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Books

FICTION

The 100 Foot Journey by Richard Morais (2010) 
The “Hundred-Foot Journey” is about how the hundred-foot distance between a new Indian kitchen and a traditional French one can represent the gulf between different cultures and desires. A testament to the inevitability of destiny, this is a fable for the ages—charming, endearing, and compulsively readable. 

Bread Alone by Judi Hendricks (2002) 
Thirty-one-year-old Wynter Morrison is lost when her husband leaves her for another woman. Desperate for a change, she moves to Seattle, where she spends aimless hours at a local bakery sipping coffee and inhaling the sweet aromas of freshly-made bread. These visits bring back memories of the time she apprenticed at a French boulangerie, when her passion for bread-making nearly led her to leave college and become a baker. Once again, the desire to bake bread consumes her thoughts. When offered a position at the bake shop, Wyn quickly accepts, hoping that the baking will help her move on. But soon Wyn discovers that the making of bread—the kneading of the dough—possesses an unexpected and wondrous healing power—one that will ultimately renew her heart and her soul. 

Chocolat by JoAnn Harris (2009) 
In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful newcomer Vianne Rocher and her exquisite chocolate shop arrive and instantly begin to play havoc with Lenten vows. Each box of luscious bonbons comes with a free gift: Vianne's uncanny perception of its buyer's private discontents and a clever, caring cure for them. Is she a witch? Soon the parish no longer cares, as it abandons itself to temptation, happiness, and a dramatic face-off between Easter solemnity and the pagan gaiety of a chocolate festival. “Chocolat's” every page offers a description of chocolate to melt in the mouths of chocoholics, francophiles, armchair gourmets, cookbook readers, and lovers of passion everywhere. It's a must for anyone who craves an escapist read, and is a bewitching gift for any holiday.

Delicious! by Ruth Reichl (2014)
“Delicious!” carries the reader to the colorful world of downtown New York restaurateurs and artisanal purveyors, and from the lively food shop in Little Italy where Billie works on weekends to a hidden room in the magazine's library where she discovers the letters of Lulu Swan, a plucky twelve-year-old, who wrote to the legendary chef James Beard during World War II. Lulu's letters lead Billie to a deeper understanding of history (and the history of food), but most important, Lulu's courage in the face of loss inspires Billie to come to terms with her own issues-the panic attacks that occur every time she even thinks about cooking, the truth about the big sister she adored, and her ability to open her heart to love.

Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood (1969)
Ever since her engagement, the strangest thing has been happening to Marian McAlpin: she can't eat. First meat. Then eggs, vegetables, cake, pumpkin seeds--everything! Worse yet, she has the crazy feeling that she's being eaten. Marian ought to feel consumed with passion, but she really just feels...consumed Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery series by Diane Mott Davidson (various dates) New York Times bestselling author Diane Mott Davidson has taken readers by storm with clever mysteries filled with tantalizing plots and mouthwatering recipes. To date, there are 17 books in the Goldy Bear Mystery series. 

NON-FICTION

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingslover (2007)
Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck, Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Their good-humored search yields surprising discoveries about turkey sex life and overly zealous zucchini plants, en route to a food culture that's better for the neighborhood and also better on the table. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet. 

Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good: a Memoir of Food and Love from an American Midwest Family by Kathleen Flinn (2014)
Explore the very beginning of the author’s love affair with food and its connection to home. It is the story of Flinn’s Midwestern childhood, its memorable home cooks, and the delicious recipes she grew up with. Flinn shares tales of her parents’ pizza parlor in San Francisco, where they sold Uncle Clarence’s popular oven-fried chicken, as well as recipes for the vats of chili made by her former army cook Grandpa Charles, fluffy Swedish pancakes from Grandma Inez, and cinnamon rolls for birthday breakfasts. Through these dishes, Flinn came to understand how meals can be memories, and how cooking can be a form of communication. 

Delancey: A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage by Molly Wizenberg (2014) 
In this funny, frank, tender memoir and New York Times bestseller, the author of “A Homemade Life” and the blog “Orangette” recounts how opening a restaurant sparked the first crisis of her young marriage. 

Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter (2010) 
For anyone who has ever grown herbs on their windowsill, tomatoes on their fire escape, or obsessed over the offerings at the local farmers' market, Carpenter's story will capture your heart. And if you've ever considered leaving it all behind to become a farmer outside the city limits, or looked at the abandoned lot next door with a gleam in your eye, consider this both a cautionary tale and a full-throated call to action. Farm City is an unforgettably charming memoir, full of hilarious moments, fascinating farmers' tips, and a great deal of heart. It is also a moving meditation on urban life versus the natural world and what we have given up to live the way we do.

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser (2001) 
Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled American cultural imperialism abroad. That's a lengthy list of charges, but Eric Schlosser makes them stick with an artful mix of first-rate reportage, wry wit, and careful reasoning. 

The Food Industry Wars: Marketing Triumphs and Blunders by Edward M. Mazze & Ronald D. Michman (1998) 
How food marketers make use of key variables—such as innovation; target market; market segmentation; image; and physical, environmental, and human resources—determines how successfully they sell their products. Michman and Mazze concentrate on the food industry as they examine what contributes to a successful marketing campaign. The authors discover that not all variables. 

Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition & Health by Marion Nestle (2002)
Editor of the 1988 “Surgeon General's Report on Nutrition and Heal”, Nestle is uniquely qualified to lead us through the maze of food industry interests and influences. She vividly illustrates food politics in action: watered-down government dietary advice, schools pushing soft drinks, diet supplements promoted as if they were First Amendment rights. When it comes to the mass production and consumption of food, strategic decisions are driven by economics--not science, not common sense, and certainly not health. 

Food Rules: An Eater's Manual by Michael Pollan (2009) 
Offers 64 rules on eating based on his previous book In Defense of Food in three sections: Eat food, mostly plants, not too much. (Apples are food, Twinkies are not.). The book attributes the "diseases of affluence", to the so-called "Western Diet" of processed meats and food products, and offers its rules as a remedy to the problem. 

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan (2008) 
Michael Pollan's last book, “The Omnivore's Dilemma”, launched a national conversation about the American way of eating; now “In Defense of Food” shows us how to change it, one meal at a time. Pollan proposes a new answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Pollan's bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating.

In Search of the Perfect Loaf: A Home Baker’s Odyssey by Samuel Fromartz (2002) 
Entertaining and inspiring, this book will be a touchstone for a new generation of bakers and a must-read for anyone who wants to take a deeper look at this deceptively ordinary, exceptionally delicious staple: handmade bread. 

The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How a Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks by Kathleen Flinn (2011) 
After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, writer Kathleen Flinn returned with no idea what to do next, until one day at a supermarket she watched a woman loading her cart with ultra-processed foods. Flinn's "chefternal" instinct kicked in: she persuaded the stranger to reload with fresh foods, offering her simple recipes for healthy, easy meals. 

My Life in France by Julia Childs (1996)
Filled with the beautiful black-and-white photographs that her husband, Paul loved to take when he was not battling bureaucrats, as well as family snapshots, this memoir is laced with wonderful stories about the French character, particularly in the world of food, and the way of life that Julia embraced so wholeheartedly. Above all, she reveals the kind of spirit and determination, the sheer love of cooking, and the drive to share that with her fellow Americans that made her the extraordinary success she became.

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan (2007) 
We are indeed what we eat-and what we eat remakes the world. A society of voracious and increasingly confused omnivores, we are just beginning to recognize the profound consequences of the simplest everyday food choices, both for ourselves and for the natural world. “The Omnivore's Dilemma” is a long-overdue book and one that will become known for bringing a completely fresh perspective to a question as ordinary and yet momentous as What shall we have for dinner? 

Outside the Box: Why Our Children Need Real Food, Not Food Products by Jeannie Marshall (2012) 
Through discussions with food crusaders such as Alice Waters, with chefs in Italy, nutritionists, fresh food vendors and parents from all over, and with big food companies such as PepsiCo and Nestle, Marshall gets behind the issues of our children's failing nutrition and serves up a simple recipe for a return to real food. 

The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movementby Nick Saul & Andrea Curtis (2013) 
Since community worker Nick Saul became the executive director of The Stop in 1998, it has been transformed from a cramped food bank to a thriving, internationally respected Community Food Centre. The Stop has flourished with gardens, kitchens, a greenhouse, farmers' markets and a mission to revolutionize our food system. In a voice that's never preachy ("MacLean's"), Saul and Curtis share what The Stop could mean for the future of food, and argue that everyone deserves a dignified, healthy place at the table. 

Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl (2010) 
At an early age, Ruth Reichl discovered that "food could be a way of making sense of the world. . . . If you watched people as they ate, you could find out who they were." Her deliciously crafted memoir, “Tender at the Bone”, is the story of a life determined, enhanced, and defined in equal measure by a passion for food, unforgettable people, and the love of tales well told. Beginning with Reichl's mother, the notorious food-poisoner known as the Queen of Mold, Reichl introduces us to the fascinating characters that shaped her world and her tastes, from the gourmand Monsieur du Croix, who served Reichl her first soufflé, to those at her politically correct table in Berkeley who championed the organic food revolution in the 1970s. Spiced with Reichl's infectious humor and sprinkled with her favorite recipes, “Tender at the Bone” is a witty and compelling chronicle of a culinary sensualist's coming-of-age. 

Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunée (2008) 
Kim takes readers on a lyrical journey from Korea to New Orleans to Paris and Provence, along the way serving forth her favorite recipes. A love story at heart, this memoir is about the search for identity and a book that will appeal to anyone who is passionate about love, food, travel, and the ultimate search for self.

A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts: A Collection of Deliciously Frightening Tales by Ying Chang Compestine (2009)
Presents an eight-course banquet of ghost stories centering on Chinese cooking and culture. Each story is followed by a recipe and historical notes. 

A La Carte by Tanita S. Davis (2008) 
Seventeen-year-old Lainey dreams of becoming a world famous chef one day and maybe even having her own cooking show. (Do you know how many African American female chefs there aren’t? And how many vegetarian chefs have their very own show? The field is wide open for stardom!) But when her best friend—and secret crush—suddenly leaves town, Lainey finds herself alone in the kitchen. With a little help from Saint Julia (Child, of course), Lainey finds solace in her cooking as she comes to terms with the past and begins a new recipe for the future. Peppered with recipes from Lainey’s notebooks, this delicious debut novel finishes the same way one feels finishing a good meal—satiated, content, and hopeful. 

The Adventures of the Blue Avenger by Norma Howe (1999) 
On his sixteenth birthday, David Schumacher changes his name to Blue Avenger…And things start to happen. Within twenty-four hours, David becomes a national hero, starts dating an extraordinary girl named Omaha Nebraska Brown, and bakes an imperfect pie. And that's not all. A tiny sow bug is injured by a lawn mower, some killer bees make their home at San Pablo High School, and there is some activity in the earth's crust. The connection? No one knows for certain. 

Burger Wuss by M.T. Anderson (1999) 
Hoping to lose his loser image, Anthony plans revenge on a bully which results in a war between two competing fast food restaurants, Burger Queen and O'Dermott's. 

Chew on This: Everything You Don’t Want to Know About Fast Food by Charles Wilson and Eric Schlosser (2007)
A kids’ version of Eric Schlosser’s best-seller “Fast Food Nation.” 

Close to Famous by Joan Bauer (2011) 
Foster McFee dreams of having her own cooking show like her idol, celebrity chef Sonny Kroll. Macon Dillard's goal is to be a documentary filmmaker. Foster's mother Rayka longs to be a headliner instead of a back-up singer. And Miss Charleena plans a triumphant return to Hollywood. Everyone has a dream, but nobody is even close to famous in the little town of Culpepper. Until some unexpected events shake the town and its inhabitants-and put their big ambitions to the test. Full of humor, unforgettable characters, surprises, and lots and lots of heart, this is Joan Bauer at her most engaging.

Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfours (2009) 
Sixteen-year-old Katrina's kindness to a man she finds sleeping behind her grandmother's coffeehouse leads to a strange reward as Malcolm, who is actually a teenage guardian angel, insists on rewarding her by granting her deepest wish. 

Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty by Jody Gehrman (2008) 
Sixteen-year-olds Geena, Hero, and Amber spend the summer working at a Sonoma, California coffee shop, where they experience romance, identity crises, and newfound friendships. 

The Cupcake Queen by Heather Helper (2009)
While longing to return to life in New York City, thirteen-year-old Penny helps her mother and grandmother run a cupcake bakery in Hog's Hollow, tries to avoid the beastly popular girls, to be a good friend to quirky Tally, and to catch the eye of enigmatic Marcus. 

Dear Julia by Amy Bronwen Zemser (2008)
Shy sixteen-year-old Elaine has long dreamed of being the next Julia Child, to the dismay of her feminist mother, but when her first friend, the outrageous Lucida Sans, convinces Elaine to enter a cooking contest, anything could happen.

Death by Eggplant by Susan Heyboer O'Keefe (2004) 
Thirteen-year-old Bertie Hooks is just trying to make it out of junior high alive when his teacher hands him and his worst enemy a project designed to make them fail. Can he beat this last minute challenge without letting anyone discover his secret dream. Donut Days by Lara Zielin (2009) During a camp-out promoting the opening of a donut shop in a small Minnesota town, sixteen-year-old Emma, an aspiring journalist, begins to connect an ongoing pollution investigation with the turmoil in the evangelical Christian church where her parents are pastors. 

The Espressologist by Kristina Springer (2009) 
While working part-time as a barista in a Chicago coffee bar, high school senior Jane dabbles in matchmaking after observing the coffee preferences of her customers. 

Flavor of the Week by Tucker Shaw (2003) 
Cyril, an overweight boy who is good friends with Rose but wishes he could be more, helps his best friend Nick woo her with culinary masterpieces which Cyril himself secretly creates. Includes recipes from the story. 

Food, Girls, and Other Things I Cannot Have by Allen Zadoff (2009) 
Fifteen-year-old Andrew Zansky, the second fattest student at his high school, joins the varsity football team to get the attention of a new girl on whom he has a crush. 

Frozen in Time: Clarence Birdseye's Outrageous Idea About Frozen Food by Mark Kurlansky (2014) 
Adventurer and inventor Clarence Birdseye had a fascination with food preservation that led him to develop and patent the Birdseye freezing process and start the company that still bears his name today. His limitless curiosity spurred his other inventions, including the electric sunlamp, an improved incandescent lightbulb, and a harpoon gun to tag finback whales. 

Girls Dinner Club by Jessie Elliot (2005) 
Junie, Celia, and Danielle, three ethnically diverse high schoolers in Brooklyn, form a friendship while cooking dinners together and helping one another sort through their romantic entanglements. 

Holdup by Terri Fields (2009)
Always caution, Joe has never even gotten so much as an after-school detention. So how is it that this Saturday night, he's at Burger Heaven, waving a loaded gun, yelling at the teen workers to get down on the floor NOW? Dylan has always succeeded at his twisted plans--until this Saturday, this robbery, where everything has gone wrong. And now, surrounded by police outside Burger Heaven, Dylan's life will never be the same--and neither will the lives of his hostages. Holdup--a novel with nine unforgettable points of view, in four astonishing parts--will leave the reader wondering about luck and life's strange surprises.

Hot Lunch by Alex Bradley (2007) 
When Molly and Cassie are assigned to work in the kitchen as a punishment for their food fight, they realize that the only way they are going to be released from the duty is to cooperate and learn to cook. Includes some recipes. 

My Saucy Stuffed Ravioli: The Life of Angelica Cookson Potts by Cherry Whytock (2005) 
Angel is in love! She's smitten with Sydney, the boy in her class who valiantly defended her family during the whole mess with Harrods's haggis -- and gave Angel her first kiss. Now that Mercedes is back from the States, everything is looking up for Angel. She comes up with a fabuloso plan to win Sydney's heart (involving lots of homemade goodies), but when he doesn't reciprocate, Angel is crushed. Just in time for summer vacation, Potty and Mother announce that they're taking the family to a luxurious Italian villa, and Angel can bring her friends! It's exactly what Angel needs, but how can she ever get over Sydney? More alarming, why is Angel's mother running off to secret appointments almost every day -- and why is she so happy? And how on earth will Angel ever manage to find a flattering swimsuit? 

Pirates of the Retail Wasteland by Adam Selzer (2008) 
Leon and his miscreant buddies from the gifted pool are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore! Their favorite downtown coffeeshop, Sip–the only survivor in the barren moonscape of decrepit Old Downtown–is in danger of being run out of business by the ubiquitous and oh-so-corporate coffee chain, Wackford’s. Wackford’s doesn’t host readings or smell funky or support the arts the way Sip does–it’s basically a glorified office. With the help of the Wackford’s manager–a self-described “McHobo” who’s worked for every chain along the strip–Leon and his friends decide to protest by taking over the Wackford’s and making it into a middle-management office. Meanwhile, Leon deals with an unwanted crush, a Mohawked father, and his friend Dustin’s ongoing quest to take down the gym teacher via depressing poems. Nothing quite goes as expected, but that’s the great thing about life in the gifted pool. 

Seedfolk by Paul Fleischman (2004) 
Thirteen very different voices and perspectives—old, young, Haitian, Hispanic, tough, haunted, and hopeful—tell one amazing story about a garden that transforms a neighborhood. 

She's So Money by Cherry Cheva (2008) 
Maya, a high school senior bound for Stanford University, goes against her better judgment when she and a popular but somewhat disreputable boy start a profitable school-wide cheating ring in order to save her family's Thai restaurant, which she fears will be shut down due to her irresponsible actions. 

Squashed by Joan Bauer (2005)
As sixteen-year-old Ellie pursues her two goals--growing the biggest pumpkin in Iowa and losing twenty pounds herself--she strengthens her relationship with her father and meets a young man with interests similar to her own. 

The Sweet Life of Stella Madison, by Lara M. Zeises (2009) 
It's not easy being the daughter of a famous chef and a restaurant owner when your idea of a great meal is the kind that's served through via a drive-through window. When Stella Madison's food-loving parents help her land a summer job at the local newspaper, there’s only one catch: she’s expected to write about food. Luckily, Stella has Jeremy, the hot new intern at her mom’s restaurant, who’s more than happy to help. But where does that leave Stella’s boyfriend, Max, who recently dropped the L-word? And could her separated parents be cooking up romances of their own? 

The Teashop Girls by Laura Schaefer (2009) 
Fourteen-year-old Annie, along with her two best friends, tries desperately to save her grandmother's beloved, old-fashioned teashop in Madison, Wisconsin, while she also learns to accept the inevitability of change in life. Includes proverbs, quotations, and brief stories about tea, as well as recipes. 

Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen (2004)
The summer following her father's death, Macy plans to work at the library and wait for her brainy boyfriend to return from camp, but instead she goes to work at a catering business where she makes new friends and finally faces her grief.

Truth or Dairy by Catherine Clark (2000) 
This is the journal of Courtney Von Dragen Smith: middle child, product of divorce, would-be vegetarian. She writes the first mega-negative page the day after her boyfriend, "Such a Dave," breaks up with her because he's heading off to college. Angry and humiliated, Courtney vows to survive senior year on the anti-guy plan. But can she really give up guys and focus on friends, school, and her job at the hip café Truth or Diary? Or will a stint in student government, an epileptic dog, and a guy named Grant ("like-the-lake") Superior turn her world upside down and prove her journal right? It's true: life can get weirder.

Films

Cafeteria Man (2014) 
A story of positive movement that shows what's possible in our nation's schools. It's about the aspiration of activists and citizens coming together to change the way kids eat at school. It's about overhauling a dysfunctional nutritional system. And, it's the story of what it takes, and who it takes, to make solutions happen.

DIVE! (2010) 
Watch as filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and friends dumpster dive around Los Angeles and uncover thousands of dollars of wasted food. The film explores the fact that, despite there is so much food waste, millions of people remain hungry.

Farmageddon (2012) 
Americans’ right to access fresh, healthy foods of their choice is under attack. “Farmageddon” tells the story of small, family farms that were providing safe, healthy foods to their communities and were forced to stop, sometimes through violent action, by agents of misguided government bureaucracies, and seeks to figure out why. Producer Kristin Canty’s film documents as her quest to find healthy food for her four children turns into an educational journey to discover why she is denied the freedom to select the foods of her choice from the producer of her choice. 

Fast Food Nation (2006) 
Richard Linklater’s fictionalization of Eric Schlosser’s non-fiction book will never let you look at your value meal the same way again. 

Fed Up (2014)
An examination of America's obesity epidemic and the food industry's role in aggravating it. 

Food Chains (2014)
There is so much interest in food these days, yet there is almost no interest in the hands that pick that food. In the United States, farm labor has always been one of the most difficult and poorly paid jobs and has relied on some of the nation's most vulnerable people. While the legal restrictions which kept people bound to farms, like slavery, have been abolished, exploitation still exists, ranging from wage theft to modern-day slavery. These days, this exploitation is perpetuated by the corporations at the top of the food chain: supermarkets. Their buying power has kept wages pitifully low and has created a scenario where desperately poor people are willing to put up with anything to keep their jobs. 

Food, Inc. (2008)
An unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry. 

Forks Over Knives (2011) 
Examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods. 

FRESH (2009) 
FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet. 

The Fruit Hunters (2012) 
Have you ever heard someone describe a fruit as tasting like “brown sugar, pecan, sweet potato”? In “The Fruit Hunters”, director Yung Chang travels the world to meet extraordinary fruit hunters and aficionados, including an Umbrian scholar who searches for rare plants in monasteries and catalogs them with the help of old paintings. On his travels, he bumps into an indigenous nomad in Borneo who can use plants to heal dogs’ wounds. Chang celebrates the knowledge and enthusiasm of the so-called fruit hunters, as well as the great beauty of the fruits and plants these people devote their lives to. 

The Future of Food (2004) 
This acclaimed documentary has spurred anti-GMO grassroots movements. This must-see film has been screened and talked about around the globe. It details how genetically engineered practices, seed patenting and food corporatization, like that of Monsanto, is scarily changing our food while Americans have no idea. 

Hunger in America (2009) 
What does the face of hunger look like? Is it a child in Ethiopia? An aging man in Somalia? Or a family in poverty-stricken India? This eye-opening documentary will change your whole perception on what hunger looks like. In America today, one in six people, including hard-working men and women, suburban families and children are struggling with hunger. Tonight, over 50 million Americans won’t have enough food to eat by day’s end. 

Supersize Me (2004) 
While examining the influence of the fast food industry, Morgan Spurlock personally explores the consequences on his health of a diet of solely McDonald's food for one month. 

That Sugar Film (2014) 
This will change the way you think about healthy food. 

Vegecated (2009) 
This documentary follows three meat-and-dairy-loving New Yorkers as they try to stick to a vegan diet for six weeks. After watching the film, try taking the “Vegucated” challenge yourself to better apply the documentary’s findings to your own healthy life. 

What's on Your Plate (2009) 
A witty and provocative documentary about kids and food politics. Over the course of one year, the film follows two eleven-year-old friends from New York City as they explore their place in the food chain. Sadie and Safiyah talk to food activists, farmers, and storekeepers, as they address questions regarding the origin of the food they eat, how it's cultivated, and how many miles it travels from farm to fork.

Babette's Feast (1987) 
There’s not much excitement in this tale of a strict Danish religious sect, whose internal divisions are melted by an extravagant feast (one they fear for all its exotic French origins)—but this winner of the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar is an exquisite celebration of the joys of food and community and a marvelous parable of grace.

Big Night (1996) 
A failing Italian restaurant run by two brothers gambles on one special night to try to save the business. 

Delicatessen (1991) 
Post-apocalyptic surrealist black comedy about the landlord of an apartment building who occasionally prepares a delicacy for his odd tenants. 

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) 
Director Ang Lee made his name with this depiction of an emotionally repressed Taipei family. The central character is a master chef whose only real means of communicating with his three headstrong daughters is via the elaborate Sunday dinner he cooks for them every week. By turns funny and poignant, this is a beautifully balanced study that well deserved its foreign-film Oscar nomination. 

Julie & Julia (2009) 
Lost and directionless Julie embarks on a year-long project to cook every dish in Julia Child’s iconic cookbook,” Mastering the Art of French Cooking”. Killing lobsters and creating bizarre French concoctions, Amy Adams and Meryl Streep journey through the world of French gastronomy. 

Like Water for Chocolate (1992) 
An enchanting magical realist drama from Mexican director Alfonso Arau, about the power of food to make every guest at a wedding begin to sob uncontrollably, cause a woman to become so turned on that her clothes catch fire, conjure a visit from vengeful ghosts, and more. If you've ever doubted the sensual power of a recipe, this should go straight to the top of your viewing queue. 

Mostly Martha (2001) 
When a headstrong chef takes charge of her equally stubborn 8-year-old niece, the tensions between them mount...until an Italian sous-chef arrives to lighten the mood. 

My Dinner with Andre (1981)
In New York City, an actor/playwright agrees to have dinner with a theatre director who he has not seen, literally, for years. He is afraid of meeting with him because of the stories that he has heard about the director sobbing on a sidewalk and talking with trees. Obviously, something terrible had happened to him. 

Nina's Heavenly Delight (2006)
A feisty young woman returns to Glasgow to run her deceased father's curry house. 

The Scent of Green Papaya (1993) 
A little girl, Mui, went to a house as a new servant. The mother still mourns the death of her daughter, who would have been Mui's age. In her mind she treated Mui as her daughter. 10 years later Mui (now a young woman) was sent to another family, a young pianist and his wife. The musician falls in love with the peasant, he taught her literacy and they eventually married. A movie about a girl's life. 

Tampopo (1985) 
Marketed as the '"first noodle western," this Japanese comedy tells the story of a widow who dreams of opening the ultimate noodle bar and finds unexpected help from a trucker. Several stories are interwoven into the drama, each reflecting some aspect of the characters' relationship to food (some of which are of the carnal variety). Epicureans will love the scene in which a lowly office worker upstages the arrogant suits in his office with his knowledge of fine French cuisine. 

Tortilla Soup (2001) 
A Mexican-American master chef and father to three daughters has lost his taste for food but not for life.

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