Food on Film : Lobster with butter from Woody Allen’s Annie Hall

It’s that perfect moment of falling in love on film, as Diane Keaton and Woody Allen wrestle and wrangle with live lobsters trying to make a simple seafood lunch in Annie Hall.

It’s that first test of a relationship when you’re both faced with a fear, with a test, and it trials you both. They work together boiling the water and lowering in the live lobsters. Cameras click, she photographs him, they smile and shriek at the same time.

We never actually see them eat the lobsters, but if they did I’m sure it would be just like this. Buy live green lobsters if you want the authentic effect of the process. Freeze them first to minimize the squeals from the chef and do the right thing by them. Once cooked, I think the best and the only way to serve lobsters in the summer is to let a little fire toast their shells. Grilled shellfish, smoky and salty all at once served with lashings of butter is much like this scene simple but stunning. It’s fun to make, a frivolous task for so little food but all at once it’s sweet, looks lovely and is the perfect thing to make together.