Style Living Self Celebrity Geeky News and Views
In the Paper BrandedUp Hello! Create with us Privacy Policy

#FollowFriday: Pop-culture inspired food accounts to follow on Instagram

By Kara Santos Published Nov 06, 2020 4:29 am

Food is very much a part of popular culture. With people spending more time at home, the kitchen has become a refuge. People are cooking, baking, and preparing more food at home, whether for personal consumption, for business, or simply as an outlet to showcase their creativity.

For this week’s #FollowFriday series, check out our selection of Instagram accounts that take love for films, television, books, and more to the real world through amazing eats. These accounts may just inspire you to try creating your own versions of famous film treats at home.

Anime Food

@en93kitchen

If you've been binge-watching Studio Ghibli films on Netflix, you’ve probably been craving for some of the animated food shown onscreen. Japanese creative EN 93 Kitchen recreates the heartwarming comfort food seen in famous anime films. This aesthetic IG feed is full of cute little cookies, cakes, and savory dishes featured in anime flicks along with reference screenshots.

The creations range from bento boxes from My Neighbor Totoro and Your Name, miniature Borrower-sized cookies and tea as seen in Arriety, the bacon and eggs platter from Howl’s Moving Castle, a real life pumpkin pot pie from Kiki’s Delivery Service along with the iconic Kiki cake featured in the film.

The account also shares original creations like “Catbiscotti,” a toasty bread version of the Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro.

Toast for Film Buffs

Technicolor Toast

Who knew that movies could be reimagined as toast? This delightful Instagram account, run by a self-described "cinephile and toast afficionado" features edible toast artwork inspired by films and TV shows.

Using jams, spreads, candies, sprinkles, and edible flowers, Technicolor Toast manages to capture the essence of different films on a piece of bread. She has pretty good taste in both movies and ingredients, thoughtfully plating original toast creations inspired by classic movies like Beetlejuice and Alice in Wonderland to modern hit series streaming today like Anne with an E and Stranger Things.

View this post on Instagram

Brûlée Baby ? #amelie #ameliepoulain #audreytautou #toast #cottagecore

A post shared by Technicolor Toast (@technicolor_toast) on

The Amélie toast is a lovely take and comes in the same color palette as the 2001 French-German romance, with thinly sliced strawberries, halved rainier cherries, vanilla custard, white sugar and brulee, and fresh mint for garnish.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Toast features house colors with different jams (strawberry for Griffindor, green tea milk for Slytherin, Blue whipped cream for Ravenclaw and lemon curd for Hufflepuff) with sprinkles, gold stars and a sorting hat made of caramel in the middle. The Stranger Things toast uses sesame paste lining on cream cheese and M & M minis to recreate the iconic Christmas lights scene.

The IG account also shares a plated shot of the toast surrounded by movie reference props along with an easy-to-follow recipe on how to prepare each film-inspired toast. Every toast creation feels like a work of art.

Onscreen eats

Film Foods

Have you ever wondered about specific dishes and drinks served in movies? Film.foods is an Instagram account that takes movie appreciation to the next level by documenting memorable food moments in movies and zooming in on specific dishs and drinks consumed by characters onscreen.

The account shares screenshots and video snippets of all types of food from the good (the Christmas Feast in Little Women), the bad (chicken livers in The Devil all the Time) to the outright ugly and disgusting (Doom Dinner in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom).

The account also shares trivia and reviews about certain movies and occasionally posts movie guessing games for readers based on the food in films.

Eat between the lines

Baking Fiction

There are a lot of inspirational book accounts on Instagram, but Baking Fiction manages to combine the love of literary masterpieces with food. The account captions photos of food with matching quotes or excerpts from novels.

View this post on Instagram

Mrs Cratchit made the gravy (ready beforehand in a little saucepan) hissing hot; Master Peter mashed the potatoes with incredible vigour; Miss Belinda sweetened up the apple-sauce; Martha dusted the hot plates; Bob took Tiny Tim beside him in a tiny corner at the table; the two young Cratchits set chairs for everybody, not forgetting themselves, and mounting guard upon their posts, crammed spoons into their mouths, lest they should shriek for goose before their turn came to be helped. ~ We didn't have goose today, but every Christmas I spare a thought for my pals who helped me make this Christmas dinner one July, in 30 degree heat, for The Little Library Cookbook. Thank GOODNESS for brilliant friends. Merry Christmas, everyone!

A post shared by Ghost of Christmas Present(s) (@bakingfiction) on

A traditional Christmas spread is described as Charles Dicken’s feast in A Christmas Carol, while handmade dumplings have a passage from Amy Tan’s The Kitchen God's Wife.

The account manages to bring some memorable meals from the written page to the table, while dishing out personal book recommendations.

Geeky Cakes

Regali Kitchen

Closer to home, we have a cake maker in the Philippines who specializes in geeky birthday cakes and cupcakes. I may be biased as we’ve personally ordered from their bakery for several years running for my nephews’s birthdays, but this cake shop has been creating the coolest customized cakes and goodies for all occasions, most of which are inspired by films, tv shows, cartoons and more.

From a full 3-D cake of Smaug the dragon from The Hobbit, stacks of Harry Potter’s spellbooks, multi-tiered cakes garnished with edible Lego minifigures, to cupcakes decorated with Game of Thrones Westeros House Sigils on Shields, 3D One Piece anime cake, or 2D character recreations of BT21 characters, there’s nothing this bakery can’t do.

Bento box goodness

Mama Chow Box

Bento box arrangement could be considered a whole art form in itself. There are loads of inspirational food accounts just focused on the creation of the single-portion take-out or home-packed meals.

View this post on Instagram

Mini Burgers and Twister fries. I found these mini buns on FB Marketplace - they aren’t chocolate flavored, they’re just colored. They’re not that soft though, so kids ended up eating just the bottom part and the patties..ergo snacks became open-burgers! ? These store-bought twister fries are really good, got them at Unimart. I’ll cook me a bowlful later and catch up on Netflix, bukas nko maghohomework..I’m really gulay! ? Happy Friyay, everyone!!? • • • • • • • • • • • #mamachowbox #bentoph #bentophcommunity #bentoforkids #bentoideas #foodforkids #kyaraben #obento #kawaiibentoph #foodie #cutebento #bentobox #bentolunchbox #cutefood #kawaiifood #bentoart #charaben #obentogram #pinoybento #pinoybentoholics #characterbento #kawaiibento #charaben #kyaraben #baonserye #bentoart #eatsasmallworld #eatsoutsidethechowbox

A post shared by Ces Syyap (@mamachowbox) on

Mama Chow Box is another local account you can follow to get some kid-friendly kawaii inspiration. The adorable food character creations like Totoro Rice Burger, Mini Burgers and Twister fries, and Monster Inc. sandwiches just look too cute to eat. This account shares where to source the individual ingredients and fun accessories used, like trays, bento boxes and other decorative elements.

(Banner image via Studio Ghibli)