There is a variety of best movies for food lovers to choose from. While some are primarily about cooking and eating, others use food to connect to the story’s greater themes.
If you consider yourself a foodie, you’re undoubtedly interested in movies about food, gastronomy, and everything in between.
However, food has the power to bring people together, which is the message of each of the movies listed here.
Whether you intend to cook dinner with your friends or meet up at a neighborhood restaurant, sharing wonderful food with them is the ideal way to reflect, catch up, and celebrate life.
A few movies have come to define this genre in particular. Below are the best movies for food lovers.
Estomago (2007)
- Director: Marcos Jorge
- Star casts: Joao Miguel, Fabiula Nascimento, Babu Santana, and Carlo Briani
- IMDb ratings: 7.8
Estomago is one of the best movies for food lovers. Essentially, this movie splits the world’s diverse population into two groups: those who eat and those who get eaten.
Raimundo Nonato rejects this strict segregation and instead works as a cook. Nonato’s growth as a chef-in-training is shown in the movie, which begins with him working in a low-end bar and ends with him working at a good Italian restaurant.
Against all challenges, he succeeds in separating himself from society norms by perfecting his epicurean skills.
Ratatouille (2007)
- Director: Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava
- Star casts: Brad Garrett, Lou Romano, Patton Oswalt
- IMDb ratings: 8.1
Despite being an animated movie, it is one of the best movies for food lovers. It’s the story of Remy, a rat who aspires to be a renowned French chef.
Remy finds himself in the sewers of Paris, conveniently located beneath a restaurant owned by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau.
Though he is an undesired visitor in the kitchen of a great French restaurant, Remy’s passion for cooking sparks when he makes an unusual alliance with a young kitchen worker.
Julie and Julia (2009)
- Director: Nora Ephron
- Star casts: Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Chris Messina, and Stanley Tucci
- IMDb ratings: 7.0
Julie and Julia is an Academy Award-nominated movie based on a book of the same name.
It’s based on Julie Powell’s actual narrative of The Julie and Julia Project. Julie, a government employee, pulls up Julia Child’s cookbook one evening as she laments the lack of significance in her life.
She resolves to cook all 524 recipes in the book in a year while documenting her journey on her blog.
No one seems to be interested at first, but Julie’s blog gains more and more readers as time passes. Julia Child and Julie Powell wrote memoirs and discovered that their lives are interwoven.
Both ladies are at a crossroads, separated by time and space, until they learn that everything is possible with the perfect blend of passion, boldness, and butter. It’s not a good idea to see this movie on an empty stomach, so bring something to soothe your taste buds.
Babette’s Feast (1987)
- Director: Gabriel Axel
- Star casts: Stéphane Audran, Bodil Kjer, and Birgitte Federspiel
- IMDb ratings: 7.8
This movie, which was released in 1987, is the oldest of the bunch on this list. Martine and Philippa, two Danish sisters, live in isolation with their strict pastor father.
Philippa’s old admirer sends Babette, a Parisian immigrant, to serve as the family chef, thickening the plot. At the family supper, Babette prepares a delectable buffet that tempts the pious group, who are usually opposed to nice meals and drinks.
The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014)
- Director: Lasse Hallström
- Star casts: Helen Mirren, Om Puri, and Manish Dayal
- IMDb ratings: 7.3
This movie is set in France and tells the story of an Indian family who has moved to the country and decides to open a restaurant next to a well-known French haute cuisine restaurant.
The restaurateurs develop a fierce professional competition as a result. Om Puri, a late Indian actor, does an excellent job as the Indian Patriarch.
This movie portrays the clash and blending of varied tastes, not only the shared appreciation for food across countries.
It’s not so much a fight between Chicken Murgh masala and French omelet as it is a combination of the two. It has a very subtle and upbeat vibe about it, making it a must-see family entertainer.
The Lunchbox (2013)
- Director: Ritesh Batra
- Star casts: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui
- IMDb ratings: 7.8
The plot sheds light on India’s unique lunchbox delivery system, which distributes thousands of meals from homes to offices every day.
This system allows wives to get up at a reasonable hour in the morning, make a pleasant lunch for their husbands, and have it delivered to their workplace before lunchtime.
Rather than slapping a slab of nut butter between two pieces of bread and calling it a supper, slow cooking gives viewers a sense of satisfaction.
Illa’s husband fails to exhibit interest in her in this movie, so she feels that her cooking skills would help them rekindle their love.
To her amazement, the lunch she prepares never makes it to her husband’s desk, instead of being delivered to Saajan, a lonely man approaching retirement who enjoys her cooking. This is one of the best movies for food lovers.
Burnt (2015)
- Director: John Wells
- Star casts: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Daniel Bruhl, and Riccardo Scamarcio
- IMDb ratings: 6.6
Since it focuses not just on the art of cooking but also on a burned-out chef who has become an alcoholic, the title Burnt is a bit of a play on words.
The movie portrays the pressures of working in a kitchen and the high-pressure scenarios that can emerge with great realism.
Despite the pressures, Bradley Cooper’s Adam Jones is adamant about opening a restaurant, which proves to be a huge success.
The movie portrays a chef’s true hardships as well as the process of truly constructing a long-lasting establishment.
Today’s Special (2009)
- Director: David Kaplan
- Star casts: Dean Winters, Kevin Corrigan, Aarti Mann, and Aasif Mandvi
- IMDb ratings: 6.6
If you enjoy comedies, this movie is well worth your time. “Today’s Special” plot is simple; it’s about a gifted young man named Samir who uses cooking to reconnect with his Indian roots and passion for life. Also, like many great movies, it has an underdog feel to it that you can’t help but enjoy.
Chef (2014)
- Director: Jon Favreau
- Star casts: Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., and Scarlett Johansson
- IMDb ratings: 7.3
In this wonderful comedy, Jon Favreau wrote, directed, and played a violent “Chef” who goes insane in the posh Los Angeles restaurant where he works.
That outburst costs him his job, and he turns to an old food truck for emotional and financial solace.
It’s a road trip movie that follows a chef, his young kid, and an old friend as they cook their way from Miami to Los Angeles, slinging Cuban sandwiches and wreaking havoc on social media. “Chef” is one of the best movies for food lovers. It’s funny, sweet, and certain to make you hungry.
The Big Night (1996)
- Director: Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci
- Star casts: Tony Shalhoub, Stanley Tucci, and Marc Anthony
- IMDb ratings: 7.3
This movie, set in the 1950s, is about two Italian brothers who manage an Italian restaurant in America and is considered one of the best movies for food lovers in 1996.
One brother is a fantastic chef, while the other is the restaurant’s front-end manager. Unfortunately, they have had a difficult time in the marketplace.
Their last chance to save their American dream comes when they are offered the opportunity to host a well-known jazz musician for a special benefit concert, their big night.
The brothers must work together to overcome their differences and create a masterpiece, a once-in-a-lifetime feast, for the big night.
Like Water for Chocolate (1992)
- Director: Alfonso Arau
- Star casts: Marco Leonardi, Lumi Cavazos, and Regina Torné
- IMDb ratings: 7.1
Tita and her sister Rosaura live with their mother, Elena. She forbids Tita from marrying as she grows older because she wants her to stay at home and serve her as a servant until she grows old.
Even though Tita and Pedro are in love, Pedro moves in and marries Rosaura because Tita is barred from marrying.
Tita prepares the wedding foods, including the cake, which she sobs while creating, and as a result, the guests who eat the cake experience something unusual.
They both feel nostalgic about their previous life at the same time, and Tita realizes that her cooking has a special charm to it from that moment. Each meal she serves for Pedro after that acts as a love song.
Tortilla Soup (2001)
- Director: Maria Ripoll
- Star casts: Hector Elizondo, Jacqueline Obradors, Tamara Mello, and Jude Herrera
- IMDb ratings: 6.7
Three sisters (Maribel, Leticia, and Carmen) bring this story to life as they attempt to cope with living with their father and his fading taste buds.
Martin, their father, has only one condition for them to follow: they must be home for dinner on Sunday evening. No matter what his reason is, he will not budge; attendance is mandatory.
This, of course, complicates matters when the older sisters begin looking for soulmates. Furthermore, this story is chock-full of delectable soup recipes that you’ll want to try.
