Looking for a tasteful new way to celebrate the Academy Awards? You’ll find “epic” dinner and drink pairings in a new book that’s jammed full of recipes, photos, and delicious film lore.
Turner Classis Movies: Movie Night Menus: Dinner and Drink Recipes Inspired by the Films We Love is the creation of siblings Tenaya Darlington and André Darlington. While doing research for their previous book, The New Cocktail Hour, they were impressed by the lavish cocktail culture of earlier eras.
Enthused by the tradition of naming drinks for popular stars in classic films, the pair embarked on a movie marathon. They watched vintage movies with an eye for the most memorable dining and drinking scenes. From there, they crafted their menus.
An homage to Funny Girl features a recipe for the Chicken Liver Pâté that Fanny Brice mistakes for a beverage. The authors aren’t certain about the actual flavor of the pastry Holly pulls from a paper bag in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but they devised a Cardamom-Cinnamon Twist recipe that’s as beguiling as Miss Golightly herself. And while no one can say for certain what Rick Blaine served at his gin joint in Casablanca, readers can imagine drinking a French 75 and dining with members of the French Resistance on a fragrant, Moroccan-style Roasted Eggplant Tagine (recipe below).
Yes, the authors take liberal artistic license with some of their recipe imaginings, but it’s all part of the fun. There’s a handy resource guide for fans who want to learn more about the art of film.
It’s possible that the trend of extravagant dining and drinking in movies has passed. It doesn’t seem as if the 2017 crop of nominees really offered much for viewers to chew on. Did the space ship in Arrival even have a kitchen? Did Mia and Seb ever stop dancing long enough to eat dinner in La La Land? There’s a diner scene in Hell or High Water, but the entire film is steeped in so much tension, it was hard to swallow while watching.
Nevertheless, it’s entirely possible some food-themed scenes slipped by us. Let’s view this year’s award nominees – and winners – again soon. Who knows what we might discover in Hail, Caesar! (Salad?) or Manchester by the Sea (Food?). Cocktails, anyone?
