In American Psycho (2000), food is used as a powerful tool to satirize the world of wealth, excess, and status obsession that defines Patrick Bateman and his Wall Street peers. The luxurious meals in the film are not just indulgences—they serve to underscore the absurdity of the elitist culture and the shallow values of the characters.
The film prominently features extravagant dishes, such as:
- Squid Ravioli in a Lemon Grass Broth with Goat Cheese Profiteroles
- Arugula Caesar Salad
- Swordfish Meatloaf with Onion Marmalade
- Roasted Partridge Breast in Raspberry Coulis with a Sorrel Timbale
- Grilled Free-Range Rabbit with Herb French Fries
- Peanut Butter Soup with Smoked Duck and Mashed Squash
- Red Snapper with Violets and Pine Nuts
- Sea Urchin Ceviche
- Cilantro Crawfish Gumbo
- Pork Loin with Lime Jell-O
- Mud Soup
- Charcoal Arugula
These dishes highlight the characters’ obsession with exclusive, fashionable restaurants like Dorsia, a place that Bateman idealizes but struggles to get into. The characters’ fixation on where and what they eat mirrors their shallow pursuit of validation through luxury and social superiority. They don’t appreciate the food for its taste but for the status it symbolizes.
Satire Through Food and Dining
Throughout American Psycho, food functions as a marker of class and elitism. Whether it’s Bateman’s preoccupation with getting reservations at Dorsia or his disinterest in actually savoring the meals, food represents not sustenance, but social capital. The fine dining aspect of the film is designed to show the characters’ superficiality and their need to flaunt their wealth.
Bateman and his peers treat food as a form of competition, a way to outdo one another by having access to rare dishes and renowned restaurants. Their conversations about food reveal their lack of depth, as they focus on trends and exclusivity rather than genuine enjoyment. Even the most elaborate meals serve as an empty, performative act, much like the rest of Bateman’s highly curated life.
Dorsia and the Obsession with Prestige
Dorsia, the elusive and high-status restaurant, is central to the film’s commentary on prestige. Bateman’s constant attempts to secure a reservation there—and his lies about having dined there—underscore the lengths to which he will go to maintain his social image. Dorsia symbolizes the unattainable level of success that Bateman aspires to, while also mocking the culture of exclusivity.
This obsession with being seen at the “right” places, with the “right” meals, encapsulates the superficiality of Bateman’s world, where even something as fundamental as food is stripped of meaning beyond its value as a status symbol. The more extravagant or unattainable the meal, the more it enhances one’s social standing, reflecting the shallowness of the characters’ lives.
Food and Identity in American Psycho
The specific meals in American Psycho serve as metaphors for Bateman’s fractured identity. While the food represents wealth and sophistication on the surface, it conceals the emptiness and violence underneath, much like Bateman’s public persona. His obsession with outward perfection, from his physique to his dining habits, contrasts starkly with his inner darkness and murderous tendencies.
Food in the film isn’t just a backdrop to Bateman’s psychopathy—it is part of the performance he puts on for the world. Whether he’s attending lavish dinners or talking about upscale cuisine, the focus is always on appearances, not substance. This dichotomy between presentation and reality is at the heart of Bateman’s character and the film’s broader critique of materialism and vanity.
Conclusion: The Absurdity of Dining in American Psycho
The dining scenes in American Psycho are a microcosm of the film’s broader satire of 1980s yuppie culture. The obsession with fine dining, trendy restaurants, and avant-garde dishes serves as a critique of the era’s fixation on wealth, status, and image over genuine human connection or fulfillment. By highlighting the absurdity of these indulgent meals, the film paints a picture of a world where even something as essential as food is twisted into a shallow display of superiority and consumption for consumption’s sake.
