Today I caught the movie ‘Udon’. The movie revolves around Kosuke, the prodigal son of an udon shop owner, who returns home to Sanuki, Japan after a short and highly unsuccessful stint in New York. After a bear-y scary encounter and fortuitous encounter a group of food columnists, Kosuke and gang make it their calling to re-discover off the beaten path udon mavens. As a nation-wide udon phenomenon kicks off, the group feels the double-edged sword of their success and one (I’m not saying who) comes to terms with his father’s idiosyncrasies.
Udon
Fanaticism is alive and kicking in most places, but more so in Asia where people are not used to physical or verbal intimacy but instead use food to express love, happiness and celebration.. Outside of Japan, Singaporeans love a food craze and even more so if it involves a 2-hr long queue.
The movie was entertaining and a little kooky at times but best of all, you don't need to be a bon vivant to enjoy these movies. It definitely made me more appreciative of the effort and pride which some take to hand make udon. “Finish up your noodles! Kids are starving in Africa and someone in Japan had actually bothered to make these from scratch and hand slice them to near identical widths!” I also realized how some Japanese restaurants here deface the taste by treating it as if it were mere escort for something esle . Well-made udon needs nothing more than just shoyu and green onions as such cleansed presentation only serves to bring out the natural taste and texture of udon noodles.
Though enjoyable for most parts, the movie was nowhere as heartfelt as Lee Ang’s Eat Man Drink Woman (a must watch).
Eat Man Drink Woman
You know what would be cool though? If somebody (not part of the Hollywood A-list) made a movie out of Victoria Abbott Riccardi’s Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto.
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