Using iconic dishes from popular movies, students will develop cooking skills and recreate the delicious foods depicted in film. During the course of the week, we will watch films or clips from films in which food plays a starring role. We will take several trips off-campus to try new foods or go for a cooking lesson. We will see what it takes to compile an ingredient and recipe list. We will shop for and cook food that is both beautiful to look at and delicious to eat. Ultimately, we will learn that film has the power to elevate food to an art.
Day 1
On our first day of food and film, we kickstarted it with a focus on pies, watching clips from Stand By Me and Waitress to gain some inspiration. The background is a picture of the square strawberry pie one of the groups made.
After a run to the grocery store, we started the process of making all sorts of pies. From pumpkin pie to apple pie, chocolate pie and peanut butter pie, we tried our best to replicate the unique recipes we found online.
Although the steps of baking the pies were hard for some, it was rewarding in the end when we all sat down and tried our pies.
Footage of our pie feast!
Day 2
We started the morning by watching a clip from Bridemaids to gain an idea of how to bake a cupcake. After researching a variety of different recipes, we left to Concord to acquire the ingredients needed. With everything needed to create our cupcakes, we began baking!
After trial and error, lots and lots of baking, and meticulous decoration, we finally had our products!
The winners of our competition: Kristy and Coco with these beautiful fruit cupcakes!
With our cupcakes on display, our four judges ranked our cupcakes based on flavor, texture, artistry, and originality.
Overall, we learned a lot today and had a lot of fun in the process!
Day 3
This was the rolling out of the dough we used to make the beignets (after watching clips from Princess and the Frog and Chef). We left these in the freezer yesterday and now we are rolling the out to fry them.
This was where we added the honey and powdered sugar on the beignets. The finished product was really good and we were able to share it with other people in the community including faculty and kitchen staff.
Later, we watched the scene from Goodfellas where they make prison pasta. Then we went to Tuscan Market in Salem, NH for a cooking class where we made our own pasta from scratch! First we mixed flour with eggs to create our dough and then rolled it into a ball. We wrapped it up let it sit for a while. We got to try the chef's pasta meal while we were waiting. Then we rolled out our dough, prepping it for the machine.
We rolled our dough through a machine to stretch it out making it easy to cut into pieces. We put it through twenty times to get it long enough. Then we laid out the dough and cut it our own chosen pasta sizes.
Day 4
Today we went to a Japanese ramen restaurant in Boston to try their ramen after watching a scene of eating ramen in the Japanese movie Tampopo. I ordered the Miso Ramen, which had seaweed, bamboo shoots, egg and pork in the noodles, and I really enjoyed the flavor.
We also ordered a sushi roll, which was mostly made of avocado and eel with rice. Tomorrow we plan to look for a movie clip about food that we are interested in and make our own dishes. Today's lunch has inspired me to look for a theme of Japanese food as well, and both my partner and I are interested in making our own sushi!
Hakata Ramen & Sushi (Waltham, MA)
Finally, we got Boba Tea at YumCha down the street from the ramen restaurant.
Day 5
Today students brought in their own movie clips to inspire a recipe! Will and Jerry made a Korean hotpot inspired by “Let’s Eat Together” with various ingredients in it, ranging from fried eggs, spams, to noodles. With a sweet and hot flavor, the dish attracts a large crowd. As Ms. Sanchez said, “you should all try this.”
Oliver and Luciana made a huge layered chocolate cake based on the giant chocolate cake from Matilda. The frosting is soft and tender, with the base cake being flavorful.
In this picture, we can see Tosin’s burger based on the movie The Founder, Coco and Kristy’s sushi rolls from Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and Oliver’s cake. They are all very popular and quickly went out before dinner time.
Tosin is cooking the beef for the burgers, which he made sure to be crispy and covered with heavy cheese and sauce for rich flavor.
Day 6- Takeaways
My favorite thing was cooking our own recipe. One thing I learned is that our dining hall staff works really hard! -- Will
My favorite thing was decorating the cupcakes. One thing I learned was how to make foods like sushi without all of the ingredients available. We had to be creative but it came out really well! -- Coco
My favorite part was find our own movie clips and then then choosing our own recipe. I really liked going to the market and choosing our own ingredients as well. I learned a lot of collaboration skills like how to divide tasks and then combine back together for good efficiency. --Kristy
My favorite was the cupcake competition. One thing I learned was that you have to follow the directions in the recipe very specifically. --Kaya
My favorite part was making the cupcakes because ours tasted really good. I learned how to remove cupcakes from the tin without breaking them. -- Norah
My favorite part was making our own pasta at Tuscan Market. I learned how to make ingredients I would usually buy from the store (like pasta). --Luna
My favorite thing was I made my own cookies. I learned that you have to add baking soda to the cookies or they will come out flat and terrible and everyone will make fun of you. --LJ
I have a lot of favorite things from this week. I liked coming up with our own movie clips and recipes and getting to be creative. I enjoyed using our skills from earlier in the week and progressing into making our own thing. I made pizza and muffins. I learned that baking is harder than I thought it was because there are a lot of smaller elements to it. Being detail-oriented and organized helps save time. --Ronan
My favorite thing this week was going out to the pasta class and also the ramen restaurant. I learned that while it is tedious sometimes, cooking can be fun. It's better to know how to cook than not know. --Tosin
I really liked making the cupcakes. I learned how to make frosting. --Ollie
I liked making the chocolate cake from Matilda. I learned how to read a recipe and there is a difference between regular sugar and confectioners sugar. -- Luciana