The kitchen can be the easiest place to cook up love. Hallmark, Netflix, and others figured this out a long time ago. The warm glow of the stovetop, the sweetness of baked goods, and the new opportunities of fresh ingredients combine to make an irresistible recipe.
Cooking and baking are natural professions or hobbies to place in romantic comedies. Characters can get to know one another while they prepare a meal, enter a culinary contest, or work to open a restaurant or bakery together. These ten movies might be predictable, but they're a cozy blend of sweet and savory.
Recipe For Love
Recipe For Love is an adorable rom-com starring Danielle Panabaker as a culinary hopeful named Lauren, and Shawn Roberts as a celebrity chef named Dexter Durant. Lauren is set to ghostwrite Shawn's cookbook, and her time with him turns into much more than recipe talk. The movie's title alone is impossible to resist.
No Reservations
Kate Armstrong (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a master chef who becomes her niece's caretaker. While maintaining a tight kitchen and watching over Zoe, whose mother has died in a car accident, Kate butts heads with sous chef Nicholas Palmer (Aaron Eckhart). The foodie film offers a different kind of romance as Nick helps pull Kate out of her head and into her heart, a move that is positive for everyone in Kate's life, especially Zoe.
A Gingerbread Romance
In A Gingerbread Romance, Tia Mowry-Hardrict plays an architect named Taylor Scott. Her firm enters her in a contest to build a giant gingerbread house, but she can't stand her teammate, a French pastry chef. The pastry chef quits, so Taylor needs to find a replacement.
Duane Henry plays Adam Dale, a single dad and local baker. Taylor persuades Adam to join her in the competition, but it turns into much more than a Christmas contest.
The Sweetest Christmas
Hallmark can't resist a good gingerbread face-off, which is why The Sweetest Christmas features Lacey Chabert as pastry chef Kylie Watson, a competitor who has made the finals of the American Gingerbread Competition. Kylie wants to win the contest more than anything, but she is distracted by a proposal that never happened. A handsome restaurant owner named Nick might just turn things around, though.
Elevator Girl
Lacey Chabert, the Hallmark Queen, teaches Ryan Merriman's character how to make hummus. She is a free-spirited waitress while he is an uptight lawyer. Getting trapped in an elevator together certainly brings these two closer, but as perfect as they are for each other, their differences threaten the relationship. The leads have so much chemistry that they are quite easy to watch, and the hummus scene is priceless.
Truly, Madly, Sweetly
Nikki Deloach is charming in Truly, Madly, Sweetly. She plays a San Francisco food truck owner who specializes in cupcakes. Dylan Neal plays a finance manager named Eric whose aunt passes away. Eric's aunt was also a big supporter and customer of Natalie's, which is why the aunt leaves both Natalie and Eric a former bakery. The property is a historical site, so Eric and Natalie decide to renovate it together. Naturally, a budding romance gets in the way of business.
The Princess Switch
The Princess Switch is a Netflix Original starring Vanessa Hudgens in two roles. Her more down-to-earth character is Stacy De Novo, a baker from Chicago. Her fancier role is Lady Margaret Delacourt, the Duchess of Montenaro. The look-alikes decide to trade places, which gives each of them an opportunity to find true love and walk a mile in the other's shoes. Those who enjoy this movie will definitely want to check out its sequel, The Princess Switch: Switched Again.
Julie & Julia
Amy Adams plays an aspiring cook named Julie who is weary of her job and ready to take on an after-work project. She cooks meals for herself and her husband out of Julia Child's cookbook and blogs about it (in the early 2000s, when blogs were still new).
The movie travels in time from Julie's scene to that of Julia Child (Meryl Streep), herself. Child's romantic adventures in France with her husband are beautifully depicted, as are the steps to the publication of Child's first cookbook.
A Dash Of Love
Jen Lilley plays Nikki Turner, a chef who lands a job at her dream restaurant. The owner, Holly Hanson (Peri Gilpin), sees Nikki getting closer to the executive chef, Paul Dellucci (Brendan Penny). After Holly fires Paul and Nikki, the chefs open their own restaurant. While the film is technically themed around Valentine's Day, A Dash of Love is heartwarming any time of year.
Pizza My Heart
Pizza My Heart is one of Freeform's best romantic comedies. An Italian family pizza feud has been going on for years and years. The Prestolanis and the Montebellos are each quite proud of their popular establishments, but everything is jeopardized when Gina Prestolani (Shiri Appleby) and Joe Montebello (Eyal Podello) find romance. Against their parents' wishes, Gina and Joe fall in love.