I have never eaten bacon in my life, nor have I ever felt inclined to. Not when my friends and I went on holiday together and the aroma of bacon strips wafted from the breakfast buffet. Not when a Michelin-star chef prepared a special meal for me that he insisted would taste so much better with bacon.
Not when my colleagues declared that bacon was unequivocally the best among meats. The only time that I was slightly tempted—but never gave into it—was when I saw Howl cooking bacon strips with eggs over Calcifer, the fire demon from Howl’s Moving Castle (2004). The visual appeal of food in Studio Ghibli movies has long been a topic of discussion among fans of Hayao Miyazaki.
Whether it’s onigiri in Spirited Away (2001) or ramen in Ponyo (2008), there’s something irresistibly hyperrealistic—and simultaneously fantastical—about Ghibli food that makes you want to reach out and grab the plate off the screen with both hands. Chef Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar, who helms Bento Bento in Bengaluru and is also the co-founder of Edible Archives in Goa, understands this sentiment. In fact, she understands it so well, she’s treating fans to a two-day pop-up serving recreations of Ghibli dishes at Bento Bento.
Of course, this has to mean that Dastidar herself is a Ghibli devotee. (She is). The chef’s gateway to Miyazaki’s world was My Neighbour Totoro (1988)—a film that caused something to “happen to me and want to watch more”.
She was a student in Delhi back then and as.