Wednesday, June 19th

Popcorn, Anyone?

First off this week: the very first littleplate.com quiz. Below are three quotes from films made in the last thirty years. Can you name the film?

A. "I don't want to be a pie. I don't like gravy!"

B. Rumack: "What was it we had for dinner tonight?"
Elaine: "Well, we had a choice: steak or fish."
Rumack: "Yes. Yes, I remember. I had lasagna."

C. "That's the hardest part. Today everything is different. There’s no action. I have to wait around like everyone else. Can't even get decent food. Right after I got here I ordered some spaghetti with marinara sauce and I got egg noodles and ketchup. I'm an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook."

[Answers follow at the end of the article.]

As you probably guessed from the above, this week's column centers on movies and the role that food plays in them. From The Public Enemy (1931), in which Jimmy Cagney mashed half of a grapefruit into Mae Clark's face, to Big Night (1996), which centers mostly around two Italian-American brothers and their construction of a timpano for a festive evening, there's no two ways about it: food is huge in Hollywood, baby.

I know I can't be the only one who thinks the best scene in The Godfather, Part III (1990) is the one in which Andy Garcia teaches Sofia Coppola to make pasta. In fact, each of the "Godfather" films has very specific food references. No one who's seen The Godfather (1972) could forget Clemenza's directive to "Take the gun. Leave the cannoli," or the lesson that Michael gets in making red sauce. The Godfather, Part II (1974) centered on extravagant parties in Nevada and Havana, showcasing the food at both.

Not only gangster movies feature food. In E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Henry Thomas literally lured E.T. from his hiding place with a trail of Reese's Pieces. When Harry Met Sally (1989) built several key moments around eating and restaurants, not least the "I'll have what she's having" scene featuring director Rob Reiner's mother. The entire second half of Gone With The Wind was predicated on Scarlett's exhortation that "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!"

There are movies that showcase uniquely American food traditions, too. In Avalon (1990), there is a fabulous Thanksgiving scene, where three generations of Jewish Americans - some European-born, some American - sit down to a table groaning with turkey and mashed potatoes. The pie-eating contest in Stand by Me (1986) alludes to all manner of county fairs and church suppers. There's the scene in A Christmas Story (1983) in which Ralphie's younger brother makes a huge pile out of his mashed potatoes and then plunges his face right into it, recalling the great American conundrum of the loaded table and the picky child.

In short, there's a movie for every taste, and we haven't even touched on the movies that truly center on food (Babette's Feast, Like Water for Chocolate, Eat Drink Man Woman). In honor of one of my favorite genres - the gangster movie - I've posted a truly amazing recipe for tomato sauce to the right of this screen. You can add meatballs, or not, at your discretion, as I find that meatball recipes are like movies: everyone has their own favorite.

(By the way, the answers to the quiz are as follows: number one is from Chicken Run (2000); number two from Airplane! (1980); and number three comes from one of my favorite movies, GoodFellas (1990), which is chock-full of red sauce and sausages with peppers, not to mention the best jailhouse food scene of all time. If you have any other favorite food movies, please send them my way at lexi@littleplate.com.)