Food on Film. 1. Babette's Feast

Babette's Feast (Babette's Gastebud) is a Danish film from 1987 (it won that year's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar). Directed by Gabriel Axel, and based on a short story by Karen Blixen, it is set in 1871 amidst a small religious community in a remote part of Denmark. After winning money in the lottery, housekeeper Babette (Stephane Audran) decides to spend it all by cooking an extravagant meal - the like of which the town’s people have never seen before. This is a gentle and slow-moving film, which puts the food centre stage. It’s the first in my Top 10 essential Food Films.