Sunday, February 26, 2017

Dinner In A Movie: Fatso

By: The Food Hunter

It's time for another Dinner In A Movie!


Some posts are harder to write than others, and this is one of them. Fatso, a 1980 film written and directed by Anne Bancroft, is actually a comedy with lots of food moments, but it's the topic of obesity that makes it hard to write about.

In the movie Dom DeLuise plays an overweight Italian man who attempts to turn his life around after the death of his equally obese cousin. As we all know, losing weight is not easy, especially when you are part of an Italian-American household that loves to eat.

In the movie Dom is also motivated to drop pounds when he becomes romantically involved with a girl. And although he really likes her, he still finds it hard to resist food. In the end he realizes that learning to love himself, no matter what he weighs, is what's most important.

Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight, by drastically cutting food out of their diet, will be able to relate to many of the scenes in this touching movie about eating addiction, romance and learning to love oneself. 

At his cousin's viewing Dom, feeling anxious, sneaks off to eat. You see him dipping Italian bread into a pot of spaghetti sauce and immediately calming down as he eats it. Being Italian/American like Dom, I know how good that dipped bread must have tasted and how comforting it can be. 

If it was my house the sauce, also know as Sunday Gravy, would look like this:


Sunday Gravy, though time consuming if you count making meatballs, is one of the easiest meals to put together. Once the meatballs are made and the rest of the meat is browned it is just a matter of putting them all into a pot of tomato puree and letting it simmer.

Sunday Gravy
4 cans of tomato puree, I prefer Cento brand
garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
Parmesan rind 
meatballs
a variety of browned meats, I usually use sausage, country style pork ribs and chicken thighs

Place everything in a large heavy bottom pot and let simmer for hours. Remove cheese rind before serving.

15 comments:

  1. Those meatballs look delicious, love the way you have talked about food and movies :)

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  2. Oh, I haven't seen (or heard of) Fatso - I'll have to add it to our Food 'n Flix suggestion list. Your gravy sounds amazing...and yeah, I totally want to dip some breadsticks in there.

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  3. That sauce looks so good-- reminds me of my old boyfriend's big Italian family. Always a lasagna or a pot of "gravy" in the kitchen!

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  4. I'm going to need to watch this movie now. And this gravy looks spectacular! YUM!

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  5. Nothing better then good Italian gravy!

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  6. Love Sunday gravy so much. Make a delicious marinara with herbs, then add all the meats and let it simmer forever is how my Italian family did it. With some chianti, of course :)

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  7. This looks so good. I love a nice easy family dinner like this, and my family will devour this!

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  8. I too have written about the gravy question. How cool you grew up in one of those houses where it was 'Gravy"!

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  9. That sauce looks delicious. I said gravy to one of my Italian friends once and she said she'd never heard that before.

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  10. I forgot about this movie! The Sunday Gravy looks amazing! Italian comfort food!

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  11. Dom DeLuise was such a fun actor to watch. I think I even saw Fatso. Love this Sunday Gravy - what a great pot of Italian goodness!

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  12. I have never attempted to make a gravy before. Who knew it had several different types of meat? I'm putting it on my to do list.

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  13. Can't wait to try this Sunday Gravy recipe. Thanks for the recipe. Italian families are very similar to Hispanic/Latino families. We love getting together, specially on Sunday's and cook, eat and be loud together as a family. So many great memories. I don't think I've seen Fatso before, will look it up.

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  14. This looks absolutely delicious! I know it's Monday morning, but you're making me seriously hungry with this! I need to make it!

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