How Culture and Biology Shape Our Love for Studio Ghibli’s Iconic Food

By A.J. Weiler  |  January 22, 2025 | 9:15am
Anime Features Studio Ghibli
How Culture and Biology Shape Our Love for Studio Ghibli’s Iconic Food
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This past week I, like many others, found myself trapped indoors, surrounded by the smoke of the Los Angeles wildfires and grappling with a mixture of grief and anxiety. I turned on one of my go-to comfort movies — Studio Ghibli’s timeless classic, My Neighbor Totoro (1988).

Each Studio Ghibli film is its own mesmerizing universe complete with animation that is almost mind-numbingly beautiful — just what I needed. I let myself slip away into My Neighbor Totoro, then Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), traveling far away from smoky Los Angeles.

Shortly into my solo watch party, I was reminded of one of the most iconic and comforting aspects of Hayao Miyazaki’s filmmaking — his depictions of food. In Totoro it’s fresh vegetables, thick porridge, and perfectly assembled bento boxes. In Kiki’s Delivery Service, hot pancakes and breakfast sausage, steamy milk soup, and of course, herring and pumpkin pot pie. Watching these meals come to life instantly put me at ease … and made me quite hungry.

Anime’s depictions of food are frequently crafted with exceptional care and attention to detail, and the results are not lost on audiences. How is it that animated food, far from photorealistic, can be so appealing? Why am I salivating over a drawing of pot pie? As it turns out, there are legitimate cultural and biological reasons behind this phenomenon.

Dr. Christina Ceisel, a Cal State professor and cultural researcher, explains the magical ability of food to trigger emotion and nostalgia by exhibiting artistry and cultural meaning. She notes that food is “understood as part of a cultural system embedded within a matrix of rituals, values, and practices that make up the rhythm of daily life.”

Watching our favorite anime characters prepare food transforms cooking into something deeply meaningful. Preparation becomes ritual, and with that ritual comes deep emotional resonance.

Depictions of food in animation, as in the works of studio Ghibli, are emphasized by exaggeration, one of the twelve principles of animation coined by Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas. Exaggerated motion captures intentionality. Hand movements are deliberate and gentle, enhancing a sense of care that imbues every meal with significance beyond nutrition. Each stir, toss, and chop becomes distinct and significant.

In real life, food typically mirrors the texture and color we encounter in the world around us. In anime, texture and color are amplified to capture our attention. Eggs with vibrant yolks sizzle as they hit hot pans, stretchy noodles slip between chopsticks and dive into steaming broth, and sleek knives slice through crisp red and green vegetables. Embellishment creates an immersive visual feast.


Frying eggs in Howls’ Moving Castle.

We are innately drawn to colorful food. Vibrancy indicates freshness, and a variety of hues correlates with nutrient diversity. Watching colorful foods onscreen activates our primal urge to consume fresh, nutrient-packed goodies. Exciting combinations of texture and color create tantalizing visual experiences, manipulating our senses and tempting us with the promise of nourishment and satisfaction. We romanticize real-life food and find ourselves googling pot-pie recipes.

Humans have spent thousands of years preparing and sharing food, breaking bread with each other in celebratory and mundane ways. In a modern day plagued by busy schedules and Instagram Reels showcasing the quickest meal preps on Earth, it’s easy to lose the artistry and essence of our food. Anime reminds us what food means. It is not just sustenance, but also comfort and communion. Encapsulated in our food are our childhoods, our sick days spent with homemade soup, our holiday favorites shared with family and friends. Anime creates space for these frequently overlooked aspects of world-building, creating more highly emotive narratives. Iconic Studio Ghibli meals transport us from a world of bland microwave dinners into idyllic realities where food becomes a celebration of culture, creativity and comfort.

A.J. Weiler writes about culture and entertainment. You can find her on Medium and Muck Rack.

 
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