Why Anthony Bourdain Called Ratatouille The Best Food Movie Ever Made
Anyone who has watched "Ratatouille" will probably agree that it is a dazzling movie. Pixar's 2007 animated comedy is one of the studio's best films because its resonance isn't bound by an age group and is built around universal ideas and themes. It follows the adventures of Remy, a rat who lives in the French countryside and is blessed (or cursed, if you will) with a refined palate. His dream of becoming a chef consumes him, but in a world where diners run out of restaurants if they're found infested with rodents, it's obvious no one wants to eat a meal cooked by one. Remy fails to understand that minor detail, and one day, befriends Linguini, who works as a garbage boy at a restaurant opened by his idol, the late Auguste Gusteau.
Pixar brings to life an uncanny story about the friendship between a rat and a human, as Remy helps Linguini secure a cooking position at the restaurant and guides his movements while hiding under his toque. The film is a love letter to food and is so faithful in its interpretation of the events that go on in a kitchen that the legendary Anthony Bourdain was impressed by it, too. The legendary writer, TV personality, and chef (who died in 2018) admired the film so much that he called "Ratatouille" the best food movie ever made.
Anthony Bourdain Was Beyond Impressed By Ratatouille
Anthony Bourdain praised "Ratatouille" for its accurate depiction of restaurant food. In 2011, the legend shared with Entertainment Weekly that he respected how the film could achieve even the most minor details in the kitchen:
"It's a measure of how deficient Hollywood has been in making an accurate restaurant-food based film that far and away the best was about an animated rat ... I really thought it captured a passionate love of food in a way that very few other films have."
As per Bourdain, "Ratatouille" is "quite simply the best food movie ever made." The chef's high praise was credited to the film's little details, such as the burns on the arms of the cooks, which highlight what the working environment inside a restaurant kitchen is actually like.
BroBible also uncovered a Reddit thread, which includes Bourdain's comments on the "astonishing" details featured in the film. Bourdain also enjoyed the fictional food critic Anton Ego, whose character resonated with the chef like "a punch in the chest." "Literally breathtaking," he said of the character. Not many people know that Anthony Bourdain and Chef Thomas Keller were consultants on the film, and Bourdain was proud of his "minuscule" contribution" to the film early on during its development.
"I am hugely and disproportionately proud that my minuscule contribution (if any) early, early in the project's development led to a 'thank you' in the credits," the celebrity chef wrote. And while Bourdain is no longer with us, perhaps a piece of his spirit lives on in "Ratatouille."