The Menu Ending Explained: Understand The Profound Meaning Of These Courses
The Menu is a film that encompasses many genres. It’s a gripping thriller, a ferocious satire on the world of the rich and the contemporary obsession with world-class dining experiences, and ultimately a gastronomic experience of being savoured dish after dish. It is therefore foreseeable that, however satirical, the culinary choices of the film are particularly intriguing, under the banner of the sometimes-absurd trends of contemporary haute cuisine. The Menu offers highly conceptual and highly sought-after courses, which trace the career and private life of chef Slovik, played by Ralph Fiennes, and his brigade.
The exceptions are three dishes prepared during the films, two of which close the film. It is important to understand the profound meaning of these courses and the non-random choices that surround these recipes, to fully understand the message of the film. Continue reading the article only if you are not afraid of spoilers or have already seen the film. Otherwise, you can read the review without anticipation: The Menu conquers with its delicious wickedness.
The Menu Ending Explained: Cheeseburgers and Campfire S’mores
In its finale, The Menu contrasts two typical recipes of the American culinary tradition, much loved by the American people but rarely associated with haute cuisine. At the end of the film, we see the protagonist Margot biting into a cheeseburger on board a ship, watching the restaurant explode in the distance. Catching fire inside is the latest, craziest dish on Slovik’s menu: the human version of campfire s’mores.
In Italy, the first course is quite well-known and easy to find, unlike the second course. The cheeseburger is a sandwich with a swiss of grilled meat in the middle, together with vegetables and various sauces, to which a slice of stringy cheese (usual cheddar) is added. Campfire s’mores, on the other hand, are a treat that is prepared while hiking, camping or otherwise gathering outdoors around a fire. A marshmallow is stuck on the end of a stick, brought to the flame until it melts a little and then sandwiched between two bars of chocolate and two biscuits, effectively creating a sort of sweet hamburger. That is the perfect counterpart to the cheeseburger.
As a much-loved snack for little ones when they play outdoors with their parents or scouts, for many Americans, s’more is inextricably associated with childhood and happy memories. The same goes for the cheeseburger, but only for the protagonist Slovik: it reminds him of his beginnings as a chef when he prepared it in an unpretentious fast-food restaurant. It should not be forgotten that the cheeseburger is a highly nutritious and energetic food, created to provide a hot and quick meal for workers during their lunch break. For this reason, it is inextricably associated with the proletariat.
How To Interpret The Ending Of The Menu
It was Slovik who came up with the s’mores as a final dish together with his assistant Elsa. This is the culmination of an exclusive menu, which however foresees the death of all the participants in the dinner, guilty in the eyes of the chef of having taken away the passion and love from his profession. In the words of Slovik himself, s’more is far from good food, due to the overabundance of sweet ingredients and poor quality of the same. His challenge is to ennoble it, bringing it to the highest levels, but using the diners as “sticks”, making them, his helpers, himself and the entire restaurant become fuel for the preparation of the dish.
After discovering his intentions, Margot manages to escape the deadly ending of the evening by exploiting information discovered in Slovik’s house. Just before being surprised by Elsa, Margot enters the forbidden building and sees a photograph of Slovik as a young man, smiling. He’d just been awarded employee of the month for his job as a cheeseburger cook. Back in the dining room and determined not to lose her life, Margot provokes Slovik, claiming that hers is a kitchen without love and the fruit of obsession. So, she dares him to make her a cheeseburger, knowing that this will trigger an emotional reaction in him.
Margot tastes her cheeseburger judging it as good and satisfying the chef’s unexpressed desire to have a customer who finally focuses on satisfying the palate. When she asks for the leftover hamburger to be taken away, Margot corners Slovik: as an impeccable chef, Slovik cannot refuse her this service. Having pre-agreed her price, Margot pays a crumpled $10 bill for her sandwich and leaves.
At the last moment, she turns around, before leaving the room: she is free, but what will become of all the other diners? The wife of the elderly man who used her escort services sometime before motions her to seize the opportunity and not turn around. Margot leaves using the coast guard vehicle that was left at the dock. As the restaurant explodes in the distance, she opens the bag containing the evening’s freebies, tosses the menu items into the water, and pulls out what’s left of her sandwich, chewing on it as flames rise in the distance. Cunning and vitality made her the sole survivor of the dinner party.
The cover image for this article is taken from The Menu by Disney.
