What's Cooking? (2000): The Thanksgiving Film About Family, Food, and Identity

To mark the film's 25th anniversary, this episode revisits What's Cooking? (2000) a groundbreaking multicultural Thanksgiving film directed by Gurinder Chadha. Four families. Four kitchens. One holiday lived through Black, Latin, Vietnamese, and Jewish identities including one of the earliest and most tender portrayals of queer family truth in early 2000s cinema. Amanda explores why this film was ahead of its time, how it reflected the real America long before Hollywood embraced intersectionality, and why its message still matters today. Continue the Thanksgiving Arc, if you enjoyed this episode… Listen to Thanksgiving Everywhere a tour of gratitude festivals and harvest traditions around the world. Next week… Stay tuned for Echoes of the Feast, one meal told across centuries, where every table keeps a piece of history." Resources & References Emanuel Levy, "What's Cooking? Film Review" – Variety (2000). Kevin Thomas, "'What's Cooking?' Simmers in Los Angeles Melting Pot" – LA Times (2000). Mary Pattillo, Black Picket Fences (University of Chicago Press, 1999) Karyn Lacy, Blue-Chip Black: Race, Class, and Status in the New Black Middle Class (University of California Press, 2007) Rubén G. Rumbaut – "Assimilation and Its Discontents" (International Migration Review) Jay Michaelson – "Queer Theology and the Traditions of Judaism" Loan Thi Dao – "Negotiating Culture: Intergenerational Conflict in Vietnamese American Families"Journal of Comparative Family Studies Andrea Weiss – Vampires and Violets: Lesbians in Film (Penguin, 1992) Patricia White – UnInvited: Classical Hollywood Cinema and Lesbian Representability (Indiana University Press, 1999)  Dan Jurafsky, The Language of Food (W. W. Norton, 2014) Trailer Attribution Contains a brief excerpt from the official What's Cooking? (2000) theatrical trailer — © Lions Gate Films. Used under fair use for commentary and criticism. Credits Written & Produced by Amanda Clemons Instagram: @BeyondTableShow Email: [email protected] You can find Beyond the Table wherever you listen to podcasts — including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeartRadio. Copyright © 2025 Beyond the Table Podcast. All rights reserved.