar. It's no longer 2000. This word is no longer acceptable.
15. The Film: Blue Is The Warmest Colour
The Food: Mum’s spaghetti.
Why So Hungry: It wasn’t just the fact that Blue Is The Warmest Colour is three hours long that left our tummy rumbling. It was also thanks to all those scenes involving Adele (Adèle Exarchopoulos) shoving food into her mouth, particularly her mother’s spaghetti. Never has comfort eating looked so adorable. We’ll forgive you if that’s not the first thing you remember from this lengthy lesbian drama.
