VEGGIE DOGS? TRUFFLE POPCORN? WHATEVER HAPPENED TO “REAL” MOVIE-THEATER FOOD?

By Laura Weiss

You decide one night to make the trek to a local movie theater. You want to ditch Netflix for a change. You want to take in a film on the big screen with a humongous tub of buttery, salty popcorn at your side.

But watch out junk food movie fans! A tide of haute movie snacks — fancy popcorn, hand-crafted chocolates and even vegetarian wieners — is threatening to push aside traditional movie munching fare like Junior Mints and Milk Duds. That’s too bad. These days a movie theater is just about the only place you can  enjoy, nearly guilt free, a vast junk food banquet.

But then again, maybe peddling chic foods is designed to signal a theater’s total trendiness.

Take the new Munro Theater at Lincoln Center. It’s fully embraced chic movie fare. Last week, my hubby and I went to see Margin Call. At the dimly lit concession nook, on offer were the following, none of which came cheap:

• Parmesan Black Truffle Popcorn (a large costs $7)
• House-made pretzels ($3)
• Organic veggie dogs ($6)
• Brooklyn-made artisanal chocolates ($6) and, almost as an after-thought,
• “Classic movie candies.”

The “classics” are almost an afterthought. But it’s exactly these doctor-not-approved snacks I crave when I visit a movie house.

When I was a kid, movie time meant frozen Milky Ways. Today, I want a tub of popcorn doused with fake butter and salted to a fare-thee-well, then washed down with a bucket sized Diet Coke. For candy mavens, there are Milk Duds, Sno-Caps, Gummi Bears, Twizzlers, Skittles and  Reese’s Pieces.

Who would even consider ordering up a veggie dog when presented with this junk food assemblage?

So what about that truffle popcorn? It does boast that dusky truffle taste. And it’s exceptionally rich. In fact, it was challenging to finish a small cup. What’s more, the popcorn comes bathed — actually more like drenched — in truffle oil. When you’ve polished the corn off, a half-inch puddle remains to slosh around the bottom of your cup.

If it’s real food you’re wanting, Indie Food and Wine, just a few steps behind the concession stand, offers up sandwiches, salads, coffee and wine.

Munro Theater at Lincoln Center
144 W. 65th St.
New York, NY  10023
212 875 4256

For more on movie theater food at the new film center click here.

Photos by Laura Weiss, and UggBoyUggGirl via flickr.

Laura Weiss, a West Side Rag columnist, is a journalist and author of the recently released Ice Cream: A Global History (Reaktion Books). She blogs at www.foodandthings.com.