Foodie Film Friday - The Hundred-Foot Journey

This week's foodie film Friday is actually about a film I went to see only last week and is still on in cinemas.  After seeing a trailer for 'The Hundred-Foot Journey' I decided that it was definitely a film for me.  Just a warning that this review does contain some spoilers.

While it is a very enjoyable film, featuring some great food, I wouldn't go with high expectations as it is fundamentally a romance film with a rather predictable plot.

The film is based on an Indian family who set up a typical indian restaurant in a provincial French town right opposite a Michelin-starred restaurant.  This leads to some fierce competition and a Romeo and Juliet-esque relationship.  The cliché romance and poor French accents aside, I really loved this film for the food, from the sea urchins at the Indian market in the initial scene to the French markets later on, with their stalls piled high with fish and mushrooms, including my personal favourite - chanterelles.

My favourite scene in this film has to be the one in which Hassan and Madame Mallory make an omelette with an Indian twist.  I love how something as simple as an omelette can be made into a tasty delight by adding a few carefully selected ingredients.  It's one of my go-to dishes when I'm hungry and want something quick to make and is a great way of using up leftovers.

You should definitely eat before going to see this film, as even on a full stomach you will find some of the scenes make your mouth water.  It's a shame about the predictability of the storyline, but what the film lacks in plot it more than makes up for in food and beautiful scenery.

I would give this film an overall rating of 3/5 - it was a lovely, light-hearted film
As for how serious the film was I'd give it a 3/5 (where 1 is serious and 5 is lighthearted) - although it was fundamentally a rom com there were some more serious elements highlighting the importance of keeping in touch with reality and your roots, an important message in my opinion.
This film scores a 3/5 for food content as it features a lot, but is not always the main focus of the film.

Foodie Film Friday - Ratatouille

Sorry this post is late, it may not be Friday but I hope you enjoy it all the same!

This week I decided to do some cooking to go with my film.  I recently bought Rachel Khoo's second book 'Little French Kitchen' and found that it contained a recipe for a French 'tian', the dish actually featured in Ratatouille which apparently isn't a real ratatouille at all!  For a proper ratatouille you are meant to cook the vegetables separately before combining them, whereas for a tian you arrange the vegetable slices and bake them all at once.  Anyway from the first time I saw this film I fell in love with the dish as it looks divine, so here is my attempt at a 'tian provençal'.

For five people I used an aubergine, a courgette and around 6 plum tomatoes.  I cut them into thin slices using a mandolin and the slicing attachment on the food processor.

Thinly chop the vegetables

The base is made up of three large onions, diced and fried until soft.  You then cover them with a layer of sliced vegetables.

All that's left to do is arrange the sliced vegetables on top.  I decided to arrange them in a repeating, circular pattern, as in the recipe.

Arrange the vegetables

Fill in the centre with the remaining sliced vegetables.

Ready for the oven

Then drizzle with some olive oil, sprinkle over some salt and bake in the oven for half an hour or so.

The finished tian

Although the preparation for the tian takes some time, I love the simplicity of this dish and I think this really is captured in the film Ratatouille.  The way Remy talks about flavours is great, how you can take two delicious flavours, combine them and turn them into something even better.  It really sums up what cooking is for me, taking ingredients I love and creating something even more wonderful from them.

Aside from the excellent food the characters are loveable too and the plot is not only funny but really captures the imagination.  When you combine Pixar and Disney with food you really do end up with a match made in heaven.

My overall rating for this film is 4/5 - I really do love this film

I would give this film a 4/5 for seriousness (where 1 is serious and 5 is lighthearted) as it is after all an animated film centering around a rat who can cook.  However, I do love the fundamental message of the film which is that anyone can cook.

Since food features a lot in this film, from soups to omelettes and of course, the title dish, ratatouille, I am going to give this film a 4/5 on the foodie front.

Foodie Film Friday - Eat, Pray, Love

I know it's been a long time since the first of my 'Foodie Film Friday' posts but now that exams are over I can get this going properly.  So this week I am reviewing 'Eat Pray Love'.  For those of you who haven't seen it, it is a film about an American woman, Liz, who decides to go travelling in order to get her life back on track after a messy divorce.  She spends a third of a year in Italy - Eat - a third in India - Pray - and a third in Bali - Love.  I realise that this film is not entirely about food but it does feature prominently!

While in Italy Liz (played by Julia Roberts) decides to indulge herself, learning the language and enjoying copious amounts of Italian food.  The part of her journey spent in Italy is my favourite of the three because it is exactly what I like to do when I travel, pick up some of the language, sample the local delicacies and, if possible, get to know some locals to show me some things off the beaten track.

In Italy Liz's experiences range from enjoying the quiet calm of her small apartment as she sits down to a simple meal of asparagus and eggs (something which I am very partial to as you may have noticed, whether it be for  breakfast or brunch), to the hustle and bustle of Naples as she tries an authentic Neapolitan pizza.

Food is also something which brings people together throughout the film.  In Italy not only does she go out to restaurants to enjoy a meal with friends, she also tries to cook a Thanksgiving dinner for them.  You should never underestimate the value of food in helping to forge friendships.  Last year I met many of my closest friends over a beer and we cemented those friendships over food, whether we cooked or baked it together or went out to eat in a local restaurant.  Food is a very personal thing and by sharing the experience of eating it with someone you can really get to know them.  I will forever treasure the memories of our dinners in Bamberg, because even though we came from all over the world and had experiences of lots of different cuisines, cooking, baking and trying new food brought us together.

After watching the film (several times!) I finally got round to reading the book last year.  However, rather like with Julie & Julia I was rather disappointed.  I felt that Liz came across as far more self-centred in the book than in the film and not being spiritual myself I found it very hard to empathise with her experiences in the Indian ashram.

So on to my ratings:

Overall I would give this film 3/5 because although I adore the part set in Italy and I have been inspired to travel to Indonesia at some point, I find the part set in India less interesting.

As for how serious this film is (where one is serious and 5 is lighthearted) I would give it  3/5 as it is a fun film but it does make you think.

As food is only featured in one third of the film I will have to give it a 2/5 on the foodie front.

Foodie Film Friday - Julie & Julia

I've decided to try and write a regular post each Friday in which I review a 'foodie film'.  I love watching films, especially ones where food features prominently, so why not share that with others?  I'm going to watch a wide variety of films, from light-hearted rom-coms to more serious dramas and maybe a couple of documentaries along the way.  So if you're not as keen on film one week, hopefully the next will be better!

I'm going to start with one of my favourite films as it is one of the things which inspired me to start a blog in the first place.  I am of course talking about Julie & Julia.  This is a wonderful film starring Amy Adams as Julie Powell, a woman who decides to cook her way through Julia Child's (played by Meryl Streep) cookbook in a year and blog about her progress.  This is intertwined with the story of how Julia became a professional cook

I love watching Julie persevere with her (somewhat ridiculous) challenge through the ups and downs it, and life, throw at her.  I guess I feel a sense of empathy with her frustrations with the (somewhat outdated) cookbook - haven't we all tried to follow a recipe at some point or another which was either a bit past it's time or a little beyond our capabilities?

Julie's escapades in the kitchen are interspersed with scenes following Julia Child as, in her mid-thirties, she decides to train as a chef at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and takes us through the process (and at times ordeal) of trying to get her first cookbook published while following her husband (a diplomat played by Stanley Tucci) round Europe.

This film may be light-hearted but it is really fun to watch from watching Julie eat her first egg to de-boning a duck.  This is a must-watch for foodies.

I read the book last year that this film is based on and I have to say I was disappointed.  I much prefered the film which portrays Julie as a far more likeable person than she is in the book, where she comes across as incredibly self-absorbed and lacking perspective.

As for the cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I flicked through a copy while I was in Paris.  There's a wonderful English language bookshop there called Shakespeare & Co, which features briefly in the film, and they had a couple of copies in their cookery section.  I must admit I would rather like a copy, if only to read in my spare time, as many of the recipes appear to be very complicated and time-consuming!

Keep an eye out for this bookshop in the film!

At the end of each post I'm going to include a rating, my personal opinion of the film and I'll also indicate the type of film it is (where 1 is serious and 5 is light-hearted) as well as how prominently food is featured (where 1 is prominently and 5 is barely).

My rating: 5/5 (because it is one of my favourite films)

Serious - lighthearted: 4/5

How prominently food is featured: 2/5

If you have any foodie film recommendations please pop them in the comments below!