There are certain movies and TV shows that I can not watch on an empty stomach. Besides the obvious explicitly food-related shows (No Reservations, Top Chef, etc) The Sopranos, with its generous family dinner table scenes is certainly one of them. But aside from making me salivate over a bowl of noodles that are probably half-cooked, or a resin-cast caprese salad, interactions over food are really effective in mediating dialogue, getting into characters, and establishing power relationships, and I feel like this could also be said about 'real life'. In one episode of the Sopranos, for example, I remember Carmela commenting that she felt 'used' by Father Phil who lusted excessively over her baked ziti. I've actually made Carmela's baked ziti (modified to be vegetarian), using the recipe from the Sopranos cookbook my friend gave to me a few years ago after I became really really obsessed with the show, and I will admit it is good. However, I think in this instance, food is sexualized, and consumed, and by extension so too is the woman who made it. Though this is a fictional representation, I think this consumption of 'the other' (sexualized or not), occurs regularly via food, even outside of the Sopranos world. Another notable interaction that occurs over food in the series is the final, ambiguous scene where the family is sitting at a diner enjoying the simple pleasure of a basket of onion rings. I'm still not too sure of the signification of these tasty fried treats. I remember someone saying they ate them like communion wafers, but I'm not convinced. I'm about 90% sure Tony Soprano got whacked though.
Sopranos Cookbook
Sopranos Final Scene
Quentin Tarantino, discussing the relationship of food and power in his films:
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