SEXIEST FOOD SCENES

BY: Michael Arkin

Valentine’s Day 2021 will undoubtedly be unlike any other, with Covid putting the kibosh on a candlelit dinner at your favorite restaurant. But no worries, curbside pick-up doesn’t have to curb your romantic enthusiasm – once you get your take-out home, you can still serve up an amorous meal. Herewith, an overview of 10 sexy cinematic food scenes sure to stir your creative juices. Bon appétit!

The most chaste, yet erotic food scene on film is from Like Water for Chocolate, based on Laura Esquivel’s book of the same name. Set during the Mexican Revolution, it tells the story of Tita, a young woman whose passionate relationship with food begins in utero where she cries as her pregnant mother chops onions. Her prenatal tears induce her mother’s labor, and baby Tita is born on the kitchen table. Given the setting and circumstances of her birth, it’s not surprising that unlike her two older sisters, Tita develops a profound love of cooking. 

When Pedro, a young suitor, asks for her hand, her mother forbids it, reminding her that as the youngest daughter, tradition demands that she remain at home to take care of her. In her place, she offers the hand of her oldest daughter, Rosaura. From that moment on, Tita’s cooking becomes a powerful way for her and Pedro to express their hidden feelings. When her mother instructs her to throw out a bouquet of roses that he brought her, Tita creates a recipe for Quail in Rose Petal Sauce which, imbued with her essence, allows her to penetrate Pedro’s body. At the dinner table, he’s not the only one feeling the meal’s carnal effects, which he describes as the nectar of the Gods.  His wife, now pregnant with his child, suffers a sudden bout of morning sickness, while her other sister, Gertrudis, is so overwhelmed with sexual passion that she has to run to an outside shower to cool down. Talk about over-spiced.

Some girls get roses, others sell chocolates. If deep, dark chocolate isn’t enough to get your pheromones flowing, add Juliette Binoche at her most radiant, and a pre-Jack Sparrow Johnny Depp licking his fingers after tasting her confection, and you’ve got a pretty dreamy moment from Lasse Hallstrom’s Chocolat. 

 

Can a food scene be sexy if no one’s having sex? That sounds like a question Carrie Bradshaw would ask in Sex in the City. The 2008 film based on the popular HBO series puts the question to rest when Samantha Jones, played by the always saucy Kim Cattrall, has a very special Valentine’s Day sushi dinner planned for her boyfriend (Jason Lewis). It’s not the California rolls that spice up the scene, it’s the platter they’re served on, namely Samantha’s naked body. 

 

What insomniac hasn’t stumbled to the fridge in the middle of the night for something to eat? In 2018’s 50 Shades Freed, Jamie Dornan gets more than he bargained for when he heads to the SubZero and finds Dakota Johnson polishing off a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. Suffice to say that sexual hijinks ensue: she gets more than a taste of Cherry Garcia, and Mr. Grey’s popsicle gets a licking.

Long before 50 Shades of Grey, there was 9 ½ Weeks. For actress Kim Basinger, making the film was no walk in the park. Directed by Adrian Lyne, the film about the short-lived affair between an art dealer (Basinger) and a man she meets by accident (Mickey Rourke), broke ground for its explicit and often disturbing exploration of sexual obsession, domination and degradation. In order to elicit the right performance from his actors, Mr. Lyne created an atmosphere of tension on the set that, according to The New York Times, Basinger described as “traumatic.” As detailed in The Times, making the film raised some disturbing questions about how far a director should go in extracting the desired performance, and whether he or she should consider the adverse effects the part may have upon the actor.

Although Basinger may have been traumatized, it didn’t appear to affect her appetite in what just might be the screen’s most sexually-charged food scene of all time. In the cold, white light of an open refrigerator, Rourke feeds a closed-eyed Basinger a series of foods ranging from cherries to rotini, hard-boiled eggs to a jalapeno pepper, all of which she receives willingly open-mouthed. You’ll never look at Jello the same way after watching this steamy smorgasbord. 

Who could forget that the curriculum at San Diego’s Ridgemont High offered a lunchtime class on the art of fellatio? As taught by a carrot-brandishing Phoebe Cates to an innocent, but curious Jennifer Jason Leigh in the now classic High Times at Ridgemont High, the key to competing with the girls that dress like Pat Benatar is to “relax your throat muscles and don’t bite.” Sage advice. 

While the girls at Ridgemont High were learning to suppress their gag reflexes, the boys at Texas’ West Canaan High were scoring touch downs. James Van Der Beek, fresh off of Dawson’s Creek, starred as Mox, a backup quarterback, in Varsity Blues, the film Sports Illustrated called “the greatest football movie of all time.” Being the champion that leads the team to victory has its rewards, but this reluctant hero has his sights set on an academic scholarship instead of hall of fame glory. With a father who asks him if he prayed for more playing time and a younger brother who wears a crucifix strapped to his back, it’s easy to understand why the principled teen turns down the opportunity to sample cheerleader Darcy Sear’s whipped cream bikini replete with not just one, but two cherries.

First dates can be tricky, but sometimes they’re just perfect. Take Matt Damon and Minnie Driver’s in Good Will Hunting. While enjoying a late-night burger at the counter of a Boston diner, he tells her that he “doesn’t date that much.” Nonetheless, she confesses that she’s still hoping to get a goodnight kiss, triggering him to come clean, “I was hoping to get goodnight laid, but I’ll settle for a kiss.” Eager to get that first, awkward buss out of the way, with their mouths full, they kiss sweetly. As their lips part, she giggles, “I think I got some of your pickle.” Rest assured, based on their onscreen chemistry, she gets more than just some of his pickle.

Meanwhile, When Harry Met Sally at Katz’s deli in New York City, the pair, (Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan), debated whether men can tell when a woman is faking an orgasm. To prove that they can’t, she acts out a loud, passion-filled climax that has the entire restaurant straining to see who’s making all the racket. Convinced that she’s made her point, she turns back to her sandwich. Then, in what has to be one of the greatest movie lines ever, a waiter arrives to take the order from two women at the next table. Forgoing the daily special, Estelle Reiner (director Rob Reiner’s mother) deadpans, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

Last, but not least, is an obscure Japanese film by director Jüzo Itami. Starring Ken Watanabe, Tomporo is ostensibly about a truck driver who helps a mom-and-pop noodle shop build their business. But what sounds like a mundane comedy is peppered with erotic vignettes about how food is the most human of pleasures. One in particular, known as the egg scene, will either turn you on or turn your stomach, but either way, it’s guaranteed to be one you’ll never forget. For those of us who can’t even make a sunny-side up egg without breaking the yolk, you may want to check out this one and stock up on anti-salmonella meds. 

Happy eating!

 

Copyright 2021 by Michael Arkin. All Rights Reserved.