Scenes of love and cooking

January 10, 2024 12:47 PM

Show me clips of characters in movies and TV making food for someone out of love. Think of Sydney making the omelette for Sugar on The Bear, or the egg making scene at the end of Big Night. It doesn't need to be egg-based (egg centric!), it can be any food.

Looking for fictional characters, or at least people being portrayed by actors. I'm not looking for Rachel Ray making microwave bacon for her neighbor on The Food Network.

The scene should show the cooking process all the way through, or as much of it as possible. It should be a detailed, realistic cooking scene that one could almost follow as a recipe. Carol Brady putting a plate of pork chops and applesauce in front of Peter doesn't count, nor does Gloria throwing a London Broil at Tony Soprano.

The prison scene in Goodfella's, or the kitchen/drug bust scene at the end of the same movie, would almost count but they're not detailed enough.

I'm not looking for generic food movies or restaurant scenes. It should be one person cooking a dish from beginning to end for someone they care about, because they want to provide them some comfort.

Links to the actual scene would be best.

Please and thank you.

posted by bondcliff to Media & Arts (43 answers total)

Spanglish's protagonist is a cook, and this is the sandwich he makes himself after coming home at the end of a long day. Is it enough detail? Is self-care within your parameters? Only you can say. But it's the very, very first thing I thought of when I thought about "food lovingly prepared by somebody who knows what's what in the kitchen."
posted by adekllny at 12:59 PM on January 10 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Chef's grilled cheese scene!. Also the aglio e olio. Basically that whole movie is this question I think?
posted by beepbeepboopboop at 1:18 PM on January 10 [6 favorites]

Came here to mention Chef. An absolute labor of love.
posted by bbqturtle at 1:20 PM on January 10

It's been a while since I've since this so I'm not sure if it meets your criteria, but maybe "Chocolat"? Here's an example scene but there may be others.

And I also thought of the Chef grilled cheese scene as soon as I read this.
posted by bobafet at 1:26 PM on January 10

I love your question and before I finished reading it, I was going to say the omelette at the end of The Big Night.

Have you seen Tampopo? The entire movie is cooking for love, but if memory serves, the scene at the end with grandma stands alone.

From the wikipedia article:
> A housewife rises from her deathbed to cook one last meal for her family, who mournfully eat to memorialize her.
posted by bensherman at 1:37 PM on January 10 [8 favorites]

There is a breakfast/bento making scene in My Neighbor Totoro that has cuts but shows a bunch of prep steps and shows you a lot about the (young) character making the food.
posted by tchemgrrl at 1:38 PM on January 10 [1 favorite]

I, too, was getting ready to mention Big Night but I got caught up watching it. Out of the context of the movie, the "love" part isn't obvious, but that's still what's happening.
posted by edencosmic at 1:42 PM on January 10

I apparently didn't read closely enough!
posted by edencosmic at 1:43 PM on January 10

Came here to recommend Tampopo as fertile ground for this, and the scene of the dying woman cooking one last meal for her family in particular. bensherman beat me to it, so now I'm here to reiterate that you should check it out if you haven't seen it already.

Just don't watch it while hungry..
posted by Nerd of the North at 1:50 PM on January 10 [1 favorite]

TV series Recipes for Love and Murder. (The cooking is about love, the murder is about her side gig of solving mysteries.)
posted by interbeing at 1:55 PM on January 10 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If it doesn't need to be love for a specific person and love of cooking counts, the end of The Menu absolutely qualifies as it's pretty much entirely about that. Note: clip is basically a huge spoiler for the entire movie - which is worth watching - so tread carefully if you care about that sort of thing. It's a callback to an earlier scene that helps make it make a bit more sense, but the clip stands alone well enough.
posted by true at 1:56 PM on January 10 [4 favorites]

I don't remember this scene well enough, but perhaps Moonlight?

"Chiron surprises Kevin at the diner where he is a cook. Kevin lovingly prepares what he calls his "Chef’s Special"—pollo a la plancha, an off-menu meal for Chiron. The camera focuses on Kevin’s hands as he carefully squeezes fresh lime juice over the chicken sizzling on the griddle. Kevin makes an extra effort even with the sides. He doesn’t just plop the rice on the plate, loose. He uses a little mold to shape it so that it looks nice."
posted by MonkeyToes at 1:58 PM on January 10 [3 favorites]

The croissant making scene in It's Complicated!
posted by foxonisland at 1:59 PM on January 10 [2 favorites]

Babette's Feast This movie is about a woman outsider who cooks a sumptuous meal for a bunch of grumpy people who have been eating only oatmeal all their lives and how transformative the meal is for them. Very beautiful film.
posted by effluvia at 2:01 PM on January 10 [14 favorites]

Babette’s Feast!
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 2:02 PM on January 10 [3 favorites]

Best answer: The Hundred Foot Journey. Hasan and madam make an omelet together. He is hoping to impress her, but it also marks progress in their relationship as they come to know and care for each other. It's a gorgeous scene and a lovely movie.
posted by evilmomlady at 2:06 PM on January 10 [2 favorites]

There are probably many examples from the HBO show Julia, about Julia Child, but the one that sticks out is the episode where her husband and her editor/friend spend several days coming up with a recipe for bread on her behalf - they even comment on how they are putting so much care into it because of their love for her. Lots of scenes of them tinkering with different approaches.
posted by coffeecat at 2:13 PM on January 10 [4 favorites]

Keep it simple, keep it french. Love is in the air here: Zen and the Art of Baguette Buttering [2m] from Diva.
posted by BobTheScientist at 2:14 PM on January 10 [1 favorite]

If you have Disney+, there is a gorgeously filmed show in Chinese called "Delicacies Destiny" about a woman who becomes the palace chef for a very picky prince, and has exquisite scenes of how she is preparing the food. (We even see cutting off chicken feet!)

Here is an OST video (Original Sound Track) for the show that displays some of how detailed the food preparation scenes are.https://youtu.be/kTD55MG7INs

At the 1 minute mark is a scene where she presents cabbage-wrapped rice to the prince, and then we see how she made the cabbage-wrapped rice:
https://youtu.be/3lxrDjuQmyU?t=60s

A trailer for the show
https://youtu.be/i34Mv8CeiFs

They have both English subtitles or English dubbing.
https://www.disneyplus.com/series/episode-1/2ikSfaCESU0i
posted by jillithd at 2:55 PM on January 10 [1 favorite]

Mostly Martha
posted by gudrun at 2:59 PM on January 10 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Well, she baking for herself but I’ve always loved the cupcake scene at the beginning of Bridesmaids.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:07 PM on January 10 [7 favorites]

Pretty much all of Like Water for Chocolate
posted by Julnyes at 3:08 PM on January 10 [4 favorites]

Coming back to say the movie I was thinking of earlier was Like Water for Chocolate, not Chocolat. Oops. And I see Julnyes beat me to it!
posted by bobafet at 3:11 PM on January 10

I also came here to recommend the scene from Bridesmaids; it was an act of love for herself, and although it doesn’t quite feel heartwarming, it does evoke feelings of love, and lost dreams. Really a memorable scene in an otherwise often-gross (but funny!) movie.
posted by samthemander at 3:26 PM on January 10 [1 favorite]

You're gonna laugh but… The ratatouille scene from Ratatouille was detailed enough people have mimicked the recipe.
posted by ob1quixote at 4:06 PM on January 10 [2 favorites]

Eat Drink Man Woman. It's pretty much right there in the title.
posted by adamrice at 4:07 PM on January 10 [8 favorites]

Have you seen Tampopo? The entire movie is cooking for love

Ok, if Tampopo is on the table (heh) for this, then why not La Grande Bouffe? For some definition of cooking and some definition of love anyway (in both cases).
posted by Literaryhero at 4:12 PM on January 10

Phantom Thread (can't link to scene because it sort of spoils the entire movie)
posted by pjenks at 4:22 PM on January 10 [1 favorite]

Seconding Eat Drink Man Woman (directed by Ang Lee). The movie isn't just about cooking, but it starts with an amazing extended scene showing a man carefully preparing a big meal for his 3 daughters, and there's other cooking scenes as well. I found the whole movie pretty interesting.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:28 PM on January 10 [2 favorites]

Emily in Paris S1E4, at about 4:45.
posted by Night_owl at 4:49 PM on January 10

There's a scene like this toward the end of the movie Pig.

Click for spoilery context:

Former chef Robin (Nicolas Cage) and his companion Amir are preparing and serving a meal for Amir's father Darius — the exact same meal that Robin once served to Darius and his wife, who's now comatose and on life support — in hopes of persuading Darius to help find Robin's beloved truffle pig.

posted by teraflop at 5:25 PM on January 10 [1 favorite]

There is a breakfast scene in Howl's Moving Castle that is stunningly beautiful and pays such close attention to the cooking from beginning to end. At this point in the movie Howl is an emotional mess but it is deep down and in ways he can't say any other way a gesture of care.

Here is a link to a part of it.
posted by spindle at 6:29 PM on January 10 [4 favorites]

In the Matrix when the Oracle bakes cookies for Neo she does so that his "code" will be changed, and so he can survive the challenges ahead (which could be said to be nurturing or love). Sadly it does not show the mixing of the cookie batter, only the baking of them and presenting them to Neo (at about the 9:30 point in the video clip I linked to).
posted by forthright at 10:38 PM on January 10

The Japanese series What Did You Eat Last Night usually has a scene in each episode where one character cooks for another, with a voiceover explaining the ingredients and the process. It is readily apparent that love and care are taken in each step.
posted by Ghidorah at 10:56 PM on January 10 [1 favorite]

Every episode of the Japanese series Midnight Diner.
posted by Just the one swan, actually at 11:20 PM on January 10 [6 favorites]

The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House. Every single relationship on that show is expressed through food.
posted by BibiRose at 5:44 AM on January 11 [1 favorite]

Steve Martin making an omelet in season three of Only Murders in the Building
posted by hepta at 6:14 AM on January 11 [2 favorites]

Nthing Eat Drink Man Woman-the opening cooking was so good (and substantial) that I showed just that bit to my young kiddo via VHS rewind the next day. Being truly young, he was so disappointed that I wouldn’t let him watch the whole thing. This was almost two decades ago and my youngest loves cooking so count me in as reading with interest.
posted by childofTethys at 6:51 AM on January 11 [1 favorite]

It's Complicated has multiple scenes where Meryl Streep's character makes food, especially her grown children and soon-to-be son-in-law, who she treats as a son.

In particular, she makes breakfast when the "kids" all wake up hungover in her house after a grad party.
posted by champers at 8:45 AM on January 11

I can't find the scene to link to, but the Ghibli film Kiki's Delivery Service has a scene where two older ladies bake an elaborate fish pie for the granddaughter of one of them. It's about 2/3rds of the way through the film, and so beautifully drawn!
posted by Pallas Athena at 8:56 AM on January 11

Best answer: In Bridesmaids, Annie (Kristen Wiig) reconnects with herself (does that count?) and her love of baking, by making herself one beautiful cupcake.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 10:24 AM on January 11 [2 favorites]

Mr. Lahey, a drunk trailer park supervisor, hunts a blue jay to make a burger for his partner Randy so that Randy will stop prostituting himself out for cheeseburgers (Trailer Park Boys, “A Man’s Gotta Eat”)
posted by wheatlets at 10:42 AM on January 11 [1 favorite]

In Officer and a Gentleman, Deborah Winger's character makes Richard Gere's character breakfast (scrambled eggs) in a crappy little pie pan or something, after they have done the deed.
posted by intrepid_simpleton at 4:43 PM on January 13