What was so special about the Cheese Burger in the menu (2022)

In Mark Mylod’s dark comedy “The Menu,” Ralph Fiennes plays star chef Julian Slowik, owner of the luxury Hawthorne restaurant on a private island cut off from the rest of the world. The film is about a group of wealthy people who visit the restaurant to taste Slowik’s culinary masterpieces, but soon discover that they will not make it out alive. Margot Mills/Erin, who doesn’t represent the wealthy class, escapes the chef’s murderous plan by ordering a cheeseburger, while other patrons accept their deaths after failing to leave the restaurant. Of course, the viewers must be curious to learn more about the specifics and importance of the food. However, this is what we can say about it! Spoilers follow.

What is the significance of the cheeseburger?

Before valuing his image as a chef of international renown, Slowik worked as a regional chef producing dishes that satisfied his customers. When Erin enters his private room, she finds a newspaper picture of Slowik cooking a hamburger and looking incredibly happy. As his work progressed, he started to lose the same excitement since he started serving a group of upper class customers who pretended to like Slowik’s food. The chef quickly came to the conclusion that his customers came to dine at the luxurious restaurant to uphold their reputation and boast of their status and fortune.

To avenge the death of his pleasure in cooking for the satisfaction of one’s heart and hunger, Slowik tries to kill some of his patrons who champion the aforementioned elite class. According to Slowik, the group’s wealthy members forced him into the charade of being an “artist” by encouraging him to create useless “works of art.” By opting for a cheeseburger, Erin stands out among his regular customers. The young woman’s request gives the chef a chance to prepare a dish that can satisfy the appetite and heart after some time. Slowik cooks the cheeseburger himself, because he doesn’t want to miss out on the fun of making a dish that will be useful while his chefs prepare food for other customers.

Except for Erin, Slowik’s customers are in Hawthorne to pretend to enjoy the chef’s cooking. The pretentiousness of the other diners is evident in Lillian’s attempts to take a pretentious dish to the next level and Richard’s tenth visit to the restaurant with no memory of the menu. This is true even after the chief humiliates them. There is no greater pleasure for a chef like Slowik than creating and catering a dish for a customer who expresses their hunger and need for fulfillment by ordering a cheeseburger. That is why the chef gets so incredibly excited about preparing such an ordinary dish as a cheeseburger.

If Slowik is the one serving the same food, his customers will pretend to find it meaningful. When he sees a group pretending to enjoy bread accompaniments without the bread or some unrelated small leaves presented on a rock, he realizes his idea was correct. Erin declares that if Slowik serves the same food again, she would not only ask him about it, but also return it. Erin makes it clear she wants a kitchen that will satisfy her appetite and be eaten with her heart by ordering a cheeseburger with fries.

The cheeseburger also represents Erin in many ways. A cheeseburger fulfills the function of satisfying one’s hunger, making it the most valuable item Slowik serves to its guests over the other pretentious dishes – even if the dish seems out of place in an exotic and elitist restaurant like Hawthorne. Similar to how Erin challenges the appearances of the chef, kitchen and other customers by insisting on a cheeseburger to satisfy her hunger, Erin is Slowik’s number one customer. Erin establishes herself as a regular at Slowik by regularly placing an order, which convinces the chef that she is not one of the snobbish crowd.

Erin is rewarded for being a patron who is honest with herself and her chef by being rescued from the diner and Slowik’s murderous scheme. She explains what she wants to eat without any pretense or hidden agendas, and she makes Slowik work for it as befits a customer. For one last chance to be an artist who creates important works of art that satisfy Erin’s desire, he allows her to leave the island.