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Anyone who has ever watched a movie based on a Marvel comic knows you've got to stay put until after the final credits roll. There's always a clip that alludes to the sequel, prequel or a spin-off -- but no one would have imagined that the post-credits scene from The Avengers would spark a major shawarma buzz. The less-than-a-minute scene shows the Avengers team at an unnamed restaurant eating shawarma. The setup takes place toward the end of the movie, when Iron Man (played perfectly by Robert Downey Jr.) suddenly craves a shawarma.

"Have you ever tried shawarma?" he asks Captain America (Chris Evans). "There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it." And with that, sales at Middle Eastern restaurants around the country and particularly on the West Coast are supposedly skyrocketing. People who have never heard of shawarma before are clamoring to find it.

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bormang2

Lights, camera...eat!

Tommy Lee Jones once didn't do a film because there was a scene in which he was supposed to eat on camera. Tommy Lee Jones doesn't eat on camera. Ever.

That film was Man of the House, and it's a good thing that the producers caved to his demands, for the world would be a far, far worse place if that film had never been made.

From Breakfast at Tiffany's to Diner, film has followed food to great celluloid success.

Reality, however, is far different from what Hollywood would have you believe, so skip the Audrey Hepburn and Steve Guttenberg (two equally prolific and talented actors) and get right down to the nitty-gritty of the food world with these stunning documentaries about what we eat, how we eat and why we eat.

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Photos courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

This is not a movie about sushi.

Before you go to see Jiro Dreams of Sushi -- which you absolutely should, and at your earliest convenience before it leaves town on April 22 -- know one thing: This is not a movie about sushi.

One could be forgiven for thinking that it is. After all, there are roughly 100 shots -- many of them verging on pornographic -- of deftly constructednigiri sighing down onto a plate, the sushi itself the focus of a lens with such a narrow depth of field that it makes the edges blur out into something ethereal and dreamlike.

There are similarly duplicated shots of Jiro Ono's weathered 85-year-old hands making and remaking these bites for enthralled audiences at his 10-seat sushi restaurant in a Tokyo subway station, all of it scored by the woozy strains of Philip Glass's famous symphonic cycle. Metamorphosis has never met a better match for its unsettling diatonic harmonies than Jiro Dreams of Sushi's story of the underlying tensions that come with becoming the best at something in the entire world.

And at the heart of it, that's what Jiro is about: mastering something. The idea that you're witnessing the artistry of a living master. The master of what almost doesn't matter -- only the fact that he mastered something. Ono's impeccable sushi nearly takes a backseat to the awe that he inspires in people purely for choosing a job and devoting his entire life to that one task.

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Was he a replicant?

What's the greatest science fiction film of all time?

If you didn't just go, "Oh, Blade Runner," I want you now to imagine me shooting you the bird as I walk away.

As I was re-watching it for the ump-teenth time the other afternoon, I couldn't help but get hungry when Deckard was eating at the noodle bar at the start of the film. The design of the set is so iconic, there's a local food truck, The Rice Box, which was inspired by it.

From Blade Runner's dystopian noodles to the weird little biscuits that Luke eats on Dagobah, culinary wonders abound in the realm of science fiction. One could plan a whole menu, a sci-fi chef's tasting menu, of futuristic foods.

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Chuck Cook Photography

A photographer and his show

Alex Gregg is not only an award-winning bartender at Anvil; he is also a professional photographer, and he recently put his skills to work last October at the very popular Les Sauvages Supper Club dinners. The fruits of his labor are now on display at Catalina Coffee on Washington Avenue.

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Willy Wonka wants you to ride his boat into this fudge tunnel. What?

Like a lot of kids, I grew up watching Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory all year round -- but especially during the holidays.

The movie is, to me, the best adaptation of a Roald Dahl book so far (just barely ahead of Matilda, of course). Gene Wilder plays the manic Willy Wonka with that perfect blend of childlike vision and humor along with twisted, dark, adult drives and desires -- a duality which was often explored in Dahl's books.

I rewatched the movie over the holidays with my parents, who'd never seen it before. Showing the classic children's movie to adults had some unintended consequences, however. Namely, the fact that a large majority of the lines in the movie seem to have been written purely as cheeky set-ups for the old "That's what she said!" punchline. That's Dahl for you, though.

As I noticed double entendre after double entendre, I started keeping track of them while I tried not to laugh too inappropriately in front of my parents. After all, we'd just gotten back from church.

5. "You can suck 'em and suck 'em and suck 'em, and they'll never get any smaller." -- Willy Wonka, on his newest creation: the Everlasting Gobstopper

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Photo by Christina Uticone

When I grabbed a book and headed out to Hermann Park last week, I had no intention of eating, much less of writing a Fast Times review of the new Pinewood Café. My favorite reading spot is near the paddleboat rental, which is right next door to the café and its lovely, dog-friendly patio.

The patio was full of families with their kids -- not my usual scene, to be honest -- but I was instantly hungry as I looked around at the wraps, burgers, and sandwiches on the tables. I wandered inside to place my order and noticed the generous indoor seating area. Note to self: Pinewood Café is good for a rainy-day snack, too.

I was tempted by the list of wraps, which included standard options like Caesar and Club, and the more unusual Bahn Mi and Buffalo. Craving something fresh and green, I opted for the California: house greens, avocado, tomato, sprouts, cucumber, fresh turkey. I chose the spicy cilantro dressing at the recommendation of the woman who took my order; she informed me that all of the café's dressings are made fresh in-house.

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Christmas movies aren't all about plaintive children and heartfelt homecomings. Some of the best culinary scenes in cinema occur in seasonal flicks. Here are five to feast your eyes on:

5. Macaulay Culkin's monstrous ice cream sundae in Home Alone. Abandoned for the holidays by his distracted family, Kevin fulfills every child's dream by gorging on a massive bowl of ice cream while watching violent movies.

We could only find the above slightly altered video of this, but it is an awesome slightly altered video.

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Last year for Thanksgiving, we treated you to the top 5 overeating scenes from the movies (in honor of all the face-stuffing so many of us are doing today). This Thanksgiving, we're celebrating another indulgence: pie.

Bonus: No footage of Mr. Creosote to ruin your appetite. You're welcome!

5. "The Worst Pies in London" from Sweeney Todd

Technically, this is the English version of a pie. That is to say, it's filled with meat. (Human meat?) But we're equal opportunity pie-lovers around here.

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Um...you've got a little something...just...right there on your chin. Yeah. Right there. And...kinda on your shirt, too.

There are a lot of taboos around what we eat as human beings, and even taboos around how we eat what we do. Eating human flesh to survive because you're trapped in the Andes? Here's a book and movie deal. Eating human flesh because you've simply developed a taste for the stuff? Nightmare.

Becoming overweight on your own? Not taboo (although you certainly may be judged for it in other ways). Becoming overweight through having a completely creepy feeder-gainer relationship with someone who gets their rocks off by more or less forcing you to become morbidly obese? Yeah.

As a result of these food-related taboos and more, the horror movie genre has always found new and exciting ways to make our skin crawl by exploiting commonly held taboos like cannibalism. Below are ten of the most horrifying scenes from horror movies that will ruin your appetite for days. Trick or treat!

10. Linda Blair spews pea soup in The Exorcist.

Warning: The rest of these video clips range from seriously disturbing to outright NSFW. Proceed with caution.

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