If there’s one thing we love more than cooking and eating delicious food, it’s watching other people doing it. Whether they’re chocolatiers, ramen noodle chefs or even rats, the film characters below have captured our imaginations – and appetites – in one way or another. Enjoy scrolling through our list of the 20 films we think every foodie should see.

Babette’s Feast

Plot: Set in an impoverished village in 19th C Denmark, the film focuses on two spinster sisters. They take in a French refugee, who repays their kindness by cooking a feast of a lifetime.
Why you should watch it: It’s witty and elegant, with a climactic banquet scene that will warm your heart and belly.

Big Night

Plot: Two Italian brothers move to America to open a restaurant called Paradise. Unlucky in business and in love, they put everything they’ve got into one special dinner – their last chance at redemption.
Why you should watch it: Great performances by Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub, especially their loving unveiling of the timpani (a ‘drum’ filled with layers of pasta, meat, sauce and eggs) in the climax.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Plot: Charlie, a boy from a poor family, wins the chance to tour the most amazing candy factory in the world, run by the kooky Willy Wonka. (We prefer the original film based on Roald Dahl’s masterpiece, with the creepy-but-kind-eyed Gene Wilder.)
Why you should watch it: Flavoured lickable wall paper. Candy cane trees. A waterfall of chocolate. Enough said.

Chef

Plot: Unable to continue cooking a menu he doesn’t believe in (and is brutally criticised for), a fine dining chef decides to throw caution to the wind and open his own food truck.
Why you should watch it: Beautiful Cubanos (sandwiches), a feel-good story and great performances by the ensemble cast. Also, the term “amuse douche” may or may not be used in the film.

Chocolat

Plot: Roaming spirit Vianne (Juliette Binoche) and her young daughter set up shop in a French village that’s run by a dictatorial mayor (Alfred Molina). Vianne slowly melts the hearts of the villagers with her chocolate treats.
Why you should watch it: Scenes of swirling, ground, chopped, sprinkled, liquid and steaming hot chocolate. So much chocolate! Also worth savouring are the great characters, including Johnny Depp with eyeliner, a guitar and an Irish accent.

Delicatessen

Plot: This surreal film revolves around the inhabitants of an apartment building and their curious lives and interrelationships. Times are tough, so the landlord, a butcher, occasionally prepares “delicacies” for his tenants.
Why you should watch it: It’s dark, quirky and very French.

Eat Drink Man Woman

Plot: A Taiwanese comedy-drama about three daughters who live with their father, a famous chef, and their search for identity and freedom from cultural restrictions.
Why you should watch it: Clouds of steam, flashes of passion and elaborate family banquets of traditional dishes every Sunday.

Food Inc.

Plot: How America’s all-powerful food corporations are making a killing, literally.
Why you should watch it: You should know the truth about what you’re eating. The documentary aims to change shopping and eating behaviour to create a demand for wholesome, nutritious food.

I am love

Plot: Emma, a Russian woman who married into a conservative aristocratic Italian family, feels the need to break free and find herself again through love.
Why you should watch it: It’s a ravishing sensory explosion. A seemingly banal scene of Emma (Tilda Swinton) eating a prawn is transformed into a breath-taking experience.

Julie & Julia

Plot: A directionless young woman decides to broil, bake and fry her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year – all 524 recipes – and blog about it. (Based on a true story.)
Why you should watch it: Meryl Streep is a marvel. Plus, we heartily approve of Julia’s approach to butter.

Like Water for Chocolate

Plot: Based on the novel Como Agua Para Chocolate, the film deals with a troubled Mexican family and the transcendent power of love. One of the daughters, Tita, discovers she can perform magic with her cooking.
Why you should watch it: It’s sensual and lusciously lit. In one scene, Tita uses blossoms (a gift from her illicit lover) to make a rose petal sauce to dress trussed quails.

More than Honey

Plot: This documentary provides an in-depth look into the importance of honeybees to human survival.
Why you should see it: A third of our food depends on bees for pollination; if bees disappeared, man would have only four years to live. It’s sober viewing, but a very well produced film on an important topic.

Mostly Martha

Plot: Martha, a supremely critical and uptight chef, lives for her work but leaves no space for anything – or anyone – else.
Why you should watch it: It shows how food can heal and bring people together. There’s a scene involving very rare steak that’s “served” to a complaining diner; and Martha is forced to go to therapy for anger management and insists on describing her dishes to her poor (hungry) therapist.

No reservations

Plot: This is the Hollywood version of Mostly Martha, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart. (See above.)
Why you should watch it: For the scene of a blindfolded dinner date.

Ratatouille

Plot: A rat with remarkable culinary talents makes his way to the big city of Paris to find his destiny. He helps a young human chef to get his life in order – and get fancy with the spices at the same time.
Why you should watch it: The animations are delightful: you’ll love the portrayal of food preparation and the miserable food critic Anton Ego.

Saturday Night Fever

Plot: Tony Manero (John Travolta), a youth from Brooklyn, has a burning ambition to be the king of the dance floor.
Why you should watch it: We slipped this one into the list because our editor Abigail likes the many scenes of John eating slices of New York pizza. (A legitimate reason, for sure.)

Sideways

Plot: Miles, a depressed wine writer (Paul Giamatti), and his bumbling pal, Jack (Thomas Haden Church), take a trip through the California winelands before Jack’s wedding, and become entangled with people they meet along the way.
Why you should watch it: It’s a gem for wine lovers – snobs and plebs alike. There’s also an epic tantrum by Miles: “If anyone orders merlot, I’m leaving! I’m NOT drinking merlot!”

Tampopo

Plot: Labelled as a ramen western, this food action movie is about a man who helps a widow to make her ramen noodle shop the best in town.
Why you should watch it: Because of its off-the-wall humour and a particularly memorable sex scene with a slippery egg yolk. Not for the faint hearted!

Tasting Menu

Plot: The chef at the best restaurant in Spain decides to host one last grand dinner service before the doors close a final time. Viewers get a glimpse into the characters’ lives as they enjoy the ultimate tasting menu.
Why you should watch it: Exquisitely presented dishes and romance on the Barcelona beachfront.

Tortilla Soup

Plot: This American version of Eat Drink Man Woman (see above) is about three Spanish sisters and their search for the recipe to happiness.
Why you should watch it: To see the sumptuous Mexican traditional cuisine prepared for the film by Food Network’s celeb chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger.

Share your foodie film favourites in the comments below.