{"id":622,"date":"2021-05-13T09:45:52","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T14:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/2021springnutr200\/?p=622"},"modified":"2021-05-13T10:50:07","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T15:50:07","slug":"food-and-family-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/2021springnutr200\/2021\/05\/13\/food-and-family-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Food and Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s Special is a movie about the restaurant business, more specifically an Indian restaurant owned by the main character\u2019s Dad.\u00a0 The movie starts out with the main character Samir working in the kitchen of what seems to be a very high-end restaurant.\u00a0 This entire scene was used for two main reasons.\u00a0 Most importantly, it introduced Samir as ambitious and stubborn.\u00a0 The scene showed him working very hard as he was leading the other cooks because he wanted to be the head chef at the new restaurant when it opened.\u00a0 When he didn\u2019t get the promotion he thought he deserved, he quit.\u00a0 The scene also introduced Carrie, as a cook working under Samir, who was new to the restaurant.\u00a0 She was kind to Samir even though they got off on somewhat of a wrong foot.\u00a0 After Samir quit, he told his parents he was going to go overseas to study under some of the best chefs in the world.\u00a0 He was met with resistance from his Dad who was introduced as an angry, stubborn man who was disappointed in his son.\u00a0 For some context, Samir\u2019s brother had died some time ago, and Samir hadn\u2019t taken the path of being a doctor like his Dad wanted him to do.\u00a0 His Dad had a heart attack and could no longer run his Indian restaurant which was already not doing very well.\u00a0 Samir was left with no choice but to take over for his Dad.\u00a0 The majority of the movie showed Samir breathing new life into the restaurant with the help of a taxi driver named Akbar, and Carrie from the old restaurant, who he ran into on the street.\u00a0 While there were several struggles along the way, they eventually managed to save the restaurant and it became the most popular Indian restaurant in the city.\u00a0 It ended with his Dad being very proud of what he had done, as well as his parents meeting Carrie, with who he had now developed a romantic relationship with throughout the process of saving his Dad\u2019s restaurant.<\/p>\n

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4:34<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The food itself played a large role in the film, but more from a cultural standpoint.\u00a0 This important role of food was mostly seen through the taxi driver Akbar.\u00a0 Akbar once cooked Indian food in Mumbai and found great success in the process.\u00a0 When Samir brought in Akbar as his chef for a while, business began to improve as people started to complement the food regularly.\u00a0 After about 1 week, Samir asked for Akbar to help out at the restaurant for longer.\u00a0 That led to them having breakfast together in Akbar\u2019s apartment.\u00a0 After talking for a bit, Samir brought up the restaurant, and at 47:14 Akbar abruptly takes charge as they suddenly go to the store to purchase ingredients.\u00a0 Akbar\u2019s go with the flow personality really shows here as he says things like \u201c… Coriander seed, like a young girl walking through a lemon grove by the sea…\u201d(47:40).\u00a0 Then, when they get back to the restaurant, Akbar begins cooking without a recipe.\u00a0 He goes based on feel rather than being strict with ingredients and how much to put in.\u00a0 At the end of the film Akbar leaves, and Samir does the cooking.\u00a0 Samir went off feeling rather than a recipe even though it was very difficult for him to do.\u00a0 It ended up working out well for him considering that his recipe made his Dad proud, and satisfied the likely hundreds of people waiting in line outside the doors.\u00a0 This growth in Samir showed the results of another theme.<\/p>\n

Samir was very set in his ways in the sense that he pretty much couldn\u2019t cook at all unless he had a recipe.\u00a0 On the other hand, Akbar was the polar opposite.\u00a0 Akbar didn\u2019t use a recipe at all.\u00a0 Akbar and Samir were both passionate about food but in different ways.\u00a0 Samir valued it as a means to making something of himself as seen at the beginning of the film when he didn\u2019t get the promotion he wanted.\u00a0 Akbar had no concern with the professional side of cooking.\u00a0 Instead, he simply enjoyed cooking, and he let his passion for cooking take control.\u00a0 As with most things, the food was better when it was made with passion rather than necessity.\u00a0 Samir\u2019s Dad was also very stubborn.\u00a0 He had made the Indian restaurant himself and that was how he supported his family instead of his dream of being a doctor.\u00a0 He wanted nothing more than for his sons to be a doctor or something similar since he didn\u2019t have the opportunity.\u00a0 Since Samir was into cooking and quit his job, it is no surprise that his Dad was upset with him(18:52).\u00a0 It is clear that Samir inherited his stubborn personality from his Dad.\u00a0 They clearly clashed often as was shown throughout the film.\u00a0 Fortunately, this conflict was resolved at the end of the movie as Samir stepped up to save his Dad\u2019s restaurant and his Dad finally appreciated his cooking(1:31:32).\u00a0 Samir\u2019s progression was shown even more so right before this as he cooked with no recipe for the first time.\u00a0 This brought to a close the storyline between him and Akbar.<\/p>\n

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15:54<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last major theme in Today\u2019s Special was family.\u00a0 This is primarily seen through the lens of Samir\u2019s relationship with his Dad.\u00a0 As mentioned previously, they were at odds with each other just about all the way through the film.\u00a0 At around the one-and-a-half-hour mark, their conflict is resolved and it shows them hugging for the first time in the film.\u00a0 This demonstrates while we may be at odds with family sometimes, they always love us.\u00a0 Everyone has their own way to express their love, but family will always be there.\u00a0 Additionally, Samir\u2019s Mom contributed to this theme.\u00a0 Where his Dad was concerned with Samir\u2019s career, his Mom was concerned with his relationships.\u00a0 She was trying to play matchmaker and find him a wife as seen at 14:17.\u00a0 Samir was clearly uninterested in the idea as a whole, so while he went on dates to appease his Mom, he didn\u2019t seem to take having a family of his own very seriously.\u00a0 However, throughout the second half of the film, Samir became closer with Carrie as they worked in the restaurant(1:12:20).\u00a0 They slowly grow closer and kiss at one point.\u00a0 In the end, she worked as Samir\u2019s Sue chef.\u00a0 When his parents came into the now revived restaurant, his Mom was introduced to Carrie, and she accepted her when she saw her relationship with Samir.\u00a0 The ending was extremely fitting for this movie as it brought virtually all storylines to a fitting close.<\/p>\n

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1:30:55<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I really enjoyed this film.\u00a0 It took a little getting used to as I don\u2019t normally watch films centered around food.\u00a0 That being said the storylines were satisfying enough to warrant it having less action than the movies that I normally enjoy.\u00a0 It was a nice change of pace, and I would recommend it if someone were to ask about it.\u00a0 The film didn\u2019t have any weaknesses that I noticed and its main strength was the way that the ending brought everything together.<\/p>\n

Refrences<\/p>\n

Kaplan, David. (Director). (2009). Today’s Special <\/em> [Film]. Production Company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s Special is a movie about the restaurant business, more specifically an Indian restaurant owned by the main character\u2019s Dad.\u00a0 The movie starts out with the main character Samir working in the kitchen of what seems to be a very high-end restaurant.\u00a0 This entire scene was used for two main reasons.\u00a0 Most importantly, it introduced… <\/p>\n

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