Lived It

Snack: This episode will make you very hungry

Episode Summary

Why do we love food movies so much? Alexei and Gen find out through the iconic menus of cinema history: Matilda’s chocolate cake, Spirited Away’s buffet, the Spanglish egg sandwich, and more. Diners, tell us your dream movie food at @netflixanz on Instagram and Twitter, or tag #thebigfilmbuffet.

Episode Notes

Why do we love food movies so much? Alexei and Gen find out through the iconic menus of cinema history: Matilda’s chocolate cake, Spirited Away’s buffet, the Spanglish egg sandwich, and more.

Diners, tell us your dream movie food at @netflixanz on Instagram and Twitter, or tag #thebigfilmbuffet.

Episode Transcription

Gen Fricker:

Welcome to The Big Film Buffet. My name is Gen Fricker and I'm joined by my co-host Alexei Toliopoulos. Alexei, what are we obsessed with?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

You and I both caught up with a great old classic this week, that's just arrived on Netflix. It is Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman. And we are obsessed with food movies, food on your screens.

Gen Fricker:

I watched it just the other day, and I'm so rarely inspired to cook. When I want to cook, it takes me maybe a day to really work up to it.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Whoa.

Gen Fricker:

Decide what I want, go to the shops, get the ingredients, come back. But, I watched this film and the way that food is depicted as being so warm and nourishing and delicious and shared with people you love. As soon as I finished the movie, I got up and started cooking.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Wow.

Gen Fricker:

I was like, "I just need to have this experience in real life." It's one of the most evocative films about food that I've seen in so long. One of the main characters is losing his sense of taste, what that means as well in terms of what someone's sense of self is, what feelings did this movie stir up in you?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh my God, I almost stood up here when you talk about it. You've moved me hearing about your emotional journey, because I think that part of what the true sumptuous joy of this movie is, is that it captures something that is so unique to what the ideal food movie is, because it's capturing a technical art form, which is cooking. Which is all about process and getting things ready. You've got Mise en place meeting Mise en scène, if you will.

Gen Fricker:

Please explain that.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Okay, Mise en place means everything in it's place, which is a cooking term, where you prepare little things, and then you put them together to make the whole meal. And Mise en scène is a filmic term. It means everything on the screen. And I thought of that in the moment. And I had to say it-

Gen Fricker:

I love that. Alexei, why do we love movies about food? What is it?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I think for me at least, it is something about a very technical, creative art form, which is cooking. It's all about a process, it's about getting things ready. It's about putting something together, being captured by another creative, very technical art form, which is film. And part of it is that cooking looks really cool.

Gen Fricker:

Mm.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

It sounds really cool, for you to hear something frying, it sounds sizzling and you can hear all those cracks and this bursting, it involves so many different colours. You hear like the sounds of knives hitting chopping boards and stuff. It's so evocative. And it's a creative process as well. And so many great movies are made about artists, but I don't think any translate to film as excitingly as cooking does, because it captures so many different senses and they capture so much of this evocative, emotional connection, because everybody eats and everybody loves food. Well, I've met a few people that don't love food and they're not my person-

Gen Fricker:

Yeah.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

So, I don't even recognise them on the podcast today.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

We got buffet in the fricking title, okay?

Gen Fricker:

Yeah.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Have a snack and listen to the snack.

Gen Fricker:

I'm so with you. I think cooking on-screen and food on-screen, is one of those things as well, where it's beyond language.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Mm.

Gen Fricker:

And that's why you can watch food shows where they travel to a different country and you just watch people cook and be really passionate about what they're making and sharing it with people. It's beyond words, it's the sizzle, it's the colour, sound and that thing, that we all have emotional connections to. I don't know, it's always funny. You watch on MasterChef and they're like, "This dish is one that my grandmother used to cook me when I was a little girl." And those are always the ones that get me. I always start tearing out in public. And it could just be butter on toast, and I'm like, "Yeah."

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I think you're so right, because we're introduced to food through the family. It's got such a cultural connection and a familial bond as well. I think that's so part of what makes these such resonance stories on the screen. Eat Drink Man Woman, that's such an insight into not just the process of making a meal, but the process itself is about upholding a traditional Chinese culture through the food as well. So, it's just so resonant, so evocative. And I think that's partly why I get so obsessed with food movies. They create everything that you need, so simply. And so, sensationally, if you will, as well.

Gen Fricker:

This, I feel it's so perfect for you, Alexei. Because, you are a great cook-

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Wow.

Gen Fricker:

And you love movies. So, I feel there's no better person to talk about this.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yes, I am a fricking gourmand, okay guys? I'm a gourmand, I love to eat, I love to cook and anything in between, I'm into it as well.

Gen Fricker:

He devours cinema.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

One of my dreams is to eat a big reel of celluloid one day.

Gen Fricker:

Hell yeah brother.

Gen Fricker:

What are some other food movies you love Alexei?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Well, my big comfort movie that I watch all the time, Jon Favreau's Chef.

Gen Fricker:

Yes, I love that film-

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I love Chef. Oh my God. Isn't it just one of the greats?

Gen Fricker:

I feel like it's so underrated.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

It is, but people make fun of me that I love that movie chef and I go, "Are you kidding me? It's got gorgeous food scenes. You can learn recipes just from watching it. Jon Favreau is fricking calling it. I actually really like him as an actor-"

Gen Fricker:

Yeah.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Okay, so give me a break on that.

Gen Fricker:

And do you know what that movie taught me as well?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Gen Fricker:

Is that when you're heating a pan-

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah.

Gen Fricker:

And you just get a bit of water and sprinkle it on and if it sizzles, it's ready to go.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh, and that sizzle, that's one of the senses that it touches.

Gen Fricker:

Yes.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

That's a real comfort movie for me. I find it such an emotional journey. It's all about that family connection as well-

Gen Fricker:

Mm.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

But, also someone reinvigorating their creativity in a way that's so evocative. And what is bonus reading for me, is I love that Chefs series on Netflix, where it's him-

Gen Fricker:

Yes.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Outside of character, as himself. And you're seeing how he's developed as a chef himself, to see him go and still be willing to learn in the series. I'm going to start crying, talking about it. I love it, I love Chefs so much. What's one that you really get into?

Gen Fricker:

Well, generally I feel my comfort food movies, are the Studio Ghibli Movies-

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh, my gosh.

Gen Fricker:

But, specifically one that makes me really hungry is Spirited Away.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh, my gosh. I would turn into a piglet for that movie, any day of the week.

Gen Fricker:

The way eating is depicted in those-

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yes.

Gen Fricker:

There's something really magical and light about it. There's something so innocent about it. It's purely just consumption, because it's delicious and warm. And I don't know. I get so hungry when I think about these films.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah, I was trying to think about why animated food itself is something that looks so tantalising, better than the real thing-

Gen Fricker:

Yeah.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

And I think I've only been able to come up with a philosophical answer, which is that idea of idealism. There's no such thing as a perfect tree, or a perfect pork roll, if you will-

Gen Fricker:

Yeah.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Or, perfect steamed bun-

Gen Fricker:

Yeah.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

But, in your mind there is that perfect steamed bun.

Gen Fricker:

Totally.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

And the only way you can do it, is by drawing it.

Gen Fricker:

Yes, and then when you're watching it, you're never thinking about the worst steamed bun you've ever had. You're only ever thinking about the best one.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

You're thinking about the ideal steamed bun.

Gen Fricker:

The platonic ideal of food. A food sane, I always think about is Marie Antoinette, the Sophia Coppola film.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah.

Gen Fricker:

And she's obviously Marie Antoinette, princess in this beautiful French castle and there's just beautiful cakes and teas and everything champagne. And in reality of course, that would be awful, because you will be so ill all the time.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah.

Gen Fricker:

But, just the stylizing of it and the colours and the delicacy of it all.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah, there's a frilly pastelness to everything that feels like an elegant cupcake, or something-

Gen Fricker:

Yes.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

With a little glossy cherry on top.

Gen Fricker:

Remember when everyone was obsessed with macarons for a bit?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh, my gosh. Yes, I probably ate 40,000 in one year.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah, and they were every challenge on every cooking show was a macaron. But, macarons suck in real life.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh my God, I could not disagree more.

Gen Fricker:

What?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

This our first fight Gen, that we're building up to.

Gen Fricker:

How can you like macarons?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

The chewiness, the crispiness, the creaminess of the centre.

Gen Fricker:

That's what friendship is though. It's meeting people where they're at and accepting them and loving them anyway.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Well, I do love you anyway.

Gen Fricker:

I love you too Alexei. All right, how about we put together a menu? From our favourite foods-

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Wow.

Gen Fricker:

From movies.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

This is an absolute dream.

Gen Fricker:

For your starter, a food from a movie. What would you go with?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Okay, it's a gorgeous scene. I'm thinking about the fried egg sandwich, the BLT from Spanglish that Adam Sandler prepares. He plays a chef in the movie.

Gen Fricker:

Mm.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

He makes this perfect fried egg on it. He slices it in half. And then, the yoke does runneth away from the sandwich, okay? I think it was one of my first memories. I would've seen this movie when it came out, I would have been 13 and I don't remember anything from my life before that moment, it's when I switched up.

Gen Fricker:

Oh my God.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Gen, what is your appetiser for this?

Gen Fricker:

The egg sandwich that Harley Quinn has-

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh my gosh.

Gen Fricker:

In Birds of Prey.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

That was my backup.

Gen Fricker:

Yes.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh my God.

Gen Fricker:

It basically kicks off half the story, is her not being able to eat her egg sandwich.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

It's a glorious filmic moment. She's

Gen Fricker:

She's buying it from a bodega.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Gen Fricker:

She's used the last of her money to buy it, she's having a bad time, it's her ultimate comfort food. And then, when she's denied it? Oh my gosh, it's one of the great tragedies of the film. Okay, what about for your main?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

The main event, the big old feast on the centre of the table. There's a movie called Dinner Rush, which is not a very well-known food movie, but I really love it. It's got Danny Aiello in it, and it's a great restaurant film. He's a restauranteur, there's a mafia element. Of course, it's a gangster movie, I love it. But, it's cool, because there's all this layers to it, in how the kitchen works, how the dining room works. But, the chef in this Italian restaurant is experimental and he makes this meal, lobster with vanilla, shallot, champagne sauce and fried angel hair pasta.

Gen Fricker:

What?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

And the way that he plates it up, it's all a tower pointing up, so it's got the two lobster heads pointing up, and this deep fried angel hair pasta, growing out of it with this sauce poured on top and around it. And I've never been able to imagine what it tastes like.

Gen Fricker:

Mm.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

So, I'm putting that as my main, just simply because daddy got to know.

Gen Fricker:

Daddy got to know.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

What's your main?

Gen Fricker:

Oh my God. I feel, just a general movie dish that I've never had in real life, but I would like to try is Duck a l'Orange.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

You know what? I actually think Duck a l'Orange may be in a food movie. I've got a feeling it might be one that you like-

Gen Fricker:

Mm.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

A Duck a l'Orange, the famous recipe is from Julia Child.

Gen Fricker:

Of course. Yes, because she's all about the mastery of French cuisine.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Gen Fricker:

I've never really cooked a lot of French cuisine. So, it does seems very complicated and fancy.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Well, you got to go Julie and Julia style and start a blog of you doing all these old recipes-

Gen Fricker:

Yes.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

And then, we'll make the movie.

Gen Fricker:

Oh my goodness, it'll be Julie and Julia and Genevieve and Alexei.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Ah, thank you for involving me.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah, of course.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Thank you so much.

Gen Fricker:

Of course. Okay, what about for your movie dessert?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I think this is the toughest one dude, because there's so many desserts out there in movies. I think it's the most represented course in cinema history.

Gen Fricker:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Alexei Toliopoulos:

But, I had to go the same rule that I applied to my main course. I needed to try something that I can only imagine what it would taste like. And a movie that I've loved my entire life, that has a fantastic food scene in it, is Steven Spielberg's Hook. Where Peter joins the lost boys for that food fight-

Gen Fricker:

Yes.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

And all the plates are empty. And then, Peter eventually believes. He's doing it Peter, you're imagining. And he sees the fish laid before him. And on that table, there is a multi-coloured rainbow moose, a very light fluffy, creamy-

Gen Fricker:

Yes.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Mousse.

Gen Fricker:

Yes, yes, yes.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

And that's one of the foods that get splattered in faces. And I just need to know what flavour that is. It's been a lifelong mission of mine to find out the flavour of that moose.

Gen Fricker:

I mean, in my mind, it's white chocolate.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Ah, in my mind, it is not. In my mind, it is Kiwi. It is-

Gen Fricker:

Ooh.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Gold. It is heaven, it is oil, it is sin, and it is praise. I got to know what your dessert is. What's your sweet treat at the end of this feast?

Gen Fricker:

I think for me, a dessert that has stuck with me through childhood. I remember watching this movie when I was really young and being like, "That looks like the most delicious dessert I've ever seen in my life," is the chocolate cake from Matilda.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Wow, you just sent me to heaven.

Gen Fricker:

The Trunchbull pulls it out-

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Gen Fricker:

And she makes this poor boy feast on it.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Gen Fricker:

And at first it's humiliating, but then his triumph and he finishes the whole thing, he licks the plate.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Wow.

Gen Fricker:

And it's because it's so delicious.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

There is something about it, where it is its own unique form, its own unique state of being, you could touch it and you don't know what's going to happen-

Gen Fricker:

Exactly.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

The cake is a mystery.

Gen Fricker:

Exactly. That's the world that's created by Roald Dahl, where you look at everyday things and you see the magical potential.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

And Roald Dahl, he's nothing to sniff at, dude. The guy did Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory-

Gen Fricker:

Yup.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

The guy did the world's biggest peach in James And The Giant Peach.

Gen Fricker:

Oh yeah.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

And yet it is the cake from Matilda that we go back to.

Gen Fricker:

Alexei, we have to go eat something. I can't sit here and talk about food anymore, I need to go eat something.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

It is the curse of a snack, it didn't fill me up. Now, I must gorge myself.

Gen Fricker:

It is the curse of working on a podcast called The Big Film Buffet.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Pull up a seat, pull out a knife, pull out a fork-

Gen Fricker:

Put on a little bib, with a lobster on it.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh my gosh, I want a lobster bib so bad-

Gen Fricker:

Me too. Okay, we should go get some.