The 50 best food-on-film moments of all time

Tom Jones (1963): The feast

It's almost hard to believe that the bawdy scene in this British period comedy—in which raffish adventurer Tom Jones and lusty housemaid Jenny Jones ravage a multicourse meal—passed the censors in 1963. The pair stare into each other's eyes as they gorge on a sumptuous feast, slurping soup, gnawing turkey legs, devouring ripe pears and swallowing oysters with erotic aplomb. Watch the clip.

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Eat Drink Man Woman (1994): Opening scene

Family drama, tensions and romance are centered on the table in Ang Lee's Taiwanese marriage comedy. The opening scene, however, homes in on the solitary poetry of the kitchen as retired master chef Chu rhythmically prepares for an elaborate Sunday banquet. Watch the clip.

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Five Easy Pieces (1970): A side order of toast

All Robert Dupea (Jack Nicholson) wants is a side order of toast with his omelet. ("What do you mean you don't make side orders of toast? You make sandwiches, don't you?") The waitress refuses to sidestep the diner's no-substitutions rule, prompting this famous order: "I'd like a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce...and hold the chicken." Watch the clip.

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Tortilla Soup (2001): Sunday dinners

The Naranjo family's weekly suppers anchor the plot of this film, and offer a glimpse into the ritualistic pleasures of preparing a meal. The patriarch (Hector Elizando as retired chef Martin) blisters peppers over charcoal, dredges octopus in flour and patiently grinds chilies as he readies the elaborate feast. Watch the clip.

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9 Weeks (1986): Food fetish

Read any issue of Cosmo or Maxim and you'll find plenty of questionable carnal advice recommending food as foreplay, a method employed in this laughably sensual kitchen tryst: Mickey Rourke teases a close-eyed Kim Basinger with all manner of food stuffs, from sliced hard-boiled eggs to cherry pie filling. She giggles, we squirm. Watch the clip.

A Grand Day Out with Wallace & Gromit (1989): Pursuit of cheddar cheese

Left to their own devices on a bank holiday, the lovable Claymation duo decides to embark on a quest to the moon—not for glory, but for curdy deliciousness. One shoddy Nickelodeonesque rocket flight later, Wallace is debating whether the moon tastes more like Camembert or Stilton, while Gromit's trying to save him from getting clubbed by a perturbed extraterrestrial robot.

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Oldboy (2003): Eating a live octopus

Disgruntled and downtrodden, the lead in this Korean drama tears into the still-wriggling eight-legged sea creature. Judge lightly: After being kidnapped and fed only fried dumplings for 15 years, you'd probably be that ravenous too. Watch the clip.

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The Wizard of Oz (1939): Apple picking

When Dorothy starts plucking tempting apples from a stately tree, she gets a nasty surprise as the plant comes to life, scolds the hungry Kansan and decks her with its own crimson fruit. Easy, guy. Watch the clip.

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Lady and the Tramp (1955): Spaghetti

It's been re-created countless times, but nothing's quite as charming—or hungry-making—as the titular twosome sharing a plate of pasta and meatballs in a back alley. Watch the clip.

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Stand By Me (1986): Barf-o-rama

This classic pie-driven pukefest did more to dissuade us from the sin of gluttony than seeing the decrepit corpse of a man force-fed to death in Seven. Watch the clip.

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