Ratatouille: An Animated Account of Cooking, Taste, and Human Evolution

Abstract

This paper analyzes the immensely popular animated film Ratatouille as a social and cultural document. It begins with a recapitulation of the movie's story line – a saga of an astute, ambitious and talented rat, who becomes transformed into an accomplished haute cuisine chef. The film illustrates recent anthropological writings on the central role of cooking in human evolution. It also shows how varieties of cooking and table manners provide key indications of the civilizing process. Ultimately, Ratatouille explores distinctions and similarities between “man and beast”. It communicates the idea that all living creatures share more in terms of aptitude and feeling than divides them.

Keywords:

• Animated film
• cuisine
• human evolution
• human–animal relations
• identity
• Paris
• France

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Committee on Research at the University of California, Berkeley, and to the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation for providing the funds necessary to produce this article. Jane Brandes contributed useful editorial suggestions and Carole Counihan provided a perceptive, helpful reading of the paper. We give both of them our sincere thanks.