For food lovers who also adore animation, Ratatouille was and continues to be the go-to movie to settle in with after a long day. Pixar has been releasing a ton of emotional movies like Turning Red, but Remy and Linguini's partnership is the flick to watch for foodies. The best part is that it is chock-full of little and large gastronomical references which the sharpest fans will be able to spot.
From well-known wines to Pixar easter eggs and the real life chef who inspired Gusteau's character, only foodies will know about these secret details in Ratatouille. How many of these were visible on the first watch?
The Food Magazine Titles Were Real
Ratatouille began with how famed Chef Gusteau was around the world, with his name and face appearing on several magazine covers. Foodies would instantly recognize these magazine titles because these culinary periodicals exist in real life.
Cuisine at Home and Bon Appétit are some of the world's most renowned food magazines, and the fact that Gusteau was on them showed just how popular he was in his field. These magazines were incredibly detailed, with real cover lines, bylines, and barcodes on them.
There Are Green Smears Left On The Board After Linguini Chops Leeks
There's no doubt that food is the true star in Ratatouille, therefore the animation of each vegetable is made with care and awareness. Food lovers adore that the textures and movement of each vegetable is honored, right down to how they are chopped.
When Linguini slices up leeks to make his soup, viewers can clearly see that the animators went the extra mile and depicted the green that oozes out of leafy vegetables when they are cut on the chopping board. The leeks leave visible green smears on the wood which makes the experience of watching the movie so much better.
Collette Had A Rack Burn
Ratatouille was a delight to watch due to the smallest details, and that's what made it one of Pixar's best movies. When Collette is explaining kitchen safety and best practices to Linguini, viewers can see why she's so adamant on this: her own wrist featured what looked like a rack burn.
Professional chefs and bakers almost always get this injury while handling things from an oven, when the hot rack hits their inner wrists. Colette's experience was shown in this small detail in the movie.
The "Lasseter Family Winery" Is A Real Brand
One of the wines served at Gusteau's is from the "Lasseter Family Winery," complete with a logo that featured grapes, a rose, and a bee. This is named after the executive producer for the movie, John Lasseter, but that's not all.
The "Lasseter Family Winery" is a real brand that the producer owns and sells, and real foodies will recognize the familiar bottle in the movie as a cute easter egg to the crew and to real life. The real life bottles also feature colorful illustrations which weren't present here, as they could perhaps be too distracting.
Gusteau's Doesn't Have Prices On The Menu
Menus generally exist to inform customers about what's available at a restaurant, and especially how much each item costs. However, this is not the case with Michelin Starred restaurants, just like Gusteau's was.
Ratatouille stayed true to the norm and didn't print prices on the menus that patrons were referring to, and this attention to detail makes it one of the best food movies of all time. Every menu is well-detailed with entrees, appetizers, main courses, and desserts, but not with prices next to them.
Linguini's Chinese Takeout Boxes Are Also In A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, And Inside Out
There are food scenes that make viewers hungry, then there is poor Linguini's fridge. He had containers of Chinese takeout in the fridge, which were familiar if one looked closely. The same Chinese takeout boxes are seen in A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, And Inside Out.
The Pixar easter egg is culinary and cute, recalling other movies in the same universe. These takeout boxes would not be as popular in France, where Ratatouille is set, so it's definitely a hidden message left for food loving fans to spot.
The Attention To Detail In The Ratatouille Is Immense
The final dish in Ratatouille is a victory in animation — making mouths water the way a live-action food scene would. Eagle-eyed viewers would spot that the texture of every tomato, eggplant, and zucchini is shown in jaw-dropping detail, right down to the sauce.
The sauce for the ratatouille glistened with dried spices as well as fresh herbs like rosemary and parsley, and steam rose from the freshly prepared dish. The amount of detail in this one dish was astounding.
Chef Auguste Gusteau Was Inspired By Real Life Chef Bernard Loiseau (And Is Also An Anagram!)
The story of Chef Auguste Gusteau was a sad one in the movie, as he is just a ghost who died of sadness after the loss of a Michelin star. This heartbreaking story was not an invention.
Pixar took inspiration from Bernard Loiseau, a gastronomical legend from France who died by suicide when he found out about a star that was going to be knocked off. Like Gusteau, Loiseau was also a pioneer in French cuisine, and foodies would recognize the parallels well. Additionally, Auguste is an anagram for his last name Gusteau.
The Restaurant Staff Hierarchy Was Accurate (And Remy Learnt About Them)
Pixar's movie accurately depicted the high stakes pell-mell that ensue in a real-life high profile kitchen like Gusteau's. When Remy read the cookbook in the sewer, he took the time to read about every position filled at the eatery.
Every host, line chef, sous chef, waiter, and busboy was shown in the correct manner in the movie, and Remy reads up on it earlier which is how he is able to explain it to audiences later.
The Ratatouille Recipe Was Actually The Confit Byaldi By Thomas Keller
Ratatouille can be made in several ways, but the one in the movie was the more elaborate and sophisticated Confit Byaldi style by Thomas Keller, who consulted on the movie. The dish takes four hours to prepare and is not the usual stew.
Vibrant vegetables are arranged like an accordion in circles and baked to perfection with a pepper sauce and vinaigrette to boot. Fans of French cooking would recognize this important difference.