The movie Ratatouille (2007) may be one of the best Pixar films and the greatest animated works of all time. While it did win an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, with time, it earned an equally significant nod. The late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, renowned for his devotion to sharing the best in international cuisine, declared that Ratatouille was “the best food movie ever made.”
Bourdain first praised Ratatouille when asked about his favorite foodie films by Entertainment Weekly in 2011. “It’s a measure of how deficient Hollywood has been in making an accurate restaurant-food based film that far and away the best was about an animated rat,” Bourdain said. “They got the food, the reactions to food, and tiny details to food really right—down to the barely noticeable pink burns on one of the character’s forearms. I really thought it captured a passionate love of food in a way that very few other films have.”
Ahead of the film's 15th anniversary in 2021—and three years after Bourdain's passing—Eric Italiano of Brobible had his interest piqued by the Entertainment Weekly quote. This led to his unearthing of a quote straight out of Bourdain's dedicated subreddit, allegedly taken from an email written by the chef. “I think it’s quite simply the best food movie ever made. The best restaurant movie ever made—the best chef movie,” Bourdain declared.
The praise continues, “The tiny details are astonishing: The faded burns on the cooks’ wrists. The ‘personal histories’ of the cooks… the attention paid to the food. And the Anton Ego ratatouille epiphany hit me like a punch in the chest—literally breathtaking. I saw it in a theater entirely full with adult and the reaction to that moment was what movie making was once—a long time ago— all about: Audible surprise, delight, awe, and even a measure of enlightenment. I am hugely and disproportionately proud that my minuscule contribution (if any) early, early in the project’s development led to a ‘thank you’ in the credits. Amazing how much they got ‘right.'”
Bourdain's love for the movie has been confirmed by Patton Oswalt, who voiced Remy the rat in the film. “[Bourdain] was like, ‘They got kitchens and chefs right. It's very, very accurate,” Oswald said during an episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. The actor also revealed that the two developed a bond over the movie, and Bourdain even gave him and his late wife some restaurant advice for their honeymoon in Paris. “I became friends with him because he was a huge fan of Ratatouille.”
If you want to revisit this great culinary movie, and even fish for Bourdain's name in the acknowledgements in the credits, you can watch Ratatouille on Disney+.
Late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain declared that Ratatouille is “the best food movie ever made.”
“The tiny details are astonishing: The faded burns on the cooks’ wrists. The ‘personal histories’ of the cooks… the attention paid to the food,” Bourdain said.
“I am hugely and disproportionately proud that my minuscule contribution (if any) early, early in the project’s development led to a ‘thank you’ in the credits. Amazing how much they got ‘right.’”
Sources: Anthony Bourdain serves up his favorite foodie films; Anthony Bourdain’s Favorite Movie About Food Was Animated: ‘The Tiny Details Are Astonishing’; Patton Oswalt became friends with Anthony Bourdain because chef was a fan of his movie Ratatouille
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