Film

Food has been appearing in film ever since the medium took shape. In one turn-of-the-century silent short film by the French Lumière brothers, we watch a baby as she eats cereal and then, to her distress, makes a huge mess. In another by the duo, a thick wave of men exit and reenter a factory as they break and return from lunch—an image that defined the new industrial era. These everyday-life moments involving food have never faded from film; indeed, in American cinema, concern for realism has necessitated the regular appearance of food and eating. After all, if we are to relate to film characters, they must at least eat and drink like the rest of us.