While
I'm sure that with some effort I, or any of you, could come up with a
film that does not include some form of eating or drinking, I am, for
the moment, at a loss to come up with one. Edibles and inebriates are
more a part of our on-screen entertainment than are sex and violence.
Has anyone done a study on the deleterious effects on our nation's
youth?
Of course, food and drink, especially wine, have
their place in the world of the erotic as we have chatted about in
past columns. Two of the most erotic scenes (one gay, one straight)
I've seen on film both involve ingestibles: the champagne-sex vignette
in My Beautiful Launderette and the egg yolk-orgasm clip (trust
me, you have to see it) in Tampopo.
What we eat and drink has even been at the heart of
some of the most fun (in my humble opinion) films out there.
Babette's Feast would have been an exceedingly tedious and long
film about a lonely woman in the middle of nowhere doing nothing, were
it not for the feast in question. Instead we have a slow build that
involves much poking and prodding of foodstuffs, simmering, sizzling
and just generally heating up of dishes, and a long, caressing,
idyllic repast that makes the whole lengthy process worthwhile.
Night of the Comet manages to create an
entire dramatic saga of sex and romance, danger and violence, while
all the while, propping the whole thing up, is a single, solitary,
bottle of rare wine. Try finding a film of the "black-and-white era"
that doesn't involve champagne at some point or another, starting
right back with the first Academy Award-winning film, Wings, a
silent film that includes an entire champagne seduction scene with
bubbly special effects.
Not so long ago, Like Water For Chocolate
splashed across our screens with a series of sensuous recipes that
intertwined with the characters' lives as they grew from small
children to adults. Dishes that created flaming passion mingled with
plates of sorrow and joy. Whether it was holiday peppers stuffed with
meat and walnuts, a plate of molé, or even the now famed quail with
rose petal sauce, we even got instructions on how to make them.
One of my favorites, even apart from that incredible
egg yolk scene, is the Japanese film Tampopo. First, it's just
plain fun. One part "spaghetti western" (see, we even use food terms
for film styles), one part "Kung Fu," and all parts spoof, this film
is the search for the holy grail - in the form of the perfect bowl of
noodle soup. Exalted beyond, well, beyond anything a bowl of noodle
soup probably ever rated, we learn about everything from proper water
temperature, to the making of good soup stock, to the right way to
knead your noodle...so to speak.
And on that note, I've decided to offer you my own
version. It will not be as decorative as a bowl of noodle soup from
your favorite noodle shop. It will not even be particularly Japanese
in character. Think of it as a nice Jewish boy from the Midwest meets
Tokyo... somewhere.
