Showing posts with label film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label film. Show all posts

Monday, March 27, 2017

Five Movies About Food You can Watch on FiOs On Demand

I've been waiting for Verizon FiOs to come to Dorchester ever since I moved here in May, and now they're finally here (and Roxbury)!

Getting Verizon FiOs isn't only about the internet and TV service, though. Did you know you can stream TV shows and movies anywhere with FiOs On Demand? Most of the TV shows are available for free for FiOs customers, and the newer release movies can be rented or purchased.

Of course, I've been browsing what they have for streaming (you're welcome). Here are five movies about food you can watch online with FiOs On Demand:

Chef

This was a star-studded feel-good movie that will make you look for the best food trucks in your town, or anywhere that makes Cubano sandwiches.
It follows Jon Favreau as a disillusioned chef who quit his fine dining head chef job. Unsure what to do next, he heads to Miami, gets a food truck, starts driving towards Los Angeles while stopping and serving food - all the while bonding with his young son. Oh, and they get to stop and eat at Franklin's BBQ in Austin without waiting in line. JEALOUS. Not to mention all the star cameos.
Fun fact: Jon Favreau trained with LA's chef Roy Choi so he can do his own cooking in the movie.


The Hundred-Foot Journey

After their old restaurant was attacked and their mother killed, an Indian family moves to France to start a new life. They set up their Indian restaurant in front of an upscale French restaurant and get into a rivalry with the French restaurant's owner (Helen Miren). Meanwhile, the son of the Indian family wants to get into French cooking. Lots of mouthwatering food scenes in this cute movie, both Indian and French!
PS. Sadly, the sea urchin dish they were cooking in the opening scene is not a real dish. Too bad, it looked amazing.

Julie & Julia
A story about Julie Powell, who started an ambitious project of cooking each of the 524 recipes in Julia Child's cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" - the film is intertwined with the life story of Julia Child. Meryl Streep as Julia Child is a combination of two of my favorite characters. I loved the wit and heart in the Julia Child's storyline here, and of course, the food looked great.

Ratatouille (free)
Basically the best movie ever, right, guys? Do I even have to really tell you what the movie is about? OK, fine. One of my favorite Pixar's movies (although I love pretty much all of them), Ratatouille follows Remy, a Parisian rat with an impeccable palate and can cook to boot. He befriends a garbage boy-turned-cook named Linguini and make amazing food to eventually impress the skinny food critic, Anton Ego.





Food, Inc

An outlier in the list, Food, Inc is not a light-hearted, feel-good movie. Instead, it's a look at how our food is produced. It's a documentary of the food chain in the United States and a sobering look at how large corporations are controlling the US food industry. Still, it's a well-done documentary that has been nominated for an Academy Award - and it's very important to know where our food comes from.


You can check if FiOs is now available at your address using this link: fios.verizon.com/

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Verizon Fios as part of the #BostonFiOs campaign


Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Talking Tasting Menu Film Over Dinner at The Bazaar

Food has really penetrated reality TV, and it's making its way into films! After Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Magnolia Pictures is now releasing Tasting Menu, a Spanish film surrounding the last dinner at one of the world's best restaurant in Costa Brava. Sounds El Bulli-like? I had the privilege to dine with the director Roger Gual last week, and I asked him point blank if he was inspired by El Bulli's closing. Surprisingly, he was already working on the script when El Bulli's closing was announced! Funny how life works sometimes. The film will be in theatres this Friday, April 18.

What other dinner in Los Angeles would be more perfect to celebrate this film than a tasting menu at LA's most celebrated Spanish restaurant, The Bazaar? Roger had dined at El Bulli (research for his film. I was my research was as tasty) and immediately recognized Ferran Adria's olive spheres.

IMG_4538
The main characters in the film are estranged husband and wife, Marc and Raquel, who happened to have reservation for the last dinner service at Chakula, the fictional best-restaurant-in-the-world. Neither of them is willing to give up the reservation (neither would I!), so they met again at the restaurant after a year of separation. There's comedic relief from the two potential Japanese investors who will make competing bids for the chef to open a restaurant in Japan, a countess and old friend of the restaurant who is attending dinner with her late husband's ashes, and other characters.
Raquel is played by Claudia Bassols, who also attended the dinner.
Claudia Bassols
Some of you food lovers might recognize her from Spain On The Road Again with Mario Batali, Mark Bittman, and Gwyneth Paltrow.

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