The preparation of food as a sensual experience or metaphor for love has been demonstrated in countless motion pictures, most recently in such popular foreign films as "Tampopo," "Babette's Feast" and "Like Water for Chocolate."

But "Eat Drink Man Woman" goes a step farther, using the preparation of food as a metaphor for the life experience as a whole, to include friendship and familial devotion, as well as desire, passion and love. And, of course, in some cases, food is used as a substitute.

The hunger-inducing credits show the film's central character, a retired, aging chef named Tao Chu, at work in his kitchen, preparing his weekly Sunday dinner for the family (characterized by one of his children as "the Sunday dinner torture ritual").

Chu is a widower who is finding himself more and more at odds with his three grown daughters, all of whom live with him. He still treats them like children — and in some cases, they deserve it. But he doesn't know how to communicate with any of them, and as he nears the twilight of his life, he finds he's losing his taste buds and his creative cooking ability. And he yearns for a grandchild — someone he can care for and who won't resist parental control.

While much of the film is devoted to Chu's coming to terms with these problems, it is also equally split between the daughters' stories. The oldest is a schoolteacher who has adopted Christianity, and who secretly yearns for love while openly mourning a love affair that ended nearly a decade ago. Next is a successful airline executive, a workaholic who has climbed the corporate ladder, though her male bosses have promoted her reluctantly because she's "too beautiful." The youngest daughter is a student who works in a fast-food joint and is involved in an awkward romance, inadvertently stealing her best friend's boyfriend.

To some degree, this is just a complicated soap opera (and I must confess, it took me a little while to separate all the characters). But co-writer/director Ang Lee manages to tell each individual's story with care and wit. There are some hearty laughs, a number of touching dramatic moments and, toward the end, even a couple of shocking surprises.

But what makes a movie like this work is how much you care for the characters, and each one here is very well-drawn and fully dimensional. Except for the family friend, who is a bit cartooney, there are no caricature villains — everyone is complex and human. And the performances are all terrific.

Lee's first film was "The Wedding Banquet," which was nominated for an Oscar last year, and this one moves him up a notch on the skill scale. He's a genuine talent to watch for.

And "Eat Drink Man Woman" is a delightful film to seek out. It is not rated but might get a PG-13 for a brief sex scene and a few profanities.