Title: タンポポ Tampopo
English Title: Dandelion
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Year: 1985
Cast:
- 山崎努 Yamazaki Tsutomu
- 渡辺謙 Watanabe Ken
- 宮本信子 Miyamoto Nobuko
- 役所広司 Yakusho Kōji
- 安岡力也 Yasuoka Rikiya
- 岡田茉莉子 Okada Mariko
- 大滝秀治 Ōtaki Hideji
- 大友柳太朗 Ōtomo Ryūtarō
SYNOPSIS
A truck driver stops at a small family-run noodle shop and decides to help its fledgling business. The story is intertwined with various vignettes about the relationship of love and food.
REVIEW
Tampopo is about food, and people who love food and eating. It discusses the proper way of eating certain dishes, but it also sometimes challenges such widely accepted eating habits, which can get you thinking about dining etiquette.
The film primarily talks about ramen, a dish consisting of a clear broth, egg noodles, and sometimes meat and vegetables. I think ramen is actually one of my favorite dishes in the world, especially the spicy versions, and it was good to hear an expert's opinion on the right way of eating ramen.
However, I like that Tampopo also argues against the experts' way of doing things, and in a sense encouraging people to find out how they define good food and how they determine the proper way of eating. When ramen cooks who have over forty years of experience argue that they don't want to listen to the negative comments of ordinary people about their food, Tanpopo replied, "But people who eat noodles are all amateurs. So why make noodles that amateurs can't appreciate?"
Tampopo also discussed how to properly operate a ramen shop, or rather any establishment that serves food to customers. In a nutshell, it is important to pay attention to customers, greet them sincerely while looking at them directly, and to make an effort to remember their orders.
Anyway, I like how the film presents food connoisseurs as ordinary people, such as truck drivers who are experts at ramen, or the lowly employee who knows more about French cuisine than his senior colleagues, or the homeless who have extensive knowledge about gourmet food.
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タンポポ Tampopo
