We Have A Ton Of Excellent Food Films To Recommend!

Did you know that we've seen a ton of awesome food films that need a new home on your television? From killer documentaries, feature films and animated shorts to interviews with the people who make them, take a deep dive into our colorful food films section for movies from award-winning writers and directors, and freshen up your movie-centric ice-breaker repertoire. Here are a few of our recent favorites:

It might be – for better or, likely, for worse – the dish that the majority of Americans associate with Chinese cuisine. It's available in pretty much all of the 50,000 or so Chinese restaurants in the United States. It's sweet and sticky, with just the right amount of heat for the American palate. But how exactly did General Tso's Chicken reach such levels of ubiquity? And who was General Tso in the first place?

From LA Weekly and Gourmet to the Los Angeles Times, if he was writing about or critiquing it, I was reading it, eating it and slowly but surely realizing my repetitive internal monologue of "Man, I would love to be a food writer" was more than an anxiety-driven pre-graduation proclivity.

For those who treat depictions of food with reverence, who still dream of sushi thanks to Jiro and who understand (or at least admire) the obsessive, frenetic nature of the perfectionist chef, there is Ramen Heads. It's the Japanese term for those with an extremely refined palate for what is arguably, outside of sushi, the country's best-known dish. If a steady stream of slowest-motion, highest-resolution ramen porn set to graceful waltzes sounds like your idea of two hours well-spent, make your way right through the ubiquitous split-style noren curtains — this is the film for you.

Under Contract is a new documentary that delivers the first feature-length look into the controversial and widespread practice of contract farming in the American poultry industry. Filmmakers Sally Lee and Marcello Cappellazi interview chicken growers for meat processing giants Perdue, Tyson and Pilgrim's Pride to see how once-promising deals with Big Food turned into a vicious cycle that led to hundreds of thousands — if not millions — in debt for the farmers.

For those who didn't catch Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent at last year's Tribeca Film Festival or at this year's New York and Los Angeles theatrical releases, you're in for a treat.