If the Food Network has taught us anything it’s that we love watching people cook. Sprinkle in a cast of great characters and a heartwarming story and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a foodie movie! This watchlist has 10 food-centric movies that even an amateur chef will love.
1. Hundred-Foot Journey
One of my all-time favorite movies. It’s beautiful and full of feel-good vibes, not to mention overflowing with foodie inspiration. The story follows an Indian family who relocates to the French countryside where they decide to open a new restaurant. The problem? They just happen to be setting up shop directly across the street from a famous French restaurant. Culture clashes, pride, and stubbornness create chaos until the talents of a young chef help everyone find common ground.
2. Ratatouille
Classic, funny, kid-friendly fun. This animated movie is all about amazing food. It also takes place in France, but the main characters are a rat with a flare for flavor and an aspiring young chef.
3. Chef
Chef has a cast of great characters, but as with all the movies on this list, the real star is the food itself. Jon Favreau is the star, director and producer of this heartwarming story about a chef who rediscovers his love of food.
4. Chocolat
Truly one of the most magical movies about food ever filmed. There’s just something a little extra special about Chocolat – also set in France. French food is famous for a reason, I guess! A mother and her young daughter move to a small, very conservative French village and open a chocolaterie. The delicious treats have an effect on the village that is deemed dangerous by the local priest.
5. Bottle Shock
Maybe not technically a “foodie” movie, Bottle Shock still shares the celebration of taste with the other movies on this list. Set in the 70s in California’s up-and-coming wine country, the story follows a couple of families who take on the formidable French wine snobs. Yes, France is still in this movie, even though the majority of the story takes place in the U.S.
6. Burnt
Chefs seem to have a reputation for being a tad temperamental. Burnt’s star character excels at that stereotype. An angry, volatile, but nonetheless incredible chef tries to make a comeback after shattering his career.
7. Ramen Girl
Brittany Murphy was a gem. So many of her movies have an innate sweetness to them and she seems to be the key ingredient. Ramen Girl follows an American woman who follows her boyfriend to Asia, only to be quickly dumped and left alone in a foreign country where she doesn’t know anyone and doesn’t speak the language. She finds work at a small ramen shop and finds the magic of putting your emotions into the food – quite literally sometimes.
8. Waitress
This is a sort of dark comedy… but probably more comedy than dark. A waitress is stuck in a disappointing life with an abusive husband, and just when she didn’t think she could get more stuck, she finds out she’s pregnant. As she’s in charge of making new pies for the diner she works at, each new life event inspires the creation of a new pie. And as the viewer you get to watch each pie come together – which might be my favorite part of this movie.
9. Spirited Away
Spirited Away isn’t really a typical foodie movie, but between the market that turns people into pigs and the giant feast, I can’t help putting it on the list. Studio Ghibli movies always have amazing-looking food, so once you’re done watching this one, be sure to check out the others. You also might like this IRL recreation of the Spirited Away feast.
10. Julie & Julia
This marvelous movie is no doubt an inspiration to foodies everywhere. It’s the real-life tale of a woman named Julie who takes on the daunting project of recreating every recipe from the cookbook of famous chef Julia Childs. Julie IRL cooked the 500+ recipes from her tiny apartment while working a regular day job. She wrote about her kitchen exploits in a newspaper column which eventually gained fame, earning her a cookbook and movie deal.
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