I am not really one for crunching through popcorn while watching a film – but if you insist, a mix of salted and caramel please! – nor the whole 4D cinema trend, but tell me you will be serving dishes from the plot and I am in.
Recently, I attended the final session of Savour Cinema’s ode to the 1985 Japanese classic, Tampopo by Juzo Itami, where food and drink are served throughout, inspired by important food scenes that play out on the projector in front of the communal dining tables. Diners are encouraged to dress to theme.
The concept of Savour Cinema was dreamed up by creatives Alison Tan and Amanda Kwan in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic; they created delivery meal boxes filled with delightful DIY courses paired with seminal moments in the Hayao Miyazaki animation Spirited Away (2001).
In the years since, they have sold out every session of their follow-up food and film experiences, from showings of the grotesque Scandinavian horror film Midsommar (2019) to The Fifth Element (1997) and Chungking Express (1994), where I hope scores of diners understood the assignment and showed up in trench coats and blonde wigs.
Despite debuting nearly four decades ago, Tampopo feels enticingly relevant to these fresh eyes – yes, this is the confession of a food writer who has waited this long to watch one of the most iconic food films of all time.
