Tampopo
There is a mom-and-pop Japanese eatery in the food court of a mall near me. Pop cooks the food; mom takes orders and serves the food. Mom never smiles. She speaks to customers mostly to tell them not to poke the onigiri — or merely points to the sign which tells them not to poke the onigiri. She is brusque, efficient and won’t waste words. The place is called Tampopo, which is the Japanese word for Dandelion. It is a good name because it is a simple place and no, they don’t serve sushi. Recently, I discovered that there was a 1985 food-themed Japanese film of the same name.
It took me a while to find a DVD of Tampopo, billed a “ramen western.” It is the story of one widow’s quest and discovery for a good ramen recipe. A good ramen will ensure that her eatery gets a steady clientele — she now has to fend for herself and her fatherless son. The plot is straightforward enough and includes many unrelated beautifully crafted food vignettes. There is even a shot of a new-born suckling at its mother’s breast for a good three minutes or so. Why? Mother’s milk is most people’s first food. There is both food and sex in the movie. Sex is, of course, the prelude to birth. A young mobster and his girlfriend are in a hotel room and use egg yolk as a part of their foreplay. There is a scene featuring food and death. It is all there.
The film is riveting, funny, philosophical and hasn’t dated one bit. I would recommend it to any foodie who enjoys every type of food. I can imagine vegans, or even omnivores, being grossed out by some bits — that is the fast-forward button for? A writer writes in The Guardian about the brilliant opening scene.
“The doors of a cinema blow open. In walks the flashy mobster and his glamorous girlfriend, both in all-white outfits, and their entourage who follow them to the front row – and unpack a lavish champagne picnic. Then he hears a man sitting a few seats behind, stuffing his face with curry crisps (one of the few times in the film that anyone eats junk food), and steps up to threaten him, a cold-blooded grace before the main meal we’re about to receive: “I’ll kill you if you make that noise once the movie starts.” A scene that’s played in my head whenever a phone rings, or someone starts talking in a cinema in the years since I first saw it. I love the way Tampopo demands total respect for the art of film right from the get-go like this – breaking the fourth wall to talk to the audience before the film has properly begun. Watch, enjoy, eat quietly if you’re in a cinema. “