Babette's Feast

Babette's Feast (Babettes Gæstebud in the original Danish), a 1987 film directed by Gabriel Axel and starring Stéphane Audran as the titular Babette, is one of the greatest Cooking Stories ever filmed.

Babette has worked for years without pay for a pair of sisters in an ultrareligious sect. (She first came as a political refugee, and they agreed to let her stay but had to work as their cook in exchange for room & board.) Then Babette wins the lottery; instead of returning home, she decides to make a meal she wants to make for once, rather than the life-sustaining but extremely bland food the sisters insist on her making. The sisters and the others in the town agree to attend the feast, but all decide amongst themselves not to comment in any fashion on the meal. While they keep to this resolve, the feast has other effects, both physical and spiritual, on the celebrants.

The movie won the 1987 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, and was named to the Vatican Best Films List in 1995.


 * Food Porn: Babette's Feast lovingly displays the entire process of preparing the seven-course meal. Like Tampopo, this is a movie that will make viewers suddenly realize they want to eat.