Storyline:

The film Chef follows Carl Casper, the head chef of a fine dining restaurant. Carl Casper is a celebrity chef in California. He loves his job but at times he feels restricted creatively by the owner by not being able to serve the food he really wants to. Also, his work hurts his family as him and his son have a poor relationship with one another. His son Percy wants to be involved more in Carl’s life but Carl often pushes him away in favor of his work. Percy would ask him if he could go to the restaurant to watch them prep and his father would say no. Carl’s career takes a hit when a highly renowned food critic leaves a poor review about Carl’s food. Along with the poor review, he includes a few personal attacks as well. He uses Twitter to call out the reviewer and tells him to come back that night.  Carl had not cooked the food he wanted that day and when he tries to cook what he wants he becomes scrutinized by the owner. He then leaves the restaurant before service that night. When the reviewer comes back, Carl comes back as well and has a giant freak out on him. This goes viral and ruins Carl’s image. He then goes to Miami with his son and ex-wife. There is where he buys a food truck that he, his son Percy, and sous chef Martin drives back to California serving people along the way.(Favreau, 2015)

Role of Food:

In this movie, food is everything. It is much about the story of the food as it is about the characters. The film uses food to help tell the story. For example, the food mirror’s chef Carl’s relationship with Percy and how happy he really is. In the beginning, while still working at the restaurant his relationship with his son was poor at best. The food he was cooking and working at the restaurant were separating them apart as Carl had no time to spend time or see Percy. However, when working on the food truck, their relationship was revitalized and saved. They went from spending no time together to spending every minute with one another. They also were making food together which Percy wanted to do before but couldn’t. The food also mirrors his happiness. When working in the restaurant Carl did not truly seem happy. However he constantly said he was happy. An indication to see that this was untrue was one of the first services for the food truck his sous chef Martin asked him how happy he was to be doing this. Carl responded very genuinely with a huge smile saying he was truly happy working on the food truck. 

Main Themes

Culinary Capital(1:01:00): Chef depicts culinary capital through the food that is cooked. In the beginning, Carl cooks fine dining food for high profile guests, including the food critique that nearly ruined his career. The food truck shows the contrast between the fine dining world and something as simple as a cubano food truck. The truck that was purchased was super run down and had to be dolled up in order to start the business. It shows the two different sides of the culinary world. The world of fine dining seems more ruthless as it deals with higher class people who are more entitled. However, the critic that gave Carl the poor review, ended up really enjoying the cubano. Enough to give Carl backing for a new restaurant.(Favreau, 2015)

Identities(54:00): In this scene, Carl and his ex-wife are talking while eating cubanos. He asks her if people back home in California would enjoy this food. She said of course people would enjoy it. This prompted Carl to purchase the food truck in order to share this food with the people of California and wherever he stopped. There are numerous ways that this film shows the idea of identities. One of the biggest examples is regional cuisine. Miami is known for their cubanos because of their massive cuban population. Carl is taking this from Miami and bringing it around the country and eventually to California but the identity of a cubano will always be associated with Miami. One can argue that the food truck is a third place as well. No one is playing the host because the truck can move freely across the country serving all types of people. It also is low profile and the food is comfort food which makes it feel like home. The main things it doesn’t have is acquaintances being present and conversation as the main activity. 

Culture Capital(1:35:00): Throughout the movie Carl is adding new things to the menu based on where they went on the road trip. From New Orleans they add beignets to the menu after eating them at Cafe Du Monde. Along with that they added pulled pork sliders after their visit to Texas and eating at world famous barbecue restaurant Franklin’s. These additions raise their status as a restaurant as they use Twitter and social media to promote the new items. They are constantly acquiring new knowledge from the trip and adding it to how they run the food truck(Favreau, 2015)

My Thoughts

Overall, I loved this film. It is going into one of my favorites movies list. I had constantly told myself I needed to watch this movie but never got around to it. This project forced me to watch it and I am glad it did. I am not a huge movie buff so I can’t say a ton of strengths and weaknesses about this movie. However one of the largest strengths to this movie is how food mirrors the life of Carl Casper. Like I stated previously the food mirrors Carl’s happiness and relationship with Percy throughout the movie. One of the weaknesses for me is it tries a bit too hard to stay relevant with the times. Twitter plays a huge role in this movie but often time tries to force its way into the story and takes away from the food and story. However, I really enjoyed this movie overall. 

 

References

Favreau, John, & Bespalov, Sergei. (2015). Chef. United States: Los Angeles Center Studios.