Released in 1961, One Hundred and One Dalmatians centers around the 15 stolen puppies of Dalmatians Pongo and Perdita, and follows the parental duo’s search to rescue their pups from being turned into fur coats. 

The third Disney film to be featured here on food & a film, One Hundred and One Dalmatians is not only quite possibly my favorite of all the Disney classics, it also happens to feature a pretty solid amount of food moments, making it a fantastic film selection for this blog.

Set in London, as well as the English countryside, the film’s first food moment is quite appropriately afternoon tea, with Nanny bringing out a tray topped with a teapot, teacups and saucers, a sugar pot, and three teacakes frosted with pink icing and topped with what looks like cherries or raspberries.

Those little red fruit toppings magically disappear, however, when Cruella de Vil (potentially the greatest Disney villain of all time), extinguishes her cigarette into one of the pretty pink teacakes.

Following this afternoon tea scene, the film’s remaining food moments take place during sequences involving Cruella’s henchmen, Jasper and Horace, while they hide out in the old de Vil place. When Sgt. Tibs first arrives at the dilapidated manor, we see Horace chomping on a sandwich as Jasper drinks wine straight from the bottle. Horace then fixes himself a couple of additional sandwiches, and as he plops down on the floor next to Jasper who is on the sofa, Jasper playfully slaps Horace, which causes one of the sandwiches to fall on the floor. Rolly, the always hungry pup of the litter, smells Horace’s remaining in-hand sandwich and proceeds to steal the slice of meat from the sandwich while Horace is distracted, causing the remaining sandwich fixings of lettuce, tomato and cheese to fall on the floor.

Upon realizing that his sandwich is now empty, Horace goes to fix himself a replacement sandwich by the open piano where there is also a large and rather ornate three-tiered cake with a missing slice. As Horace is assembling his new sandwich, Jasper accidentally picks up Sgt. Tibs instead of his wine bottle, and when Tibs escapes across the piano in a panic, the lid closes onto Horace, causing his face to fall flat into the confection.

Later into the night, Jasper is still drinking and Horace has switched from sandwiches to a can of beans, which he eats with a knife.

In addition to these highlighted food moments from inside the de Vil manor, upon thorough inspection of the mise-en-scène during these sequences, we see various empty and discarded cans and bottles including several cans of beans and sardines and bottles of wine and liquor, as well as an apple core, half a lemon, and a fork sticking out of a boot.

For my One Hundred and One Dalmatians vegan pairing, I decided to do a take on afternoon tea complete with four different tea sandwich options: vegan versions of the classic cream cheese & cucumber, as well as curried chicken, ham with arugula and whole grain mustard, and cheese with granny smith apple and spicy dijon mustard. To accompany the sandwiches, I also included a massive oatmeal, date and walnut scone complete with vegan clotted cream and strawberry jam.

Of course I could not complete my version of afternoon tea without incorporating some teacakes based on the ones from the film, complete with pink frosting and raspberry toppers. Finally, to round out the spread, I included a cup of English afternoon tea and dressed the table up with a mini green hydrangea on top of a Dalmatian spotted tablecloth, naturally.

And that does it for the fourth and final September pairing here on food & a film! If you would like a sneak peek of the five films selected for the month of October, make sure to check out Instagram Stories on Friday for a little preview trailer. Thank you for your support!