The Full Feast of SECOND SCREENS: Foodie Edition
Posted on June 8, 2021
Four courses of classic films celebrating significant anniversaries in 2021 and simple, chef-created recipes — and accompanying videos — to cook alongside them, all in one place. Watch, eat, repeat.
A do-it-mostly-yourself take on a film festival for the stay-at-home era, SECOND SCREENS: Foodie Edition paired a classic, widely available film with interactive—and edible!—elements for a dinner-and-a-movie experience done on your time. The monthly program ran March through June, 2021, and is now available here, no reservation required.
I. Big Night and Chef Chrissy Antenucci, The Wheel
Big Night is the story of two brothers, Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci), who run a small authentic Italian restaurant on the Jersey Shore in the mid-1950s. While one brother is lured by the ritz and glam of a neighboring restaurant, the other is unwilling to compromise authentic cuisine in order to entice American customers, who are drawn to simplified meals and style over substance.
Find the film here.
Chef Chrissy Antenucci of The Wheel developed a delicious—and surprisingly simple—hand-rolled cavatelli recipe to pair with Big Night. FotoFocus visited Antenucci in her restaurant kitchen to get her take on the movie Big Night and what life is like in a real-life Italian take-out restaurant in Cincinnati, Ohio, while walking us through her hand-rolled cavatelli recipe.
II. Spirited Away and Chef Hideki Harada, Kiki
Winner of the Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards, Spirited Away is the story of a young Chihiro who moves to a new town with her parents, where she discovers that they have been turned into glutenous pigs by the sorceress Yubaba. She takes a job in a bath house in order to survive, and to free herself and her parents from the curse. Chihiro realizes that food represents power and survival in this fantastical world, when her new friend Haku explains that “unless you eat something from this world, you’ll vanish.”
Find the film here.
Chef Hideki Harada spits truth: “I didn’t really fall in love with cooking, more so, I loved eating.” (Speaking from experience at Kiki: You will, too.) Watch as he talks with FotoFocus about his love for Miyazaki films, particularly the character cameos in Spirited Away, and why Japanese rice balls are his number one comfort food from childhood. Then pull up the Onigiri recipe and follow along with Harada in the Kiki kitchen as he makes a modern take on Onigiri, that delicious hand-formed Japanese classic, which he chose as the ideal pairing for Spirited Away.
III. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Chef Frances Kroner, Sleep Bee Café
April SECOND SCREENS: Foodie Edition is coming at you sweet and whimsical with Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory paired with a Crunchy Creamy All Day Every Day Good On Everything Chocolatey Shmear recipe from Chef Frances Kroner of Sleepy Bee Café. It’s the perfect time to curl up on the couch with your favorite treats and watch this sugary sweet classic film.
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory depicts the power of food to transform and uplift — from the bite of a scrumdidilyumptious bar and lickable fruit-flavored wallpaper, to the changing flavors of an everlasting gobstopper. What went from a contest to win a lifetime supply of chocolate and exclusive factory tour transforms one little boy’s life forever, as he learns that vision, hard work, and a little bit of imagination can truly make “the world taste good.”
Find the film here.
As a kid, Chef Frances Kroner would daydream about the chocolate river and candy mushrooms found in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and now you can daydream about the Crunchy Creamy All Day Every Day Good On Everything Chocolatey Shmear she made (and her kids named) to pair with this month’s SECOND SCREENS: Foodie Edition film. Kroner shares how the whimsy and fun of Willy Wonka has played into her restaurant ethos, then shares tips for making her scrumptious chocolate treat. And, because we’re here for the eating: ways to serve it, for brunch or for dessert.
IV. Amélie and Chef Jean-Robert de Cavel, French Crust Café & Bistro, Le Bar a Boeuf, and Frenchie Fresh
France is lovely in the spring, and while travel is still out, we’ll help transport you there through film and food. For May, SECOND SCREENS: Foodie Edition is serving up Amélie and a selection of sauces and dressings in the classic French tradition from Chef Jean-Robert de Cavel befitting the film’s 20th anniversary.
Amélie (2001) is set in the Montmartre neighborhood of Paris in the mid-1990s. Audrey Tautou plays Amélie, a quirky introvert longing for love and connection. Food is ever present in her world, as she takes pleasure in helping everyone from the customers at The Two Windmills Cafe where she works, to the grocer she befriends and defends. As Amélie searches for a mysterious crush, the food that characters buy, cook, and consume not only grounds them in reality, but creates a sensorial cinematic space for fantasy and escape.
Find the film here.
Chef Jean-Robert de Cavel grew up in France and trained in French restaurants, and he’s been feeding Cincinnatians French cuisine for 27 years. Here, he shares four supremely simple sauce and dressing recipes so you can do the same. But first, de Cavel talks about his favorite food movies from Ratatouille to Babette’s Feast, and notes the sights and scenes that make Amélie so special. From his home kitchen, de Cavel whips up several quick, pantry-staple-ingredient sauces that, he says, “can be used on anything.” Plus: learn when to splurge for fleur de sel, butter tricks to get the best emulsion, and more.