Cooking with Hollywood: Ratatouille 1

A friend of mine suggested that I write about cooking with Hollywood - i.e. the role that food plays in movies. That's an interesting thought, so let's go back again to Ratatouille, the animated movie where a sweet, little rat becomes a chef. Cooking is his passion, so he tries different dishes, imagines different spice combinations, and spends time reading cookbooks. He learns how to become a great cook because of his passion.

On the other hand, a boy (called Linguine) has a job as a cook and is a total disaster. The little rat helps the boy create great dishes by sitting under his hat and pulling his hair. Each pull controls what the boy does (lift an arm, grab a spice, stir the pot, and so forth). The boy, however, doesn't learn. He follows the motions and in the end does what he likes (which is fine) and becomes a great waiter, delivering food to enthusiastic customers that the rat and his friends make.

A cookbook highlighted in the movie (by a great chef and the little rat's mentor) is called, "Anyone Can Cook". I say that anyone can LEARN to cook who pays attention and has the desire. They only need direction (recipes and/or a mentor chef)and the DESIRE to cook well. As with learning anything, you have to pay attention, want to learn and invest time experimenting on your own.