What a delicious piece of work.

My Chinese girlfriend missed noddle when we watched it. And we had noodle for dinner.

Surely one of the great food films, Tampopo's main story - about a widow struggling to keep her husband's ramen restaurant going, who gets help from a trucker and various members of the community - in supplemented by vignettes about people's relationship with food. These range from the amusing to the occasionally tragic to the completely absurd, especially the one that opens the film about a gangster who equates food and sex. A couple of moments with live animals aside, this is entirely delightful and yes, I had to stop mid-way to make myself something to eat. You almost have to. Not something pre-fab. You want to cook it yourself. It's not so much that the film makes you hungry, but that it makes you want to get your hands right in there. The main story isn't about a magically talented cook, but someone who does the work, with the help of some quirky friends (love the gourmet tramps). I didn't realize there was so much industrial espionage in the ramen game. The story also has a samurai film/western overlay - strangers come to town and help the community - but it's subtle, and can only really be felt in retrospect.