#Ratatouille movie recipe book professionalThe writers and animators spent serious amounts of time in the several professional kitchens they based Gusteau’s on, learning to understand the relationships and dynamics found in those kitchens. Understand me here: I am not criticizing Pixar for putting these things in. (That’s only a slight paraphrase, and the original really did say dicks.)ĭid you catch the nasty little remark the Sous Chef, Horst, tosses at her as he leaves after Linguini and Remy impress people? “The plongeur won’t be coming to you for advice anymore, eh, Colette? He’s got all he needs.” He takes the opportunity to remind her of her place, and to confirm her worst fears.Īnd yet, Colette soldiers on, despite everything, because she loves the food and the cooking. Women cook with their hearts, men cook with their head and their dicks. The only recipes women are fit to change at all are the ones handed down by their grandmothers – another gender stereotype in cooking, that women cook old-fashioned homestyle comfort food, while men make bold, challenging strong food. One of the standard stereotypes in restaurant kitchens is that women are precise, follow recipes and directions to the letter, but that men are bold experimenters, trying new things, pushing the boundaries. Notice also how Colette wants to follow the recipe precisely, while the male Linguini shines when rat Remy nudges him into improvising. Notice how she is then hurt and angry when he ignores her advice and blows past her anyway. and then actually thanks him for listening, almost pathetically grateful for him giving her even that minimum of respect. Notice how she doesn’t want to train him: she’s worked damn hard to get as far as she has, and she knows that training a male for the same job could mean she’s going to watch him be promoted above her in short order (which, in fact, happens). She’s been doing cleanup, and maybe some vegetables and soup. Notice that, while her position is never specified, she’s low enough on the totem pole that she’s given the job of training the despised plongeur (“garbage boy” in the film, actually dishwasher), a job only given to the person occupying the station the new person is moving into, so she’s pretty damn low. Generally, though, she’s really a very accurate portrayal, even examined quite closely. I’m going to ignore all the artifacts of the Disneyness of this movie - ok, most of them, there’s one I want to hit later - like the clean language, the obligatory minimum level of femininity, the romance. Just think how tough must Colette be to be tougher than these guys. Gusteau’s may have a higher concentration of, ahem, colorful characters than most real kitchens, but cooks are a motley bunch of misfits. They left out the drinking and drugs and the obscenities - it is a Disney picture - but none of these things are uncommon. The crew at Gusteau’s is pretty (stereo)typical, a bunch of guys most people wouldn’t, at first blush, want to meet in dark alleys, some of whom have spent time in prison for unknown reasons, or are serious gamblers, or gun runners, or just slimy little guys about whom you have to wonder how they made it to the station they have. Because I am the toughest cook in this kitchen! I have worked too hard for too long to get here, and I am not going to jeopardize it for some garbage boy who got lucky! Got it? Rules designed to make it impossible for women to enter this world. Why do you think that is? Because high cuisine is an antiquated hierarchy built upon rules written by stupid, old men. How many women do you see in this kitchen?. You waste energy and time! You think cooking is a cute job, eh? Like Mommy in the kitchen? Well, Mommy never had to face the dinner rush while the orders come flooding in, and every dish is different and none are simple, and all different cooking time, but must arrive at the customer’s table at exactly the same time, hot and perfect! Every second counts and you CANNOT be MOMMY!Ĭolette, of course, is the one woman cook in the kitchen at Gusteau’s: It came out sometime after I graduated culinary school, while I was working my first few prep jobs, chopping and washing, and maybe occasionally plating a salad. For a cook, for someone who devoted her life to food and cooking for years, it’s deeply moving. But it also touches the heart of gastronomy, the love and study of deliciousness. Pixar’s Ratatouille is a masterpiece, a beautiful, fun, well-made movie all on its own.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |