Food in movies is nothing new, but in certain classic films, the eats on screen actually end up stealing the scene and creating an iconic, hunger-inducing moment.
Take, for example, the memorable portion of Matilda in which a student named Bruce Bogtrotter (played by Jimmy Karz) steals a slice of Ms. Trunchbull’s cake and is punished by being forced to eat a whole 18-inch chocolate confection in front of the entire school.
While the start of the scene in the 1996 flick certainly made sweets lovers (like Bruce) drool, by the end of the montage, the frosting-covered pupil could barely even lift his head, let alone finish the cake. However, when the auditorium erupts into a “Bruce” chant, the dessert thief manages to eat all of the massive baked good with no help from anyone else – an especially impressive feat given Karz didn’t even like chocolate cake and had to have a spit bucket nearby while filming that sequence.
Julia Roberts cemented her role as America’s Sweetheart by playing Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman, the 1990 rom-com that was chock full of sweet moments. In one particularly memorable scene, Roberts’ character (a hooker) struggles with the silverware in a five-star restaurant in the midst of an important business meeting and later loses her grip on a piece of escargot, which goes flying through the air and is miraculously caught be a nearby waiter.
The food-centric interaction lead to one of the most memorable lines in the film – “It happens all the time” – which was said by the waiter after he catches the rouge snail.
In other instances, a food-focused moment might even be part of a major pop culture phenomenon. Such was the case with the American Pie scene in which character Jim Levenstein (played by Jason Biggs) masturbates into an apple pie. Not only is that scene one of the most famous interactions in movie history, but it also spawned dozens of LOL-worthy spoofs including on South Park and in 2001’s Not Another Teen Movie.
Check out the video above for some more iconic food moments in movie history!
