Food and pop culture
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EmailPop culture is full of food references. What movies or books could you read or watch as a family and make it an entire experience?
Does your family have movie night? Have you ever thought about having meals related to those movies? This can be a fun activity to create family memories and Michigan State University Extension has some ideas to get you started!
“Lord of the Rings” or “The Hobbit”
With a “Lord of the Rings” or “The Hobbit” movie marathon, you could enjoy small hobbit meals throughout the day(s) of the marathon. According to the books, hobbits eat seven times a day: breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner and supper. There are lots of websites and book resources for meals in JRR Tolkein’s world. Or, you could try one of these ideas!
- Try to make Elven Lembas bread or Beorn’s honey cake.
- Make “poh–tay–toes! Boil’em, mash’em, stick’em in a stew!”
- Think about Gollum’s appetite for fish and have sardines, sushi or Swedish fish.
- “Rock and pool is nice and cool
So juicy sweet…
Our only wish to catch a fish
So juicy sweet…”
- “Rock and pool is nice and cool
- Make a meal of ring-shaped foods: donuts, pretzel rings, onion rings, Cheerios, SpaghettiOs, bagels, calamari, etc.
“Harry Potter”
“Harry Potter” movies could be paired with British foods. Consider:
- Starting with “The Great Feast”.
- Replicating the birthday cake Hagrid made for Harry.
- Treacle Tart was mentioned as Harry’s favorite – could you make this?
- Making one of the multiple versions of Butterbeer.
International movies
Many movies are set in other lands and could be paired with those cuisines.
- Even if you don’t talk about Bruno, you can eat Colombian cuisine while watching “Encanto.”
- “Snow White,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and “Cinderella” are German.
- “Pinocchio” is Italian. “Lady and the Tramp” could also be paired with pasta.
- “Moana” or “Lilo and Stitch” could be paired with Polynesian or Hawaiian food.
- “Mary Poppins,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Peter Pan,” and “Winnie the Pooh” are all set in the United Kingdom.
- “The Jungle Book” can be paired with Indian.
- French cuisine could match with “The Aristocats” or “Beauty and the Beast.”
- Middle Eastern food could pair with “Aladdin.”
- New Orleans cuisine would match with “Princess and the Frog.”
- Bao and congee are featured in “Red.”
- While watching any of the “Thor” or “Frozen” movies, you could eat Norwegian or other Scandinavian food, from Sweden, Denmark or Finland.
- “Black Panther” movies could be paired with any of a number of African cuisines.
What other movie and food pairings can you think of?
This article is adapted from the lesson “Food Folklore” as part of the Foodways Folkpatterns Project.
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