1970's: The Godfather

    Over the past few decades we have become more aware of how our diets can influence our health. In America eating has become a social hobby with friends, families and for celebrations subsequently resulting in obesity. Although we know more about food it does not seem to stop Americans from indulging. Obesity, as well as many other health issues seem to be a prevalent problem. 

     I want to look at popular movies from the last four decades observe their dietary choices and how, if any, they have evolved over the years because after all we know how powerful of a tool the media can be. I will be observing movies in the 70's, 80's, 90's and 00's.

1970's: The Godfather (1972) 

   The Godfather is a classic mafia movie that took place in New York during the 1970's. The movie showed the struggles of the Corleone family to maintain their position in the mafia world. The movie itself had a big cultural influence from Italy. Many of the traditions, drinks and food are evident throughout the film such as wine, pasta and bread. According to imdb.com "There are approximately 61 scenes in the film that feature people eating/drinking, or just food."

1) Beverages: 

Wine:

Wine seemed to be the main character in this movie. Red wine was almost in every scene, whether it was a family get together, mafia meeting, holiday, wedding, or a simple conversation. Many of the bottles of red wine observed in the movie were in homemade bottles, continuing one of the Italian traditions of making your own wine.

The only scene where we saw white wine was one of the last scenes of the movie in Las Vegas where there are a plethora of women waiting for Michael Corleone each with a glass at hand. To me this suggested that red wine is considered a family drink, whereas white wine is more of a party drink.

*Red wine does have health benefits, it is a known antioxidant associated with some health benefits against cancer and other diseases. This is one of the things that makes the Mediterranean diet such a success.

   - Scotch: The second favored beverage was scotch. The drink stood for a variety of things a peace offering in meetings, a proper greeting for male guests and a way of relaxing. Within the first few private meetings of the movie the Godfather offers these shots of liquor to his guests. Although it was a favored beverage, only the men in the movie drank it, making me think it was a drink of "power" to the director or high class, but not many women were in the movie.

2) Fruit:

I was surprised to see many fruits in this movie, but unfortunately none of which were actually eaten. The fruit seemed to be more of a decoration and a centerpiece than a snack. Some of the fruits seen were: apples, oranges, pears and red grapes.

Oranges were a very important part in the filming of the movies according to imdb.com "The presence of oranges in the Godfather trilogy indicates that a death-related event will soon occur."

The fruits seemed to be more of a tool than a food in the film, the only time it is seen being eaten is nearly two hours in when a man at a meeting is peeling an apple. 

3) Meals:

The traditions for many Italian families are the sit down dinners with everyone. Their meals usually consist of: bread, wine, pastas, meat of sorts, and a salad. To my surprise not many meals were actually eaten in this film. 

- The first meal observed was between Michael Corleone and his girlfriend and his sisters wedding. It is hard to make out exactly what is on both plates until Michael asks her how her lasagna was.

- The second meal observed took place in Los Angeles between two men regarding a favor for the family. There was rice, vegetables (green beans and carrots) and some sort of meat. I don't think the man offering the meal was Italian.

- The third meal oberseved was during the holidays. There was a table of men eating foods and one man cooking. As Al Pacino's character walks in he insists on teaching him how to cook for 20 men, his recipe calls for:

     "Start off with oil, fry some garlic, throw in tomatoes and tomato paste, shove in the sausage and  

      the meatballs, little bit of wine and sugar."

In the kitchen of the man while he is cooking you also see several boxes of spaghetti, cans of tomatoe paste, a bowl of tomatoes and several loaves of bread, all typical of the Italian cuisine.

- The fourth meal  observed was towards the end of a meal with a couple. The table had red wine, butter, bread, salad, and a meat of some sort. By the time we see the meal the dinner is over and appear already half eaten.

- The fifth meal observed was chinese takeout food. It was a meeting of about six men, each of which had a coca cola bottle and several boxes of opened food. There were egg rolls, lo mein and fried rice.

**As good as cantonese food is, their meals tend to be very high in sodium, which is currently being linked to heart and stomach diseases.

- The sixth meal observed was never eaten. The dinner table was set for a husband and instead of eating it him and his wife get into a fight. The table is set with: wine, salad, bread, fruit as a centerpiece and pasta.

** Although dinner is an important part of the Italian tradition this clearly did not focus on that. The argument between the husband and wife further proved that because in nearly every scene where food was present it was either almost finished or not eaten at all.

4) Desserts:

The only desserts observed were the luxurious 4 tier wedding cake that Connie Corleone had at her wedding, that we saw no one eat and a platter of cookies.

Overall the dietary choices throughout the movie were consistant with that of the Mediteranean diet.

-Wine is a core food (eaten at every meal) as well as bread. Although these choices are okay I do suggest that the bread be whole grain instead of white because white bread has the nutrients removed whereas whole grain provides you with fiber, vitamins and minerals.

-The secondary food (eaten at almost every meal) seemed to be meats. While meat does provide an essential part of our diet (protein) you should choose your meats wisely. Try to avoid marbled meat that provide saturated fats like: salami, prosciutto and chicken thighs and skin.

-The peripheral food (eaten on special occasions) seemed to be desserts. We rarely saw any desserts except for at the wedding and baptism in the movie.

- Another important part of the movie was their alcohol consumption that seemed to take place in nearly every scene of the movie. It is important to note that alcohol should be consumed in moderation. According to the USDA:

Men: 2 alcoholic beverages a day (12 fl. oz)

Women: 1 alcoholic beverage a day (12 fl. oz.)

Although the choices were not all that bad, the portion sizes and the beverage choices were not that great. I hope to see the dietary choices evolve over the decades through other movies.

Coming soon... Raging Bull