A $125 dinner at Geisha House can be yours.

The Knife has joined forces with the Dolce Group to give away a $125 gift card at Geisha House.

To win, answer this question: What's your personal best -- or worst -- of food movies? And why?

Quality over quantity: You can refer to a food/cooking themed movie or just a single memorable scene. (Need to be reminded what the contenders might be? Click through to the jump.)

Leave your judgments in the comments and the most entertaining entry wins the sushi loot. (Don't forget to give a working email address.)

And why Geisha House? Because, prior to the release of "Ratatouille" or "No Reservations," it's in the best food movie of the summer: "Knocked Up." It's the restaurant where... oh, hell, just watch the clip.

AN UTTERLY INCOMPLETE LIST, WITH NO THOUGHT TO PRIORITY, ORDER, OR COLOR OF THE LINKS:

Babette's Feast

Goodfellas

Waitress

The Chinese Feast

Vatel

Kitchen Stories

God of Cookery

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover

Simple Irresistible

Dinner Rush

Eating Raoul

Supersize Me

La Grande Bouffe

Mystic Pizza

Tom Jones

9 1/2 Weeks

Rare Birds

Eat Your Heart Out

Sideways

Eat Drink Man Woman

Tampopo

Chocolat

Like Water for Chocolate

Who is Killing the Great Chef's of Europe?

What's Cooking?

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (Widescreen Special Edition)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Spanglish

Woman on Top

Mostly Martha

Big Night

Tortilla Soup

Comments

[Big Bomb]

Who is killing the great chefs of Europe. Fantastic gastric film. It gives hope to all the young sous chefs, that maybe their iconic a-hole of a boss will be murdered ...

[Lesley]

While all of these are really great food movies (my head's spinning with scenes of Agustus Gloop scooping white marshmallow froth and slurping the chocolate river, drinking pinot in Santa Ynez valley, Japanese noodles, placing a snip of herb on some Thomas Keller-inspired dish....) but one of my favorite all-time scenes, still gets me, still makes me hungry: Moonstruck, when Olivia Dukakis makes Cher those eggs-in-basket toasts with roasted red peppers.

[Lesley]

I meant Olympia... duh.

[Diana]

Nauseating? Definitely. Terrifying? Absolutely. Is it the worst restaurant movie scene ever if viewed by a neurotic germ-o-phobic person like me? Without a doubt. The diner scene in the inane Tom Green film, Road Trip, where DJ Qualls (“Kyle”) sends back his French Toast to a portly, unhygienic cook who proceeds to place said French Toast down his pants before returning it to the table, is simultaneously comical and incredibly disturbing. In a city where health grades are posted in all restaurant windows, Los Angelos know all too well the anxiety felt when they learn their favorite restaurant is given a “B” rating. What exactly is going on behind those swinging kitchen doors?

Watching a scene like the “French Toast down the pants” clip in Road Trip, amplifies that anxiety to a whole other level. If my $40 petite filet is not cooked properly, do I send it back and risk it accidentally “falling” on the floor next to a (used) rat trap? If my soup is cold, do I say something, or pretend it’s a gazpacho, rather than risk receiving a “spit stew”? Road Trip has forever tainted my naïve impressions that restaurants will happily accommodate most customer requests. Is this a good thing? Am I saving myself from food poisoning and bacterial infection? Or am I paranoid? And devoid of the opportunity to receive a properly cooked steak?

[Zach Huddleston]

Without a doubt, my favorite food movie is The Christmas Story. The entire turkey sequence where the roasting bird and the wonderful dishes created from its flesh are described always brings me back to my own memories of gluttonous holiday meals with the family. The manner in which the meal is thwarted - by a pack of neighborhood dogs - reminds me of the frustrating calamities that always beset my family when events were thoughtfully planned. Then the triumphant, and unexpected, Chinese dinner with the food staring back at the characters, reminds me how fun unexpected food adventures can be, especially when shared with those you love.

[Jumpcut]

Honto ni (Japanese for "really") it HAS to be "Tampopo!" The famous egg yolk scene -- where a yolk is passed from mouth to mouth between a mobster and his lovely moll, until it breaks and drips yolk from her mouth -- is the most erotic food scene ever. Aside from the fact that this is the grandaddy of modern foodie movies, it's the perfect choice for a dinner at Geisha House!

[Dave Bullock]

Clearly that would be Delicatessen, a post apocalyptical French flick about a twisted landlord / butcher who serves up various tasty cuts of the whomever happens to be the new tenant in the building. My favorite food scene is the guy who's apartment if filled with snails and frogs which he heartily devours on the regular.

[Sku]

The worst has to be one of two 1980s B grade horror movies.

(1) The Stuff, about miners who discover a delightfully tasty substance and market it as a dessert. It turns out to be some kind of addictive extra-terrestrial substance which turns people into mindless zombies...kinda like Pinkberry.

(2) Motel Hell was about a ranch that produced the tastiest beef jerky around, only thing is that it wasn't exactly beef in that jerky...

[myste]

I am an avid food and film lover so it makes sense that my favorite film of all time is also my vote for the best food movie of all time.

Hands down, it doesn't get any better than The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover. Peter Greenaway is a master of cinematic style and the long horizontal pans along the length of the banquet tables are incredibly captivating. The themes of food, sex, love, and dismemberment run through all of Greenaway's films, but none is as strong an homage to the kitchen and beautiful foods as The Cook the Thief.

Whether it is the brilliant use of menus and food still life to frame the titles and chart the passage of time in the restaurant, the grotesque disdain that the dinner party shows to the entrees lovingly prepared and set before them, to Michael Nyman's sometimes nauseatingly intense gorgeous score, to the overwhelming final scene taking love of food to its absurd pinnacle of cannibalism, nothing quite touches my love of beautiful food and beautiful filmmaking like The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover.

Bravo Peter Greenaway, and bon Apetit to any food lovers out there who have not yet tasted this delicacy.

[Amanda]

The chilled monkey brain dessert in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom has to be my most memorable movie food moment. I think that scene permanently scarred me.

[Ivonne]

Fools Rush In: Families talk at dinner environment...but specifically when Alex compliments the tamales by yelling at the wrong deaf Aunt Rosa...see clip:

[Ivonne]

Oops! See clip on youtube:
youtube.com/watch?v=zKtkckc5yZE

[Darcy]

The Bread, My Sweet with Scott Baio. This makes my list because it was filmed in Pittsburgh, PA at an amazing biscotti bakery that I visit often. The plot is a little sketchy, but is outweighed by the thought of the how delicious the biscotti are.

[Christa]

Hands down for worst food movie: American Pie, for taking the most innocent of down-home desserts and turning it into a lurid sex toy. For making us watch a guy drink beer tainted with... you know. I certainly had a tough time stomaching pale ale after that, much less asking for it at a bar. And that "third base is like a warm apple pie"? Geez, guys, way to ruin pie AND third base for all of us!

[ipsedixit]

Rocky.

Nothing like punching large sides of cattle.

[Jofar]

Fast Times at Ridgmont High. "Huh?" you ask. The answer is simple, really. "There's nothing wrong with a little food on our time."

[Merna]

Oooh, Like Water for Chocolate, hands down -- a wonderful sensual flick leaving one with a hunger for life, not just the spices and food of Mexico.

[Seweryn]

I suppose the best worst movie food scene to me is in the not so memorable film entitled "Young Einstein" starring Yahoo Serious. The film is about food, beer to be more exact, but there is one seen that has stood out in my mind since this 1988 film came out, when the camera stops to show the baker placing 4 or 5 kittens in a giant pie tin and covering them up with dough.

Other scenes/films may be more real, such as Supersize me, showcasing what we really feed ourselves nowadays, but I think scenes such as the Cat Pie Baker drive home a nail harder into the minds of people to question where their food comes from, because I know after watching Supersize me, people probably drove out to McDonald's and ate some Chicken McNuggets.

Luckily we don't get to see the end product, nor was there any major riots from PETA for possible animal cruelty, but this scene was amazing because I can still remember it even though this film was so bad. I suppose it must have a cult following, but I wouldn't be surprised if people actually ate a pie like, maybe I'd expect that more to occur in Asia, not to be offensive or racist, but when one thinks of strange eats, Asia definitely comes in first.

[Seweryn]

Another great scene is the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation scene where they cut open that delicious looking turkey that Eddie's wife made, only to burst open upon slicing to reveal an extremely dried our bird with gizzards still intact. Amazingly funny.

However, I still stand by my previous comment as Young Einstein being the best worst food scene.

[ah-ha]

The last scene in Big Night that's done in one take with no dialogue. There is such a feeling of defeat,but also there is normality in the kitchen. Marc Antony puttering around, Stanley Tucci making an omelette, bread is sliced, breakfast plated. Tony Shaloub comes in and they eat together in silence and one brother puts his arm around the other. Such a powerful scene.

[em]

The most memorable for me is the Chinese short film, Gaau ji (Dumplings) from the collection Three Extremes. First, it's one of the few films in which Bai Ling isn't a complete trainwreck. But more than that, it's got to be the food horror film to end all food horror films. I will never look at dumplings the same way again. Whoever did the sound for that movie deserves an Oscar. Creepy!!

I hate to give away what's in the dumplings, in case folks haven't seen it, because it's definitely worth a rental if you love cringe-worthy horror. My boyfriend still refuses to eat steamed dumplings to this day. That's a powerful movie.

[Rob]

That restaurant sketch in Monty Python's Meaning of Life is by far the worst food moment in the history of film. The glutton sits down, starts ordering, and proceeds to eat and drink, covering himself in food, and sweating like a jogger. Then comes the projectile vomiting, into a strategically placed bucket. Finally, after eating one of everything, and puking everywhere, the Stereotypical French waiter (payed brilliantly by John Cleese) comes and offers him "just one wafer thin mint." The mint is rejected, but after prodding, he eats the "one wafer thin mint," and the waiter runs for cover, just as the diner begins to swell and explode.

[Eva]

Does it get more memorable than the restaurant scene in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life? I think not.

"Finally, monsieur, a wafer-thin mint. Oh sir, it's only a tiny, little thin one."

Can't eat a meal out without thinking about it....

[Kim]

How about the When Harry Met Sally orgasm scene? Or does that not count since food is only peripheral?

"I'll have what she's having."

[Kevin]

The most memorable culinary movie to me would be the passionately grim ride one takes through “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.” The film explores temptation and gluttony in some of the most artfully grueling film scenes that I’ve ever watched. These characters have no ability to abstain from verboten indulgences, much like the forbidden display of food found in the cave of the evil eye-wielding ogre in Pan’s Labyrinth. They gorge themselves as much in sinful behavior as they do in lavish food and wine. The movie is much like a buffet where you continue to nibble even though you know you can’t possibly take any more. Ultimately the viewer too feels the ill after effects of indulging in the film as the grim ending weighs as heavily as any food hangover I’ve experienced.

[CHRIS WOOD]

John Candy flipping three foot diameter pancakes in Uncle Buck with a snow shovel.

[China Duke]

A Christmas Story for total, utter disrespect of food in general.

The cut from randy leaving a deposit in the bathroom to a steaming pot of stewing red cabbage is classic. But there's also the Bumpuses dogs desecrating the Christmas Turkey, the ovaltine subplot, and the ceremonial chopping of the head off of the chinese duck, all of which are outdone by
Randy plowing his face into mashed potatoes and meatloaf to show us "how piggies eat:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ilZXITW1-k

[CSW]

The cult classic "Parents" has some throughly disgusting shots of various "mystery" meats in various stages of prepartation, and Randy Quaid chillingly answers the question what leftovers REALLY were before they were leftovers... "They were leftovers to be!"

[China Duke]

One more: The breakfast scene in Groundhog Day when Bill Murray realizes there are no consequences to his action, and orders and eats every type of breakfast food, topping it off by stuffing pies and pastries into his face and washing it down with a satisfying chug directly from the coffee pitcher. An excellent answer for those times when you feel like you could just eat everything on the menu!

[Max]

I think you have to back to the 1949 documentary by Georges Franju called "Le Sang des Betes" (English translation: "Blood of the Beasts"), which in shocking cinema verite fashion, chronicles the ordinary horror involved in the slaughter of horses, calves, sheep and cows by French slaughterhouse workers. The camera is unflinching and the images are shocking and unforgettable. (The only thing that I can think of that could be more stomach-turning is the time I watched a human autopsy) For anyone who consumes meat (and believe me, I love my meat...) this is essential viewing. "Fast Food Nation" has nothing on this.

[Jimmy B]

#1: Any film with Hannibal Lecter (specifically Hopkins). The man is an absolute foodophile and showed me for the first time that a foodie can be sophisticated without snobbery. He also taught me to be adventurous about eating, and to bring my own meals onto planes. Lecter's preparations and pairings were always spot-on, and his love for cuisine was absolutely inspirational.

[MaxMillion]

I wanna win this prize bc I've never been to Geisha House as I've heard it's overpriced... I'd love to find out what it's like with a bit of the check already taken care of!

Anyway, I *was* gonna say the egg yolk scene on Tampopo -- highly sensuous. Also I remember the kitten pie bit in Young Einstein -- that was silly and very funny!

But my vote is for the fantastic scene in the otherwise 'vin ordinaire' movie French Kiss when Meg Ryan's character is spying on her bf (I think) in a very fancy restaurant in Cannes, in the south of France, and she (well, her stunt double) does this amazingly brilliant prat-fall over a cart of fancy desserts and gateaux.

That sight gag was truly awesome work and side-splittingly hilarious. I really laughed until I cried and we watched it over and over.

[Michael L.]

Best food scene? The pie fight in "The Great Race," with Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis (impeccably unsplattered in all-white attire during the meringue melee)...for some reason, I now have a sudden urge to go to the Apple Pan...

[Jeff]

Pick any scene in Cannibal Holocaust... if you dare!!! Mwahahaha!!!

[Jeff]

No, seriously. In no particular order...
1. The Silence of the Lambs- Fava beans. Chianti. An old friend for dinner. Need I say more?
2. Hannibal- Hopkins eats Liotta's brain in front of him, and then doggie-bags it for the plane to share with other adventurous passengers.
3. Hostel Part II where the dude's torture fantasy involves cutting a tendon from a guy's leg and eating it raw in front of him as classical music plays.
4. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner- Because that was one long, awkward meal. I'd be afraid to ask for the salt and pepper.
5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre dinner scene.
6. My Dinner with Andre- the entire film.
7. What else? Seven- Gluttony. I think that's an automatic winner right there.
8. Breaking the Waves- Emily Watson feeding Stellan Skarsgard. Heartbreaking stuff.
9. Good Will Hunting- Either Will and Skylar going out for caramels or the boys grabbing a Double Burger.
10. She's All That- Freddie Prinze Jr. makes Chris Owen eat a slice of pizza with a pubic hair on it.
11. Lolita- Does licking a lollipop count as eating?
12. The Great Outdoors- John Candy has to eat a 64 ounce steak. The man was a one of a kind eater.
13. Animal House- Bluto's zit-popping scene with the mashed potatoes.
14. The Passion of the Christ- Jim Caviezel enjoys a Last Supper with his disciples. I think this was of some importance back in the day.
15. Ferris Bueller's Day Off- Abe Froman scene at the fancy restaurant.
16. The Wire, Season 4- When Bunny Colvin brings some inner city kids to a classy Baltimore restaurant and they're not sure how to act.
17. The Sopranos- Any scene at Satriales. Artie Bucco is the man.
18. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation- Because Christmas dinner with the Griswold clan can't be beat.
19. Home Alone- Where did Kevin's pizza go? In Buzz's belly, so if he wants a slice, someone'll have to barf one up, cuz it's gone!
20. Beverly Hills Cop- Banana in the tailpipe. Comic gold I tell you!

[Jason]

Best: the opening cooking montage of EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN. No one has ever shot a chef at work like that.

Worst: the most revolting is the pie eating contest that devolves into a throw up fest in STAND BY ME.

[rob maresca]

I totally agree with "Seweryn | June 20, 2007 at 08:14 AM" regarding Big Night! And the entire scene was shot without a cut! Awesome. Powerful.

[A Crew]

Good contest question:
I'm a sucker for any scene that shows characters sharing a moment over a meal. For me, it's how the actors relate that makes the actual food memorable. Griffin Dunne's "Addicted to Love" always makes my stomach growl as I watch Anton Depeux feeding Linda sensual sauces and savory bits as their bitter ex lovers spy on them from an abandoned building, mocking them with ad libbed dialogue. That scene is sexy, funny, heartbreaking and delicious. For the same reasons, I find "Mr & Mrs. Smith"'s post coital breakfast in their wrecked kitchen charming and erotic. Although the movie "Diner" doesn't have the same kind of moist sensuality, I love the cast's camaraderie as they bicker over food in their favorite booth. They make every plate of fries look mouth watering. On the opposite end of the spectrum, "Withnail and I" has some of the most disgusting food moments ever committed to celluloid. It takes a special kind of perversity to make a film about starving actors that turns the viewer OFF food. Writer-director, Bruce Robinson, subjects us to shots of unappetizingly greasy eggs, kitchen sinks overflowing with "matter," cold chips with a shriveled sausage (aka savaloy), and the most vile roasted chicken ever.

[Libby]

I would have to go with: Soylent Green. Didn't make me hungry and tempted no tastebud whatsoever.

[Jon]

It's gotta be the scene in The Blues Brothers where Jake and Ellwood feast on some shrimp cocktail at a fancy restaurant while asking, "How much for the little girl? How much for the women?"

[kj]

My favorite is “Fried Green Tomatoes," in particular the scene where Mary Stuart Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker have a food fight. The chocolate frosting in the scene would make any mouth water!

[Phil Lander]

Dana, Dana, Dana...please! The most memorable food scene, from any movie, hands down, is ANIMAL HOUSE. And you know the scene I'm talking about....."Let's see if you can guess what I am now. A zit! Get it!!" John Belushi+frat donkeys+fully stocked cafeteria=one of the most memorable food (or non-food) scenes ever!!!

[noah]

wow. that top 20 list is pretty intense but I think he forgot #21. the loveable 'I really need to get laid' flick

...so I do have one particular dining scene that I fancy (the 'O.R. they?' scene from Rushmore) but when I think of a memorable FILM about food, you just can't discard 'Charlie & the Chocolate Factory'

I mean, yeah, it's mostly a film about candy but for sensual reasons, both delightful and foul (the pourage in the beginning), Willy Wonka made a stronger impression on my taste buds than any other film growing up. No, I'm not talking about the Johnny Depp/oompa loompa iPod disaster. The ORIGINAL. Seriously, from Wonka bars to everlasting gobstoppers, this movie not only rots your teeth but sugar coats your heart as Charlie and co fly away on the gold time thing (this is where you go 'Awwwww')