Joe McNamee: Cork film fest is a feast for the imagination

Before food entered my life, I was gorging on music and film

Chili Finger is a dark comedy where a woman discovers a finger in her food

Before food became one of my life’s great passions, I was gorging on music and film, obsessions since childhood. I began my professional writing life as an arts journalist and music and film remain an integral part of my daily life, along with food. Hardly surprising, so, that these individual passions should bleed across into each other, especially food and film.

According to research by legendary Spanish chef Ferran Adria and behavioural psychologist Charles Spence, 20% of how we ‘taste’ a foodstuff is decided by the visual impact, ever before it graces our lips, so it is hardly surprising that food films can resonate so powerfully. If you’re not convinced, try watching Babette’s Feast (1987) — one of my all-time favourites — on an empty belly as the eponymous Babette’s magnificent feast eventually melts the ice-bound hearts of her hosts in an austere and deeply repressive Lutheran community. Exquisitely shot, it is like watching still-lifes by Vermeer or Rembrandt grow ever more appetising on screen and perfectly illustrates how food on film taps deep into our sensory selves, stirring emotional and social desires.