Blog 2

Liam Breslin
Dr. Esa
Reel Food: Blog 2
2/9/20
Blog 2
Within the film, Babettes Feast, several instances and conflations of both food and faith are explored. The people of the island have been faithful people for as long as the movie exposes, in this case from when Martine and Fillipa were younger, as in the present time within the film they are elderly. 

However, we see this concept of faith and religion more subtly implemented in accordance with the themes and uses of food in the film. When Babette shows up in Denmark from France, we know little about her aside from the fact she is a French Chef and what her family story is, but not about her ability to cook or what she cooks. In fact, before the feast itself, the citizens of the small Danish island are appalled even by the thought of Babette's cooking and vow not to say a word since they anticipate how poor the food will be. This is simply because through their protestant isolation, the people of the island are faithful to god and are sheltered from experiencing how delicious French food can be. As the feast progresses, we learn more and more about Babette herself and how well her cooking ability is, as well as how wrong the citizens were. To get technical with you, I believe that the French food symbolizes things that the Danish characters would shun due to their ethics and teachings, such as general outside influence or even biblical ideas of lust or gluttony to some degree. However, with the conclusion of the feast, the food itself exposed the Danish to new concepts and delicious tastes that change who they are and how they think and feel by the end of the movie as they all return to their homes happy and cheerful rather than dull or cautious to the outside.

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