Food Porn: Movies for the Foodie in your life: Waitress

With the increasing popularity of the Food Network and it’s many shows, “celebrity” chefs, and websites like www.foodnetworkhumor.com, chances are you have a strange creature that identifies as a “foodie” in your life.  If your food fanatic has every kitchen gadget, cook book, spice blend and truffle paste available, never fear we’ve got you covered! Consider gifting your grub-loving pal with one of the great foodie flicks we’ll be profiling on Biff Bam Pop for the next few weeks! Hey, the holidays are about spending time with loved ones and celebrating whatever you happen to celebrate, but they’re also all about food too, am I right?!

For the Baker:

My first recommendation is an often-overlooked display of sweet, snarky (and kinda sad) cinema known as Waitress. Keri Russell (of tv’s 90’s drama Felicity) stars as Jenna, a woman living in the deep south with her abusive husband Earl. Jenna works a dead-end job as a waitress in a diner where she bakes pies as a form of therapy and creativity. She often gives them titles inspired by whatever is going on in her life (such as – SPOILER ALERT! – I CAN’T HAVE NO AFFAIR BECAUSE IT’S WRONG AND I DON’T WANT EARL TO KILL ME PIE).

Fed up with her unhappy life, Jenna plans to use her mad baking skillz to win a pie contest in a nearby town. She plans on using the prize money to escape her miserable life and leave Earl far behind. Unfortunately for Jenna, she finds herself knocked up, and when Earl finds out he forbids her to enter the contest. In true, albeit somewhat twisted chick-flick fashion, Jenna’s knight in shining armor shows up in the form of her married doctor.

All hell breaks loose what with the lyin’ and the cheatin’ and sleeping with her married doctor! There are bubble-headed yet well-meaning sidekicks, Earl rages, a curmudgeonly old man and bar fights all culminating in… actually, a pretty satisfying ending to what could have been just another sugary-sweet rom-com.

The secondary stars of this movie are the absolutely mouth watering shots of the baked creations that show up throughout the film. Even when Jenna is angrily mashing away at a bowl of bright red raspberries and chocolate, one can’t help but reach for the nearest baked good. Even the characters in the film are seduced, and their descriptions of Jenna’s creations further lift the food right off the screen:

“Just a pie! It’s downright expert. A thing’a beauty … how each flavor opens itself, one by one, like a chapter in a book. First, the flavor of an exotic spice hits ya … Just a hint of it … and then you get flooded with chocolate, dark and bittersweet like an old love affair …” – Joe

Waitress was the brainchild of late actress Adrienne Shelly, who also appears in the film as one of Jenna’s fellow waitstaff.  It’s a lovely little legacy from a quirky actress, writer and director and would make a good addition to the collection of any proud baker in your life.

Check out the trailer below – Apologies in advance if it makes you drive to your nearest bakery!:

Don’t forget to check back next week for another edition of FOOD PORN: Movies for the Foodie in your life!