Finding the link between food and films

By Joko E.H. Anwar

JAKARTA (JP): Some people say good food is better than sex. The statement may be an exaggeration but it certainly tries to makes a good point. Remember the phrase "You are what you eat?"

To some people who are not too picky about what they eat, there are only two kinds of food: delicious food and very delicious food.

To these people, chefs have a tendency to be rather snobbish. They want you to appreciate the food they prepare at your table in the same way they do. They are likely to roll their eyes not just when you dollop some ketchup on your dish but also when your way of eating one particular dish is considered wrong or uncivilized.

Culinary expert William Wongso told The Jakarta Post that eating is actually much more difficult than most people think. You are not just what you eat but also how you eat.

"It's hard to fake eating manners. It always reflects someone's past, even if he or she already has a higher (social) status," William said.

Some chefs will even confront you when they think that you are ruining their artistry. Just like the chef who denies an American woman's demand to have meatballs in her risotto in Big Night, a film about an Italian food connoisseur.

When the woman hopelessly asks for pasta, the chef refuses to serve her, insisting that there cannot be two starchy dishes in any one meal.

It is interesting since while food seems to be a "light" issue to present in films compared to say politics, filmmakers who make films on the subject are usually considered first-rate.

Teater Utan Kayu film buffs community in East Jakarta chose what they consider to be the best movies to represent the subject during a screening of films about food earlier this week.

Several award-winning entries including Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman, Alfonso Arau's Like Water for Chocolate, Big Night, and Babette's Feast were screened.

Watching these films, it is amazing to see how some people appreciate food more than as just a basic necessity. They may also change the way you look at food forever.

In many countries, food has become a medium to socialize with others, William said during the event.

"In China, eating is considered a gathering ritual (with family members)," added William, the key speaker in a discussion after the screenings.

This is superbly displayed in Eat Drink Man Woman.

To a family whose father is a chef, food is the natural medium for the children to communicate freely to their father, something that is difficult to do when they are not eating.

In Alfonso Arau's Like Water for Chocolate, a young woman named Tita finds a way to express her feeling with her cooking.

Her family's tradition rules that she must take care of her mother until the day she dies which forbids her from being married.

Tita's boyfriend Pedro then weds her sister to be continuously close to Tita. However, Pedro's intention proves to be difficult to realize as Tita's tyrannical and suspicious mother keeps her under close observation.

Being a food connoisseur, Tita then penetrates Pedro's body with her food.

In this highly acclaimed film which is filled with magic realism, anyone who eats her cooking will feel the emotion she feels at the time she cooks one particular dish.

One day, she uses roses Pedro gives her to make quails in rose petal sauce which frees her sexually repressed sister who subsequently becomes a whore and then an army general! In real life, why should people bother to think about what they eat as long as it tastes good? Well, beside the health issue, the films prove that culinary art deserves more appreciation.

In order to be able to create a gourmet, chefs should give each ingredient special treatment. Watching this process in the films can be as exciting as watching a good action scene.

According to William, the art of cooking was born from the need of difference in food among human beings.

"An extreme example would be like this: kings will not eat what ordinary people eat so cooks should be able to serve different dishes. The effort to make this possible gave birth to chefs," William said.

William pointed out that public culinary appreciation in Indonesia is still very low. In other words he means that we still, by and large, cook simply to fulfill our need to feed ourselves.

Isn't that because many people can't afford to buy expensive ingredients to create good food?

Well, William said that good food doesn't necessarily have to be made from expensive materials.

Those who have seen Woman on Top which is currently shown in local theaters will agree with William.

In the film, a Brazilian food connoisseur played by the lovely Penelope Cruz shows how to turn simple ingredients, mostly spices, into exotic dishes.

In a country blessed with many kinds of spices, Indonesians should be able to do the same. But what is worse is that the country is short of food artists.

"There are no chefs in Indonesia," William said. "We only have cooks," he added.

A chef doesn't necessarily have to cook his own cooking.

"In the culinary world, Adhie MS would be a chef since he composes his music even though he has other people to play it. He just has to conduct it," William said to give an example.

William said that just like any other artist, someone should have public recognition in order to be a chef and there was yet to be someone like that in this country.

"Do we know someone who has a signature dish in this country? No," William said.

However, William added, it was understandable since cooking is very expensive to learn. Painting, for example, lasts for a long time. But food is consumed shortly after it has been cooked.

Furthermore, William said that culinary art was likely to develop slowly in a society which has a lot of food restrictions, particularly with regard to religious practices.

"This kind of restriction is discouraging," William said.

William also found an interesting fact about popular taste preferences in Indonesia.

"Our society prefers an unfocused, more than one "sensational" taste," William said. It had to be spicy, yet at the same time it should be sweet or have some other feature, William added to give an example.

William claimed not to have one particular favorite dish from another country.

"I try to appreciate the creation of food regarding the culture in which the food is found," William said.

If you ask, as someone who has lived in Indonesia for most of his life, what is William's favorite food?

"Soto Madura," William will say. "Even though I can't find a good place to eat it here in Jakarta."