They say we eat with our eyes and that’s certainly the case with this tasty line-up of movies and TV shows. Food and drink often play a starring role on the big and small screens, whether as a prop that helps tell the story or as a crucial part of the plot. In some cases, edible screen appearances have showcased delights that many of us had never heard of. In others, they’ve boosted sales in real life. Here are some of our favorite culinary stars that have been catapulted to the big time.
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Vesper martini: Casino Royale
The martini has been a fixture of Bond movies from the beginning, but it was Casino Royale that introduced this particular take on the classic drink to the franchise. The 2006 film showed Daniel Craig as Bond requesting a mix of gin, vodka and Lillet – similar to vermouth – and echoed the drink ordered by 007 in Ian Fleming’s 1953 novel. It’s even named after a Bond character, Vesper Lynd – the only woman the fearless agent ever truly loved.
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Reese’s Pieces: E.T.
The popularity of these peanut and chocolate treats is inextricably linked with a certain movie about an extra-terrestrial just trying to get home. In E.T., Elliott lures the creature into the house with a trail of the colorful candy – the result of a unique cross-promotional deal between Universal Studios and Hershey Chocolate. Sales, which had been falling, increased by 65% in the weeks following the movie’s release in 1982. It could have been a different story: director Steven Spielberg first approached Mars, who apparently passed on the opportunity of having M&M’s featured.
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Eggo Waffles: Stranger Things
Netflix series Stranger Things is all about nostalgia and retro references, and perhaps none are so tangible as main character Eleven’s obsession with Eggo Waffles. Played by Millie Bobby Brown, Eleven devours the frozen breakfast waffles by the packet – and sales of the Kellogg’s product rocketed. In October 2017, when series two landed, consumption was up by 14% year-on-year and the product achieved its highest ever number of social media mentions in a single month.
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Turkish delight: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Who hasn’t craved a bite of Turkish delight when watching (or reading) the famous scene with Edmund and the Snow Queen in CS Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? Whether or not we actually like the sweet, slightly soapy cubes of confectionary, typically buried in powdered sugar, there’s something about the “Narnia effect” that gets us every time. It translates to sales too, with reports of surges up to 200% for Fry’s Turkish delight bars in the UK in anticipation of the 2005 movie version.
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Whiskey: Mad Men
Sharp suits, clever slogans, pregnant pauses – and whiskey for breakfast. Mad Men took viewers back to the 1950s and beyond, and crystal decanters filled with whiskey or Scotch were all part of the glamor. Don Draper particularly loved his drinks “big and brown”, whether a glass of neat alcohol or an old fashioned. The American TV series seriously boosted whiskey sales, with a 13.4% increase in one year to 2011 and US consumers accounting for a $372 million share. Draper’s favored brand, Canadian Club, reported boosted sales up to 23.2% in 2012.
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Pinot noir: Sideways
Arguably the ultimate wine movie, Sideways – starring Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church as friends on an ill-fated California road trip – had an incredible impact on wine tastes following its 2004 release. Pinot noir was the big winner, with Giamatti’s character Miles declaring his love for the grape several times throughout the film. Production in California reportedly increased by roughly 170% in the following decade, while sales increased around 16% in the first three years after the film came out.
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Beignets: The Princess and The Frog
Disney’s 2009 film The Princess and The Frog made viewers long to visit New Orleans but even more than that, it made us drool for a taste of a particular sweet treat. The main character Princess Tiana, who was inspired by real-life late chef Leah Chase, is a talented cook who dreams of opening her own restaurant – and serving up her delicious beignets. The film had audiences longing to bite into one of the small, pillowy donut-like fritters, which are a Louisiana classic and usually served in a mound of powdered sugar. It also inspired countless online recipes.
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Cherry pie: Twin Peaks
Pie played a starring role in David Lynch’s surreal TV show, Twin Peaks, which first aired in 1990. Not least, it injected some much-needed lightness into an otherwise dark drama. Agent Cooper (played by Kyle MacLachlan) famously falls in love with the cherry pie served at the fictional Double R Diner, which is actually Twede’s Café in North Bend, Washington, USA. Customers still flock here for a slice of “Twin Peaks” cherry pie, best served with a “damn fine cup of coffee”. Themed cafés have popped up globally too.
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White Russian: The Big Lebowski
The Coen Brothers’ 1998 movie The Big Lebowski arguably made hanging out in a tatty dressing gown cool and definitely helped to revive this retro cocktail. The Dude, played with inimitable insouciance by Jeff Bridges, is regularly seen slurping on a white Russian, made with vodka, coffee liqueur and milk or cream. The drink sprang up on trendy cocktail bar menus and, during a “Lebowski Fest” in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, milk sold out within a mile radius. Jeff Bridges even appeared in a short film about the cocktail for Mexican coffee liqueur brand Kahlúa.
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Cubano: Chef
We defy anyone to watch the 2014 movie Chef and not crave a Cubano – or, in fact, long to hit the road with their own food truck. It’s hard to pinpoint the impact the movie had on sales of the sandwich, made with soft Cuban bread and packed with layers of meat and cheese, but it proved tempting enough to spark many recipes for people to recreate it at home. Even the movie’s writer, director and star Jon Favreau shared his favorite recipe.
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Timpano: Big Night
Classic food film Big Night, starring Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub as immigrant brothers struggling to keep their New Jersey restaurant afloat, is credited with changing the way Americans view Italian food by revealing a whole world beyond spaghetti and meatballs. The true star of the 1996 movie is arguably the show-stopping timpano. The layered, baked pasta dish, which can take days to make, apparently returned to many restaurant menus as a result of the film.
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Ladurée macarons: Marie Antoinette
Let them eat cake? No – let them eat macarons. Specifically, the prettiest, most perfect, pastel-hued macarons produced by legendary French bakery Ladurée. Sofia Coppola’s 2006 movie Marie Antoinette was especially notable for its gorgeous aesthetics – and star Kirsten Dunst’s ability to mainline patisserie while barely smudging her make-up. The film about the French Revolution is a legendary example of “pastry porn” and is credited with making the sweets – and the bakery – globally famous and “America’s new cupcake.” As Dunst has said: “We made macarons hot again.”
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Tea: Downton Abbey
Specifically, English tea. The pomp and glamor of Downton Abbey created a thirst for all things British, with even China seeing a rise in popularity of afternoon tea. In the UK, a range of Downton Estate teas in tins emblazoned with images of the cast took advantage of the trend, while the English Cream Tea Company reported its sales had risen 500% in the few years since the TV show first aired in 2010. It’s also believed the show’s popularity in the US sparked new trends for tea parties and tea shops.
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Wensleydale cheese: Wallace and Gromit
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Stinking Bishop: Wallace and Gromit
The Wallace and Gromit effect struck again a decade later. Only, this time, the maker of small-production Stinking Bishop cheese wasn’t as pleased. The 2005 feature-length movie The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which mentions the washed-rind cheese, sparked such a spike in demand that the maker, Charles Martell and Son, struggled to meet orders from their dairy in Gloucestershire, England. There were reports of people buying the empty wooden boxes and the cheeses being sold on eBay for up to $83.
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Shawarma: The Avengers
This Levantine Arab dish – marinated meat that’s slowly roasted and served in thin slices – doesn’t exactly have a starring role in 2012 movie The Avengers but it only took a mere mention in the hugely popular franchise for it to benefit. Tony Stark (also known as Iron Man) mentions shawarma in the film and there’s also a scene of the assembled superheroes eating the tender meat after the credits (pictured). Lebanese restaurants in Los Angeles, California, USA reported up to an 80% spike in sales in its wake.
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Baba ganoush: You Don’t Mess With The Zohan
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Wall’s Cornetto: Shaun of the Dead
This retro-classic ice cream was pretty much unheard of outside the UK when Shaun of the Dead hit cinemas in 2004. And Cornettos only made it into the movie, written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, because they were Wright’s favorite hangover cure. The ice creams, in chocolate-dipped sugar cones, appear in two other films in what’s jokingly become known as “the Cornetto Trilogy”, which also includes Hot Fuzz and World’s End. Wall’s was apparently “very pleased” with the namecheck.
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Ratatouille: Ratatouille
Pixar’s 2007 movie Ratatouille had audiences rooting for a rat let loose in a Paris kitchen – and made us crave a simple, often underrated peasant dish. The classic tomato-based stew features beyond the animated film’s name when the talented chef (who happens to be a rat) Remy serves his own twist on it to a snobbish food critic. The moment Anton Ego takes a bite – and is transported back to his childhood – encapsulates a reaction all chefs must surely dream of.
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Frozen yogurt: The Good Place
What food do they serve in heaven? According to The Good Place, the answer is frozen yogurt. Fro-yo features prominently in the US TV series, which premiered in 2016 and stars Kristen Bell as a self-confessed sinner who appears to be mistakenly admitted into the “good” afterlife. Where, obviously, there’s a frozen yogurt shop serving an infinite number of flavor combinations from raspberry sorbet to Maine lobster.
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Cheesecake: Golden Girls
Those Golden Girls loved a slice of cheesecake. According to IMDb, the feisty foursome scoffed more than 100 of them during the US TV show’s run from 1985 to 1992. It’s not known whether seeing the ladies huddle over plates of plain, chocolate or double-fudge cheesecake had any direct influence on sales or eating habits, but the Cheesecake Factory’s dessert sales rose dramatically over the same period. And the pudding was as synonymous with the show as cosmos were with a later foursome of friends in Sex and the City.
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Spinach: Popeye
Anyone who’s ever watched a Popeye cartoon or seen one of the many movie versions must know one thing: he’s “strong to the finish” ’cause he eats his spinach. The vegetable did feature in the original comic strip but it was the animated shorts produced by Fleischer Studios from 1933 that really made the sailor man and his cohorts household names. According to some theories, they also helped to save the spinach industry during the Great Depression – growers credited Popeye with increasing spinach consumption by 33% in the 1930s.
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Mushroom ravioli: Twilight
If there were ever any doubts about how committed fans of The Twilight Saga are, the film series’ impact on mushroom ravioli should dispel them. Bella orders the dish on her first date with Edward at Bella Italia in the first movie, Twilight, released in 2008. People then flocked to the chain’s Port Angeles, Washington, USA restaurant to recreate that fated date. According to reports, fans ordered around 4,500 bowls of ravioli in the year following the film’s release. The restaurant also released a ready-meal version.
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Fried green tomatoes: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café
How many foods get to star in their very own movie? Feel-good flick Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café weaves its characters’ stories through food – specifically, a side dish of unripe tomatoes coated with cornmeal and fried. For viewers outside the US, the 1991 movie was perhaps the first time they’d heard of fried green tomatoes. It’s even been claimed the movie was responsible for turning the dish into the Southern classic it’s considered today.
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Sunday gravy: The Godfather
The Godfather trilogy might be better known for a different, more macabre and far less appetizing red “sauce”, but there is one scene that really had audiences drooling – and longing for a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. In the first movie, Peter Clemenza reels off what’s pretty much a full recipe for Italian red sauce or “Sunday gravy”. His top tip? Add “a little bit of wine, and a little bit of sugar” to the bubbling pot of tomato-rich sauce. People are still talking about it – and following his advice – today.
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Spinach puffs: The Emperor’s New Groove
Kronk was the foodie of 2000 Disney animated movie The Emperor’s New Groove and we reckon it’s the tasty treats he served up that earned him a starring role in the 2005 sequel, Kronk’s New Groove. In particular, these spinach puffs which he nearly burns in one scene and is generally quite precious about. We can see why – the combination of tender spinach and cream cheese encased in buttery puff pastry sounds pretty delicious. There are numerous recipes inspired by them online.
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Cosmopolitan: Sex and the City
The fab four who formed the heart of TV phenomenon Sex and the City seemed to be forever quaffing lipstick-pink cosmopolitans and they had viewers thirsty to sip one too. The cocktail, made with a slightly sweet and lip-puckeringly sour mix of vodka, triple sec and cranberry juice, dates from the 1970s and was all but forgotten when SATC burst onto screens at the end of the 20th century. After that, it popped up on cocktail menus everywhere.
