The 25 Best Foodie Movies That Will Get You Cooking · Seasonal Cravings

It’s time to stop binge watching the Holiday Baking Championship and turn on some fun foodie movies.  If you like to cook or just like to eat, these movies are for you.  They are not only entertaining, but you might get some new ideas for culinary adventures to embark on in the kitchen.  

The 25 Best Foodie Movies

The movie Julie and Julia is one of the most captivating food movies on this list. It explores two different perspectives on cooking and reveals its joy and beauty.

Its storyline is centered on two central characters. One is Julie Powell – a food blogger played by Amy Adams, and Julia Child – a TV host and chef played by Meryl Streep. Both parties displayed a high interest in French cuisine.

The movie slightly incorporates a drama and comedy feel, though not entirely. However, it’s a breezy and lighthearted movie displaying many great performances. 

This is one of the most iconic foodie movie picks on this list. Soon after its release in 2014, Chef established itself as one of the most intriguing collections of the 21st century. The movie was written and directed by Jon Favreau – the lead actor.

Several aspects of this movie make it a spectacular option for movie lovers. Besides bringing the love for cooking to light, it also explores finding one’s path, creativity, and freedom.

Favreau stars as a chef with several years of cooking experience in commercial kitchens. His stifling experiences dampened his interest in working in such conditions, and the resulting state of mind lured him to begin the sale of regional dishes.

Super Size Me, written by Morgan Spurlock, has a more documentary feel than a movie. It was one of the most renowned documentaries centered on eating only McD’s for a month.

You may not find this one exciting but be sure to get some insights.

Tampopo by Juzo Itami is one of the most recognized comedies in the history of Japanese flicks. It depicts the incorporation of romance and culinary arts, making it the first Ramen Western. Some saw it as the preferred alternative to the Spaghetti Western.

This cozy movie tells the story of a pair of milk-truck drivers, Ken Watanabe and Tsutomu Yamazaki. Both parties stop at a wrecked Ramen shop by the roadside. In the end, they saved a young lad bullied by a group of thugs. 

Most of the actions in the movie, Waiting, occurred in the space of a restaurant shift. If you seek a movie to lighten your mood, here’s an option. You can expect this pick to be hilarious, given the presence of two key actors, Ryan Reynolds and Justin Long.

You’re probably aware of the natural taste gotten from combining wine and barbeque. But in this thrilling chef movie, Uncorked, the integration of both can’t get any better.

The movie reveals the connection between young Mamoudou Athie (Black Elijah Bruener) and his family. Black Elijah expresses his unwillingness to be part of the Memphis barbeque chain.

He’s more concerned about following his zeal for wine, which he intends to use as means to explore the world. His passion disappoints his parents – Niecy Nash and Courtney B. Vance.

Here, you can see a relationship between a family movie and wine and a wine movie about a family. 

• The Big Restaurant – 1966

If you love French comedy films, then you’ll love The Big Restaurant, an integration of crime, comedy, and drama genres. You may not find another food movie funnier than The Big Restaurant on this list.

If you’re still asking, “what’s a good movie to watch this season?” Well, here’s another option you can add to your list – Ratatouille. 

Ratatouille, one of the charming movies in 2007, follows the lead character, Remy (the voice of Patton Oswalt). Remy resides in Paris, and here, he displays his strong cooking passion as you’ve never seen from an animated character. He wanted to be a chef, just like his role model. But there’s just one challenge – Remy is a rat.

Notwithstanding, Remy remains undeterred and gets himself a teammate, a restaurant employee. The same allows Remy to pull the hair beneath his chef’s hat, which shows Remy’s control over him. How possible could this be? The movie tells the story a lot better.

The idea of these movies is to stir up your enthusiasm for cooking. However, some can make you wish to avoid finding yourself in a top restaurant kitchen, mainly because of the oppressive nature of the space. Burnt, a 2015 chef movie pick, is an excellent example of such a movie.

While that’s true about the movie, it also transforms the harrowing ordeal into a watchable play with lots of attractive food.

If you have an attraction for professional kitchen settings and high-end dining designs, then Burnt should be your top choice. Here, you’ll also find amazing shows and of the stellar cast – several tantalizing food choices to gawk at.

This is a story of an unsuccessful, divorced, and depressed writer, Paul Giamatti. All he wants to do is enjoy the taste of fine wine throughout the Santa Ynez Valley road trip. On the other hand, his best friend wishes to get the flirting experience one more time before entangling himself in monogamy forever.

Sideways is mostly renowned for the impassioned rant Giamatti had against merlot, the wine’s sales tanking. This part of the story became the iconic lines modern flicks use nowadays.

• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – 1971

The story behind the Willy Wonka movie revolves around a few kids who are privileged to acquire a chocolate Wonka Bars golden ticket. The positive side of their achievement is the tour around the secretive and eccentric candy-producing factory of Willy Wonka. 

But here’s the opposing side. Mike Teavee shrinks into a candy-sized kid, Augustus Gloop goes down in a river of chocolate, Voilet Beauragarde becomes a giant blueberry, and so on.

Although there’s a new version of the movie called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the classic feel of the original remains untouched.

Lovers of the British unrelenting and humorous Michael Caine can quickly grow an affinity for this franchise movie by Michael Winterbottom. Acting as The Observer, Steeve Coogan commits to touring the finest restaurants in the United Kingdom. His primary aim is to impress his girlfriend, who’s only interested in high-standard meals.

The Platform is another fascinating foodie movie with most actions occurring in a prison-like arena termed Vertical Self-Management Center. 

It depicts a scenario where prisoners stay in a two-floor structure. Those who are staying on top benefit from the huge meal size they get daily from the ceiling. Inmates at the bottom are the less privileged who get almost nothing daily.

So, the higher they go, the better their chances of getting huge food sizes, and such progress mitigates the possibility of murdering and eating their floor-mates.

Popularly known as a Broadway and West End play, Waitress is an engaging film that tells the tale of the lead actress, Keri Russell. Being in an unhappy marriage, Russell makes an effort to get out of town, leaving her pie dining job. But it turns out that she’s pregnant.

This occurrence, in turn, brings hope to her as she begins her letter-writing to the unborn child.

Somewhere in the Pacific Northwest lives Nicolas Cage – a monosyllabic man with shaggy hair. He abides there with Brandy, his red-furred hunter pig with a smushed face.

Cage lives with his pig as he would with a human. He commits himself to caring for his pig and foraging for it with subterranean mushrooms. He suddenly loses his pig to a violent gang one evening, and cage dedicates himself to retrieving his pig at all costs.

In the movie, Soul Food, you’ll find a family that goes through all possible sentiments of preparing and serving meals. To them, it’s a way of bringing the family together and creating a bond over a nice meal. However, some members hold so much individual turmoil and grief.

• Eat Drink, Man Woman – 1994

Eat Drink,Man Woman is a complete representation of Taiwanese cinema. The movie centers on a widower, a partially retired Chinese chef, Lao Zhu, and his three pretty daughters.

They always come together on Sundays for a crucial feast. There, his daughters would attempt to challenge his traditional beliefs and thinking.

An excellent instance of a comedy/drama movie is The Hundred Foot Journey. This enthralling chef movie pick also reveals a vast range of thrilling dishes. Lasse Hallstrom is the movie’s director, whose storyline is connected to a novel written by Richard Morais.

The Hundred Foot Journey follows the battle between two French-based restaurants. As the battle heat intensifies, both restaurants seek ways to utterly sabotage the other.

The Founder answers how McDonald’s fast-food franchise became dominant in the fast food chain. It’s a movie written by Robert Siegel and directed by John Lee Hancock – the revealers of the McDonald’s fast-food journey.

The movie title is an intentional misdirection given that the founder of the fast food wasn’t Ray Croc, the lead actor. Ray Croc, who’s originally Michael Keaton, stars as the man who brought McDonald’s fast food to the limelight.

The movie follows the integration of Ray Croc’s ruthlessness, cleverness, and vision – making this play a must-watch.

Another perfect example of a dramedy is the Big Night movie. It’s funny, vulnerably human, and wry and presents diverse collections of delectable dishes in terms of plotting and framing. Moreover, Big Night stands as an iconic movie that brings the food world to a new milestone.

Mostly Martha is another cozy movie where romance and comedy come together to form a thrilling play. It mainly revolves around different dishes, just as you would expect. The story of this German movie draws attention to the life of a hardworking chef who needs to balance her personal life and profession.

• Fast Food Nation – 2007

Are you looking for the best things to stream in this period? Fast Food Nation is another option you can consider. This movie tells the story of Greg Kinnear – the marketing executive at a fast food chain called Mickey.

It’s revealed that the commonly sold burger known as The Big One is E. coli positive. Greg Kinnear, the hero of this thrilling food movie, commits himself to put an end to the indignity of his fast food.

He ventures into a journey aiming to change his business perspective. He realizes that a dirty business goes on in Texas due to America’s insatiable hunger for cheap meat. That’s where his burger meat is manufactured.

The Good Burger film shows a story of a young high school student Kenan Thompson, playing Dexter Reed. The same is highly in need of a job soon after crashing his instructor’s car. He eventually finds one at the Good Burger fast food, also known the “The Home of Good Burger”.

There, he meets Kel Mitchell, who played Ed. Although both parties got off on the wrong foot, they soon became the best of friends. The pair work together to put an end to the troubling rival fast food just across the street.

Woman on Top reveals the story of Penelope Cruz, who played Isabelle. It shows the process of how she acquired the position of a host in a cooking show. There are several elements of fantasy to pick out from this movie. Although the storyline doesn’t seem too intriguing, a food lover will fall for the multiple food collections it features.

• Like Water for Chocolate – 1992

Like Water for Chocolate is a magical realist movie by Alfonso Arau, which bases its storyline on Laura Esquivel’s novel in 1989. Here, wedding cakes are not just cakes; the same applies to rose sauces.

The movie relates food to the emotional experiences of some characters in it. The wedding cake was cried into, and the rose sauce was prepared with overwhelming love. Both meals triggered an ill feeling in the wedding guests.

The great performances in this food movie gave it an edge in the industry, drawing an enormous audience at the box office.

Conclusion

Are you looking for a chef movie to help spur your kitchen skills? You can find your next pick from the list above. Virtually all the movie options here contain remarkable dish display moments. These shows share some insights on different meals, giving you multiple dish options to opt for this season and afterward.