Catering on the Big Screen and Television by Mike Bozzelli

It has been said that nothing happens until it is consumed.  The internet has supplanted so much since it was invented by former Vice President Al Gore (it was actually invented by the Department of Defense) but food, movies and tv shows still reign supreme in terms of consumption.  And, when you combine all three you can safely tell the internet to hold your coffee when it comes to consumption.  

How is food depicted when it is a theme in a movie or tv show?  The simple answer is catering.  Catering is defined as the provision of food for a social gathering and catering is in fact a frequent theme in both movies and tv shows.  We commonly enjoy our favorite foods while consuming a movie or tv show so it may be an afterthought to most just how frequent catering is a theme in movies and tv shows.  Inversely, so much catering occurs on the Sopranos, HBO’s classic about a mobbed up family in New Jersey,  that it serves as stimuli to eat and to eat Italian.   Pass the penne.     

Overall, the romantic comedy (rom-com) genre has done the most for catering themes with catering being indispensable to any wedding and rom-coms usually centered around the institution.  For example, the movie "The Wedding Planner'' follows the story of a wedding planner who falls in love with the groom while planning his wedding.  Catering appears in rom-com’s even when no one is getting married.  For instance, the movie "No Reservations'' follows the story of a top chef who takes over a restaurant kitchen after the death of the head chef, and must balance her job with her responsibilities as a new guardian to her young niece.  The catering scenes in this movie play a significant role in the development of the characters and their relationships.  

Catering themes appear in documentaries too.  One of my favorites is the  documentary “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” that follows the story of a sushi chef who runs a tiny Michelin-starred restaurant in Tokyo with a total of ten seats.  With so few seats the wait for a reservation can stretch three months at Jiro.  While not strictly a catering movie, the film explores the utter mastery required to be considered the best sushi chef in Japan and the catering scenes in the movie help to illustrate this point.

The way in which catering is portrayed in movies can vary widely depending on the genre of the film and the specific context in which catering is depicted.  The same principle applies to tv shows and especially reality shows.  There are a slew of reality shows that focus on catering, such as "Top Chef" and "MasterChef.”   These shows feature chefs competing against each other in various culinary challenges, with catering at the center of the competition.  Among Top Chef and MasterChef, the more notable reality shows that highlight catering themes include:  “Hell's Kitchen,”  a reality competition show in which chefs compete to become the head chef at a restaurant, and often have to cater events as part of challenges and “The Great British Bake Off,” a reality show focused on baking but with a catering facet as contestants regularly have to create large scale baked goods for events.  

If the past is prelude we can expect catering themes to continue being a part of movies and tv shows.  The umpteenth installment of the “Fast & Furious” could focus on food trucks that both cater and race at drag races.   Alternatively, we may chronicle the catering preparation that happens at Bozzelli’s prior to 11 AM so that our classic sandwich trays are delivered by noon at offices across Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC.  Now that would be fast and furious.