Reader's Choice: Babette's Feast (1987)
Friday, March 24, 2023 at 9:24PM This weekend's topic, currently streaming on HBOMax and Criterion Channel, was chosen by readers. This article contains spoilers so if you've never seen the film, correct that first.
for such a delicious movie, the first shot of people and food isn't very appetizing!by Nathaniel R
How far does the "foodie" movie subgenre stretch back? It's difficult to tell from the internet alone, which tends to think movies of all genres began in the 1980s; online "best of all time" lists are of little use when you're curious about film history. We know at least that the subgenre was in full swing by the 1990s with arthouse hits such as Like Water for Chocolate, Eat Drink Man Woman, and Big Night arriving semi-annually. Was the watershed moment, at least for US moviegoers, bout a half a year stretch between the fall of 1987 and the spring of 1988? In that time the hilarious Japanese "ramen western" Tampopo (1985) was slowly collecting its fult following and Denmark's Babette's Feast was a hit at arthouse theaters and took home the Oscar.
Whether or not Babette's Feast was the first truly popular foodie title with movieogers, it was at least a grand appetizer or sensational first course for the now robust subgenre...