The Hundred-Foot Journey is a 2014 comedy drama film directed by Lasse Hallström from a screenplay written by Steven Knight, adapted from Richard C. Morais's 2010 novel of the same name. It stars Helen Mirren, Om Puri, Manish Dayal, and Charlotte Le Bon, and is about a battle in a French village between two restaurants that are directly across the street from each other: a new Indian restaurant owned by an Indian immigrant family and a Michelin-star French restaurant owned by a French woman. 

On September 18 at 7:30pm EDT, in association with Halcyon Arts, I will be hosting a discussion of this film over Zoom. In this current time of growing separation and alienation from people of other cultures, I wanted to bring people's attention to watching and discussing a film that addresses this sentiment. To participate in the discussion, please fill out your details in the form below, once you do that, you will receive a link to the zoom discussion on your email. 

My short take on the movie:

A lot of the film is about people from both cultures understanding by interaction and friction even, what is it that sets them apart or rather makes them similar to each other. Madame Mallory and Abbu are both torchbearers of tradition in their own ways: she believes in preserving the knowledge found in centuries old cookbooks and he has grown up with the values of generational culinary tradition passed down orally. In several instances of the film, white European characters respond with disdain, contempt and an unwillingness to try any food that is different from what is familiar to them: or rather food that comes from cultures they have learned to look down upon. A very clear case of colonial conditioning that tells them, these brown people were savages that were once colonized by us and who knows what filth they put in their food so I won't be eating anything they make. Whereas, the Indian or desi characters show an openness; their culture tells them that when food is placed in front of them, they must respect it by eating it.

One of the pivotal scenes when the family is arguing with their papa about being foolhardy to buy the restaurant, they tell him that the Michelin-star French restaurant is where the President of France dines in. So Abbu confidently replies, “But can he order murgh-musallam with roasted spices and tandoori dishes at that restaurant?” He strongly believes that the people in the small French town don't eat Indian dishes because they've never tried them and with their efforts and his son's masterful cooking, he can facilitate a diverse culinary palate in the area. Food is a great leveler and as the film progresses, it's heartening to see all the characters, especially that of Madame Mallory and Abbu cover an arc of understanding and acceptance of the 'other' in their lives. Watch the film and join the discussion!