Broccoli Test (glossary term)

Synonyms:	Living in Each Other's Pocket
See also:	psychic bond, Soulbond, Vulcan Mind Meld, So Married, Cut One and the Other One Bleeds
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The Broccoli Test is a shorthand term for some characters' almost psychic understanding of each other. This came out of a humorous real-life situation when Sandy Herrold and her friend C were in a grocery store, at opposite ends of the produce section. Sandy tried to communicate to Charlotte that she should pick up some broccoli without shouting across, which didn't work very well, so Sandy told her later, "Doyle would have known Bodie wanted him to pick up some broccoli with just a raise of his eyebrow!"

Thus, Bodie and Doyle would have passed the broccoli test. It is frequently shorthanded even more to "have broccoli" -- a pairing is said to have broccoli if it can be proven in canon that they understand one another well enough to pass the test.

The phrase and the story became a sort of accidental meme on LiveJournal years later principally after Gwyneth Rhys wrote about it in her 2004 post The broccoli test, and her preferences for pairings that pass the Broccoli Test:

[gwyn]
The best pairings, for me, are ones who never have to explain what they want beyond a mere eyebrow-raise or a twitch of the head. Especially because I seem to be attracted to less and less talkative guys […] All of these guys pass the broccoli test with their (my) partner of choice.

[…] they were passing the broccoli test before they even met! […] They've never even seen each other before. The uber-broccoli test masters, if you ask me.

I'll often vid characters who can't pass the test, but I seem to have a tough time writing them -- the one thing that draws me most, a taciturn character paired with a chattier, more social one, is often just hated by most fans, who can't figure out how to write guys who don't talk. But for me that's a huge attraction -- I want that character to tilt his head slightly and the other character to go running off after bad guys. I want oceans of emotion to be conveyed with just a tiny quirk of the mouth. If they're on opposite ends of the produce aisle, I want one to know the other needs broccoli! Because that's the fun in writing in them, I suppose -- trying to convey that intangible quality yourself through words. So I guess there are many fannish loves, but only the most intense will pass the broccoli test, and only those who pass will drive me to write fanfic.

And now this is making me think of Dorinda's theory of clams, which I suppose I'll have to talk about in light of the broccoli test. Mmmmm. Clams and broccoli -- D, we should write an essay!

Other fans began writing about how or why their own pairings would pass or fail, or what other test their pairings would create.

Other Links

• The broccoli test, a essay by Gwyneth Rhys September 21, 2004
• Broccoli Test as applied to Merlin and Arthur by xsmoonshine at Livejournal, Jan 3 2009
• Fanfic: The Broccoli Conundrum (...Meme?) by rheasilvia at Dreamwidth, Sep 24, 2009 (also at LJ and as a response on fangasmic post)
• (memes) The Broccoli Test by fangasmic at Dreamwidth, Mar 17, 2010