Author of the 
Since Toy Story 3 was just released, I’ve been thinking about some of my favorite Disney and Pixar films, especially Ratatouille.
If you’ve ever seen this terrific animated film in which the characters celebrate the joy of cooking and unleash their creativity in the kitchen, you’ve probably noticed how surprisingly realistic and delicious the CGI food in the movie looks.
Below is a short video from the folks at Pixar and Disney which shows just how they cooked up all that food using special effects (with help from James Beard Award winner Thomas Keller).
According to Wikipedia’s Ratatouille Movie Page:
“Renowned Chef Thomas Keller allowed producer Brad Lewis to intern in his French Laundry kitchen. For the film’s climax, Keller designed a fancy, layered version of the title dish for the rat characters to cook, which he called confit byaldi in honor of the original Turkish name. The same sub-surface light scattering technique that was used on skin in The Incredibles was used on fruits and vegetables, while new programs gave an organic texture and movement to the food.”
Author of The French Laundry Cookbook and Ad Hoc at Home, Chef Thomas Keller also served as the culinary consultant on the James L. Brooks directed film, Spanglish.
The filmmakers and animators also took inspiration from Anthony Bourdain’s bestselling culinary memoir, Kitchen Confidential, when looking to create an authentic atmosphere for the film’s cooking and restaurant scenes.
Enjoy!
You can also see this fascinating video about the foods in Disney and Pixar’s film Ratatouille here.
You can see other recent Weekend Video Spotlight Videos here.
You can also see HuggingtheCoast.com’s growing collection of food, cooking, and travel videos here.
Please join us tomorrow to see this week’s Hugging the Coast.Com Week in Review, an overview of last week’s special food features (as well as selected previews from the week to come).
If you liked this video on HuggingtheCoast.Com, you might also enjoy:
- Funny Star Wars Darth Vader Supermarket Parody (Weekend Video Spotlight)
- 911 Cooking Emergency…Nathalie Dupree to the Rescue!
- Celebrities in the Kitchen: Famous People Who Have Been Chefs or Cooks
- Indian Street Food: A Meal Fit for a Slumdog, a Millionaire, – or a Jumbo King!
- If the Hitchcock Film, The Birds Was Made With Yellow Peeps (Weekend Video Spotlight)
(Photo Credit: Ratatouille Movie Still by Disney and Pixar.)
June 26th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
very cool!