Digging in With A24
Scrounging: A Cookbook begins with an introduction by Canadian chef, author, and producer Matty Matheson titled A Theory of Scrounging. Here, he emphasizes the importance of food in film and its versatility.
“There are so many ways to use food in a movie,” Matheson writes. “If an actor eats an apple in a scene, how are they eating it? Do you actually see them slicing it? Or taking big sloppy bites and talking while they chew? When you’re watching Brad Pitt eat a shrimp cocktail in Ocean’s 11, or Samuel L. Jackson eat that burger and suck on that straw in Pulp Fiction – that’s what makes those moments more human, more real.”
Each page not only gives readers ingredients and recipes but also offers step-by-step directions to achieve the dish or drink down to boiling water or what type of pan to use.
As a bad cook like myself, I made one of the easiest recipes to prepare and to stomach – Lady Bird’s Microwave Meal Thanksgiving: Inspired by the Munchies. And here is the recipe: “one joint, six Smart Ones microwave meals.” This meal is a perfect representation of the hard worker who is too tired to cook at the end of the day but isn’t too tired to roll a joint.
One of the more outrageous recipes was Mark Watney’s Baked Potato dipped in crushed Vicodin from Ridley Scott’s 2015 film The Martian. While it’s not impossible to obtain, we do suggest taking some precautionary measures. The ingredients include: “one seeded potato, one tab of Vicodin, and one can of military-grade, standard issue protein (if you can’t find that, a gray oblong of corned beef or a refrigerated, well-done chicken breast will suffice).”
They weren’t all so crazy; some of the recipes are authentic dishes. One of the yummier meals comes from Bong Joon Ho’s 2019 film Parasite. Mrs. Kim’s Eight-Minute Ram-Don with sirloin is a quick, yet delectable Korean dish that combines ramen and udon. I didn’t trust myself to make the steak, so I made it without meat and it’s now a regular dish during my late weeknights.
A timeless beverage in Scrounging: A Cookbook is Aunt Frances and Aunt Jet’s Midnight Margaritas with Barbados lime and cragged salt from Practical Magic. The frozen slushy is not only perfect for a summer day, but also a late-night drink reminiscent of the film.
Scrounging: A Cookbook gives you enough recipes to make one dish or drink a week for over a year. While not all of the recipes seem digestible, it never hurts to give yourself or your friends a good challenge.
