Top 10 Food Preparation Scenes in Movies

Goldie Hawn’s character ‘feels as though she’s never done this before in her life’... Aand that’s because she quite clearly hasn’t! Kurt Russell has performed his manly duties by providing a chicken for the family meal, now Hawn must weave her womanly ways by cooking it! While the males intellectually stimulate themselves by balancing spoons on noses, Hawn finds mounting frustration when the food just won’t fit in the pan! Goddamn chickens and their inconvenient shape, and Goddamn gas with its flammable qualities!

If the 21st century has taught us anything, it’s that food blogging is the way forward! And if 2009’s filmic food blogger Julie Powell taught us anything, it’s that everything is better with butter! In this scene, Amy Adams’ character lets us in on her love for the stuff, as she points out the obvious fact that we’ve never really realized. Sure, butter’s not too healthy or especially appetizing to look at, but put a generous helping of it into almost anything, and everything is a little - or a lot - more enjoyable!

There’s a time and a place to make a full and wholesome fry-up, and this is neither! Danny McBride has somehow managed to miss the apocalypse, but he’s reliably and regrettably awake in time for breakfast! Oblivious to the newfound need for nutritional rationing, McBride makes himself a meal fit for kings, which royally winds up the rest of his friends! There are taboo moves tenfold within this three minutes of film, but the bottled water to bare feet has to be the most hilarious!

Love can work in mysterious ways, especially when it comes to the kitchen! In a movie filled with iconic Woody Allen and Diane Keaton moments, this combination of lobsters and laughing is an especially sweet scene! The shellfish are scattered all across the floor, the humans are hop, skip and jumping their way into a frenzy! In terms of actual food preparation, there’s just one lobster in the pot and progress is slow... But the intention is there, and that’s what counts!

Cooking in the classroom is usually more fun than the average lesson at school, but in this scene Jonah Hill is probably having too much of a good time! Paired with the delightful, daydream-inhabiting Emma Stone, Hill’s character just can’t control himself! The two are meant to be making Tiramisu, but clearly this teenage boy is making a lot more of ‘something else’ inside his head! It’s childish and stupid, but seriously funny in an embarrassing, awkward, ‘almost got caught’ kinda way!

From the playful to the professional! Sometimes food preparation doesn’t need to be dressed up as anything but exactly what it is! In the opening to 2014’s “Chef”, we’re treated to some five star slicing, dicing, cutting and general kitchen-ing! For many, making food is akin to making music, painting a picture or sculpting a statue... It’s an art form(!) - and in this film, it’s difficult to argue with that! It’s the glance away that does it... Any normal person would lose three fingers if they did that!

So you’ve got the recipe, you’re comfortable with executing the recipe, now all you need are the ingredients for the recipe... And at the top of your list is human brain...! Food preparation at Hannibal Lecter’s house is unlike anywhere else! Where the typical, right-minded individual might cut a carrot or skin a potato, Lecter has scalped a victim, and dissected some vital organs! Very little has been left to the imagination in this scene, as the pre-frontal lobe fries and spits like a rasher of smoked bacon... mMMmm!

Even animated food can appear appetizing when prepared right! “Ratatouille”, as a title, expertly combines the breed of critter around which the movie is based, and a dish that Remy can no doubt rustle up with ease! In this particular scene, however, soup is on the menu - only it would’ve disappointed were it not for one pest blessed with a heightened sense of smell! It’s poetry in motion until the light is switched on... At which point a rat in the kitchen really isn’t as bad as it looks!

This is less ‘can’t cook, won’t cook’, and more ‘will cook, can’t cook’... It’s Robin Williams’ first day as Mrs. Doubtfire - the accented nanny created in order for him to get closer to his kids again - and he’s immediately wreaking chaos in the kitchen! His pinch of basil packs quite the punch, and when the water boils over he all but falls over... Still, at least he’s got a hot body, although not in the conventional sense! It’s comedy, culinary gold!

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
- Lonely Baking

“Bridesmaids” (2011)

- Bring Me the Big Knife

“Moonstruck” (1987)

- Egg Sandwich

“Spanglish” (2004)

- Pies, Pies, Pies

“Waitress” (2007)

Prison food shouldn’t particularly inspire peckish-ness, but try sitting through this scene without reaching for the snacks! The mob makes supper in the slammer look like fine dining, as they piece together a plateful of ingredients to put us regular schmucks to shame! Garlic cut with a razor blade, multi-meatballs, steak cooked to personal preferences, a choice of red or white wine... And the rest of us innocent people are making do with a microwave dinner?! The wise guys are the overwhelming winners here!

Do you agree with our list? Which big screen food-making scene is your favorite? For more well-prepared top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.