This was a delightfully chaotic yr for meals on movie, whether or not on the small or the large display. As a refresher, this yr noticed the return of Chef’s Desk and the debut of the much-maligned Jerry Seinfeld Pop-Tart film. There was a rooster haunting the satirical characters of The Curse, and Kristen Kish stepped into Padma’s sneakers as the brand new host of ol’ workhorse Prime Chef. Reba McIntyre’s newest sitcom, Completely happy’s Place, is about in a bar; the Meals Community’s newest baking competitors is inexplicably set in Hogwarts.
However amid that chaos, there have been positively some shining popular culture moments that centered meals — and a few of these confirmed up in perhaps-unexpected locations. Right here now, 2024’s finest meals moments on TV and in motion pictures, in accordance with Eater editors:
Martha
This yr offered a dearth of documentaries scrutinizing staple figures of American TV, softening their topics into their most palatable or pitiable kinds. Then, there was Martha. The Netflix documentary casts Martha Stewart as greater than the sum of her profession’s elements, exploring the unglamorous realities of her working-class, Polish-American household, the fraught office dynamics behind her ascent to media mogul, and the scandalous affairs that marked her marriages. By way of all of it, she’s formidable and exacting, callous however candid. Most impactfully, Stewart parting the veil of her personal mythology (alongside together with her pushback towards producers) serves as a reminder that life is supposed to be messy and unapologetically scrumptious. — Jesse Sparks, senior editor
Challengers
I don’t assume I have to elaborate on why the churro scene from summer time hit Challengers is on our checklist of favourite meals moments captured on movie this yr. However for individuals who one way or the other haven’t seen Mike Faist as Artwork and Josh O’Connor as Patrick tensely share a churro, right here’s the clip. As a substitute, I’d prefer to take this time to remind everybody that Challengers additionally introduced us a pivotal scene that takes place at an Applebee’s. The informal suburban fixture is the unlikely setting for Tashi (Zendaya) and Artwork’s first sparks of romance, and to see them lastly make out in an empty Applebee’s car parking zone towards metropolis skyline was a delight. It turned much more pleasant when we realized that the setting was chosen as a result of in actuality, tennis gamers on the town for the Cincinnati Masters, which is held within the suburb of Mason, Ohio, would eat at Applebee’s. Elite athletes in psychosexual love triangles — they’re similar to us! — Monica Burton, deputy editor
Scrumptious in Dungeon
I watch a lot of anime — and this is without doubt one of the most ingenious and surprising examples of the style I’ve seen. Also referred to as Dungeon Meshi, this present is a grasp class in world-building, one which instantly sells you on a wild premise: {That a} group of adventurers, journeying by a dungeon looking for to avoid wasting a good friend, should eat the monsters and different fantastical creatures that cross their path not only for survival, but in addition for pure pleasure. The animated cooking scenes right here remind me a whole lot of the equally beloved present Midnight Diner: They’re lovingly rendered and narrated, which is much more outstanding contemplating they’re cooking up issues like mandrake and “treasure bugs.” Simply go along with it; it’s a delight. — Erin DeJesus, govt editor
Quincy
Quincy Jones was a peerless artist, so it’s no shock that when the producer and musician, recognized for such productions as The Wiz and The Contemporary Prince of Bell-Air died on November 3, followers turned to the 2018 Netflix documentary, Quincy, to honor his legacy. Produced by his daughter, actor and producer Rashida Jones, the movie particulars the composer and producer’s life — towering wins, well being challenges, private complexities, adoration of yoga, and all. I knew that an individual who lived such a colourful life needed to love foods and drinks (and Jones’s affection for cocktails and liquor is a core ingredient of the documentary), and located that the musician did, certainly, dabble within the hospitality trade. In 2016, the frequent international traveler opened Q’s Bar and Lounge on the Palazzo Versace Dubai in Dubai, naming drinks for a few of his most celebrated initiatives, all of that are served towards the backdrop of stay music. As outlined in Toni Tipiton-Martin’s Juke Joints, Jazz Golf equipment, and Juice, alcohol and music are inextricably related in Black tradition. Jones, an aficionado of Black artistry, is a recent — and eternally cherished — instance. — Kayla Stewart, Eater.com senior editor
Nice British Bake Off
The most recent season of the Nice British Bake Off felt like a welcome return to type. It was filled with shows of real expertise (see Dylan and his prodigious knack for flavors and presentation and, nicely, nearly all the things). There have been contestants who had been an actual pleasure to look at. (I’m speaking about Nelly, clearly.) And with challenges that leaned wholeheartedly into British baking — noticed dick and all — there was little or no to be mad at. Dylan followers might disagree, however I’d go so far as to say that it was good to see the one who needed it essentially the most — the one who most embodied the spirit of what it means to be a talented house baker — take house the title. — MB
Classes in Chemistry
Though it technically aired in October and November of 2023, the Apple TV+ miniseries’s import has grown exponentially this yr. Tailored from Bonnie Garmus’s 2022 novel of the identical title and led by Brie Larson, Classes in Chemistry is a celebration of the subversive powers a cooking present host can wield — and have turned towards her. Virtually just like the antithetical complement to Julia Youngster’s pleasant curiosity, Larson’s Elizabeth Zott begins as a superb, assured lab tech chafing towards the misogyny of the laboratory she works in. After quite a few challenges at work and within the strategy of elevating her daughter, Zott grows to be undaunted by the restrictions others place on her work, her parenting, and her aspirations for the present regardless of the pointedly apparent racism and misogyny of the period. It’s an arresting research in questioning all the things earlier than rolling up your sleeves to experiment for your self. — JS
The Apothecary Diaries
Calling this a meals present is stretching it barely, however on this anime that takes place in Imperial China, teenage apothecary Maomao makes use of her information of cooking up herbs (and her willingness to be a taste-tester for poison) to stand up the ranks of the palace’s pecking order. There’s tons of palace intrigue right here, however the plots are borrowed extra from Home — i.e., they normally revolve round Maomao utilizing her powers of remark and medical information to resolve an in-episode thriller — than Recreation of Thrones. This can be a splendidly escapist present the place the educated, resourceful younger lady at all times wins, even when she has to swallow a bitter tablet or two alongside the way in which. — EDJ
… and the worst (sorry, Chicago):
The Bear
I knew we had been in bother with Season 3 of The Bear from the very first episode, which felt much less like an episode than an prolonged and really self-serious montage. And lo, issues received worse from there. It’s tough to pick what I appreciated least about this season: was it the Fak household’s “hang-out” schtick, as recent as a fart in an elevator? Or the insistent flashbacks that supplanted precise narrative momentum? Or wait, possibly it was its cameo-appearance deification of real-life cooks whose posteriors have already been exhaustively kissed (e tu, Thomas Keller?). It was all that, however it was additionally, maybe worst of all, boring. Tedious and indulgent, this season wasn’t a lot a bear as a shark, jumped. — Rebecca Flint Marx, Eater at Dwelling editor