The whole world begins in the kitchen.

The scene brightens as Tampopo's "teachers" savor every drop of ramen broth she's cooked. Source: Toho Co.

Lives full of flavor

Juzo Itami's Tampopo (1987), directed by the Japanese filmmaker Juzo Itami, is considered one of the best films ever made about food . The film successfully portrays the magical and complex interplay between cuisine and all aspects of life.

For Juzo Itami, food is everything. In Tampopo, food represents fertility, death, love, dreams, perseverance, sexuality, family, the journey of redemption, and even cinema.

Like a dish brimming with flavor, Tampopo doesn't confine itself to one or two specific film genres. It contains many different main and subplots, inspired by old Hollywood Westerns...

Tampopo concludes with a scene of the mother breastfeeding her child, lasting until the end of the credits, creating a cyclical effect. The film ends, but that very ending opens a new link between life and food, nurtured by the first food of life: breast milk.

Whether short or long, each story has its own meaning, combining to form a complete Tampopo – much like how life simultaneously holds countless different stories on the table of life.

The family meals in the drama Eat Drink Man Woman bring Mr. Chu and his family together.

Healing cuisine

Food doesn't always need to carry a grand purpose. It can simply be a way to bring family members together. Ang Lee's film Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) is a perfect example.

The film revolves around the daily life of the Tao Chu family – a retired master chef – and his three daughters. Every Sunday, Mr. Chu showcases his culinary skills by preparing elaborate dishes for the whole family to enjoy together.

Having experienced loss and a generation gap, Mr. Chu and his children couldn't find common ground on many issues. The only way he knew to express his love to his children was through food.

A love for food, stemming from his mother's small kitchen, may have shaped the aesthetic appreciation for food in the French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung.

In his directorial debut, "The Scent of Green Papaya" (1993), this director romanticized and poeticized the preparation of the incredibly rustic yet refined papaya salad. Each gentle touch, each sensation evoked through the senses, stirred nostalgia in the viewer's memory.

Thirty-one years have passed since the release of "The Scent of Green Papaya," yet no Vietnamese film has been able to portray the beauty of the country's cuisine as profoundly and memorably as this film did with papaya salad.

A culinary bridge in film.

Vietnamese culinary culture is full of wonders, with complex dishes that harmoniously balance ingredients and spices, yet are incredibly close to everyday life. Sadly, this rich and distinctive cuisine is rarely featured in Vietnamese cinema.

Anthony Bourdain eats clam rice at a street food stall in Hue . Photo: CNN

Food has traditionally only existed in films as a secondary element, serving as a backdrop for the main story. Meanwhile, Vietnamese cuisine has captured the hearts of renowned chefs, vloggers, and food critics worldwide , including Anthony Bourdain.

Vietnam is a cultural, tourist, and culinary destination that is incredibly dear to this American travel documentary filmmaker and chef.

If the core of the film Tempopo mentioned above lies in Japanese ramen noodles, then the highlight of episode 4 of season 4 of Anthony Bourdain's documentary Parts Unknown is the signature Vietnamese dish, Hue beef noodle soup.

“The broth for this dish is an elaborate blend of bone broth with lemongrass and shrimp paste. The rice noodles are served with tender pork trotters, crab cakes, and blood pudding. Then, it's garnished with a slice of lime, cilantro, green onions, chili sauce, shredded banana blossom, and bean sprouts. It's a masterpiece of flavor and the senses. This is the best broth in the world!” Bourdain exclaimed.

In 2009, on his second visit to Vietnam, Anthony Bourdain went straight to Hoi An to "try" Banh Mi Phuong. Appearing for just under two minutes in the television series No Reservations, Bourdain's image of him standing in the streets of Hoi An, enthusiastically eating a Banh Mi Phuong sandwich, with his comment, "This is truly a symphony in a sandwich," made this Quang Nam-style sandwich known worldwide.

The death of Anthony Bourdain is a great loss to Vietnamese people and food enthusiasts worldwide. There are still so many Vietnamese noodle, vermicelli, and rice dishes he never had the chance to enjoy. For people like him, food is a bridge that connects us to the culture, history, and unique lifestyle of each country.

The history of the entire world is transformed into dishes arranged on a plate. Each dish embodies the hardships, love, and essence of humanity's long history of development.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/ca-the-gioi-bat-dau-tu-can-bep-3136289.html