The Godfather, 30 years old next spring, is a crime movie about loyalty, honour and family life, but what we learn from it mostly is about food, which holds these Italian-American families together, and guns, which help protect that togetherness. The movie begins with a grand wedding breakfast being given by Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), the eponymous Godfather and underworld king-pin. The main character is Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), who attempts to break away from the family business, but is drawn back into it when a rival family attempt to assassinate Don Vito, his father. Michael returns to the fold and we realise that - unlike his brothers - he is the cool, ruthless planner fit to become the new Godfather. This is revealed through a succession of scenes involving food and guns. Michael's mentor is the Corleones' lieutenant Clemenza (Richard Castellano).

When Clemenza drives into New York to pick up guns for the forthcoming gang war, his wife calls out 'Don't forget the cannoli' - which was the first time I'd heard of this particular form of confectionery pasta. On the way home his henchman kills a traitor in some shoreline wasteland, and Clemenza tells the assassin: 'Leave the gun, take the cannoli.' A couple of days later Michael decides to murder his father's chief enemy and an Irish cop. The shootings take place at an Italian family restaurant in Brooklyn Ð 'Try the veal, it's the best in the city', says the gangster who's about to die.

It is Clemenza who shows Michael how to handle a gun and its consequences. But more important is a subtle scene that proceeds it: 'Come over here kid. Learn something - you never know, you might have to cook for 20 guys some day.' Clemenza then demonstrates how to make a pasta sauce.