What's Cooking?

              I find it sad that Thanksgiving has become such a forgotten holiday.  In some ways Thanksgiving doesn’t even exist anymore except to talk about Black Friday sales and football.  Christmas specials and music begin the day after Halloween, bypassing Thanksgiving all together.  There are very few movies centered around Thanksgiving.  Maybe they will start there in the plot in order to lead up to the Christmas finale, but an actual movie about Thanksgiving is rare.  This might be part of the reason I like the film What’s Cooking? so much.  The plot celebrates a holiday that so few even think about anymore.  That doesn’t mean it should only be watched in the month of November.  There are a lot of other elements that make it a film that can be watched year round. 

                What’s Cooking? follows four different families of different cultures as they prepare and celebrate Thanksgiving.  Each family has their own foods, customs, and problems.  Of course, as with many families, these problems get brought up around the dinner table.

                Elizabeth Avila (Mercedes Ruehl) is the head of the Latino household.  She is planning on having a big family dinner where not only her daughter will be bringing her new boyfriend, but Elizabeth herself will be introducing her family to a man nobody knows about.  The last thing Elizabeth needs is for her son to surprise her with the information that he invited her unfaithful ex-husband to the dinner as well.

                In another family, Ruth and Herb Seelig (Lainie Kazan and Maury Chaykin), an older Jewish couple, are welcoming their daughter home for the holiday.  At least they’re trying to be welcoming.  Rachel (Kyra Sedgwick) is a lesbian and her parents do not quite know how to handle that.  What makes the situation even more uncomfortable is Rachel is bringing her girlfriend, Carla (Julianna Margulies), home with her.  Rachel has an announcement she wants to make about her relationship with Carla, but not everyone at the dinner knows they are gay.  It is the secret Ruth and Herb desperately want to keep, but when Rachel and Carla are seen together, everything may fall apart.

                The African-American family has an entirely different set of uncomfortable moments.  In this family Audrey Williams (Alfre Woodard) has to deal with her very critical and questioning mother-in-law.  She tries her best to be pleasant, but with all her other problems it is a tough thing to do.  Her husband, Ronald (Dennis Haysbert), is working all the time which creates a strain on their marriage.  It doesn’t help that Ronald is also very critical of their son, Michael (Eric George), who has decided to take a break from college to pursue other interests that Ronald does not agree with.  It’s questionable as to whether or not Michael will even come to the dinner.  With Ronald’s mother constantly asking questions about Michael and taking shots at the food Audrey is making, Audrey’s control is hanging by a thread.             

                In the Asian household there is a conflict of two worlds.  The adults were raised in Vietnam while their children were raised in the United States.  There is a struggle over how the children are turning out, especially between the mother, Trinh Nguyen (Joan Chen), and her daughter Jenny (Kristy Wu).  No matter what Jenny does it is somehow wrong and she is seen as turning bad.  This doesn’t fully make sense since her older brother is the one who was kicked out of school, but hardly anything is said about that.  With so much tension in the house, Trinh is looking forward to her oldest son coming home for the holiday.  She sees Jimmy (Will Yun Lee) as the model for his other siblings and believes he can reason with them, especially Jenny.  When Jimmy calls to say he will not be coming home because he has to study, Trinh understands but is upset.  He was her hope in bringing their two worlds together for the holiday.            

                While it is clear pretty early on how two of the families are connected, it isn’t until the end that how everyone is connected is revealed.  In the meantime, while visiting each family, the viewer gets to see a lot of food being made.  It’s fascinating to watch the different dishes and meals get put together.  If I had to choose just one of the families to eat with I would probably choose Elizabeth’s.  She made tamales, and I’m pretty sure I saw her make fresh tortillas too.  Her family also welcomed everyone to their table, whether they really wanted them there or not.               

                While I would choose Elizabeth’s table first, I would like to visit each family.  All the food may not be to my taste, but I would really enjoy learning about each culture over dinner.  Food can say a lot about a culture and the conversations would teach me a great deal as well.  One thing that is clear from watching the film is that no matter what the culture, in essence, the families were all the same.  They each had problems and they all had to figure out how to handle them.  That is something that is true of all families, no matter where they are from.