In the short documentary The Art of Eating (1976), rare herbs are harvested, lobsters are boiled, caviar is spread and wines are paired as viewers get a window into a biannual meeting of the ‘oldest gastronomical society in Québec’. The Canadian filmmaker Doug Jackson has a good deal of fun with the proceedings, setting the mood with regal music and ornate title cards as he captures these diners – the vast majority of them older white men – relishing each whiff, bite and sip. Yet the film never fully embraces a tone of mockery – there’s clearly immense skill on display from the chefs, and sincere knowledge, dedication and joy in this culinary ritual from the diners. As one attendee notes towards the film’s end, it is, alas, only a twice-a-year occasion and, in his mind, not so different from supporting any other art form.
Director: Doug Jackson
Website: National Film Board of Canada
video
History of technology
Replicating Shakespearean-era printing brings its own dramas and comedy
19 minutes
video
Animals and humans
The wild tale of a young animal keeper, an angry tiger and a torn circle net
10 minutes
video
Beauty and aesthetics
Can you see music in this painting? How synaesthesia fuelled Kandinsky’s art
10 minutes
video
Knowledge
Why it takes more than a lifetime to truly understand a single meadow
11 minutes
video
War and peace
‘She is living on in many hearts’ – Otto Frank on the legacy of his daughter’s diary
12 minutes
video
Art
Why Diego Velázquez needed a lifetime to paint his enigmatic masterpiece
31 minutes
video
Technology and the self
A haunting scene from ‘Minority Report’ inspires a voyage into time and memory
7 minutes
video
Family life
The stream-of-consciousness thoughts and memories that emerge while cooking a meal
5 minutes
video
Film and visual culture
A lush animated opus evokes the frenzied pace of modern life
4 minutes