| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Sihung Lung | ... | Chu | |
| Yu-Wen Wang | ... | Jia-Ning | |
| Chien-Lien Wu | ... | Jia-Chien | |
| Kuei-Mei Yang | ... | Jia-Jen | |
| Sylvia Chang | ... | Jin-Rong | |
| Winston Chao | ... | Li Kai | |
| Chao-jung Chen | ... | Guo Lun | |
| Chit-Man Chan | ... | Raymond | |
| Yu Chen | ... | Rachel | |
| Ah-Lei Gua | ... | Madame Liang (as Ya-Lei Kuei) | |
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Chi-Der Hong | ... | Class Leader |
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Gin-Ming Hsu | ... | Coach Chai |
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Huel-Yi Lin | ... | Sister Chang |
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Shih-Jay Lin | ... | Chief's Son |
| Chin-Cheng Lu | ... | Ming-Dao | |
Eat Drink Man Woman is a classic tale of simmering frustrations and relationship woes as semi-retired Master Chef Chu shares his culinary skills and tends to his three unmarried daughters' respective emotional journeys. Jia-Jen is a chemistry teacher, Jia-Chien an airline executive and Jia-Ning works at a fast-food establishment. Together they help prepare and eat a sumptuously elaborate dinner each Sunday, a family tradition which allows for considerable insight into their lives and fuels the fire for each daughter to deal with the turmoil of new romantic challenges.
Being a female Asian American (1st generation), I definitely relate to the movie, especially the three daughters' devotion to their father and of maintaining and continuing family tradition. I loved the differences amongst the daughters: The older religious teacher daughter, the power executive daughter, and the teen aged daughter. However, no matter how their lives diverged, they were always brought back to the table by their ever-patient father. The little neighbor girl was absolutely adorable and the relationship between her and the father is endearing. The best scene is when she brings her lunch to school and the food is so lovely, tall of the children crowd around her and she's the hit of lunch period. Besides this movie, other Ang Lee films that are great are The Wedding Banquet and The Ice Storm and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon - need to see Sense and Sensibility and Brokeback Mountain (maybe even the Hulk), but this movie is my all time favorite - it makes me sad and wistful at times, but in the end, it always brings a smile to my face and touches my heart.