Power Couples and the Cutthroat Culinary World Flavor A Taste of Hunger‘s Typical Marriage Story

There’s almost nothing harder to keep your eyes off of than a power couple. They always have this air about them, like they know the effect they have on us all and they like it that way. They are just naturally cooler. We let them be that way and it’s hard to pin down exactly why, other than the sheer force they emit into the world whenever they kiss or touch or look each other’s way. There’s a fire in these bonds we long and strive for and, at the end of the day, humans are masochists. We like to be close to what we can’t have, because it’s an exciting reminder that there is hope for us yet. It’s that impulse that draws you into A Taste of Hunger, a high-octane romantic drama that meshes the power couple archetype with the realities of relationships—and how that informs the price of success in the culinary world.
A Taste of Hunger follows Carsten (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Maggi (Katrine Greis-Rosenthal), who own a trendy and popular high-end restaurant in Copenhagen. One otherwise normal night, the married pair are faced with the gravity of their future when a representative from Michelin—a company who has published guidebooks on excellent restaurants since 1904—is rumored to have attended their dinner service. While attempting to secure at least one coveted Michelin star, secrets about their marriage threaten their ability to push through for the sake of success.
Sounds intense, right? Director Christoffe Boe certainly recognizes the gravity of the story he is presenting us, which gets the audience prepared for the level of high drama to come throughout the film’s 90-plus-minute runtime. He presents this tale like an epic, with a sweeping score and a perfect opening quote to set the scene: “If you ask me what I want, I’ll say I want everything.” This movie is about the quest for the perfect love, the perfect career and the perfect life, and Boe’s choices make it clear that this situation sits close to life or death. We feel the severity.