Food in Fanworks

Tropes and genres
Related tropes/genres	Coffeeshop AU, Bakery AU, Chef AU, Baking AU
See also	Cookbook, Fannish Cooking, Feedism, Food Kink
Related articles on Fanlore.

Fanworks featuring food as a key theme or element are popular in many fandoms.

Food for plot or characterization, placing the characters in settings where they make food, either professionally (Coffeeshop AU, Chef AU, Bakery AU, etc) or for their personal pleasure (Baking AU, etc.)

Some fanworks take the form of recipes or feature recipes within the text.

Food as a way to show romance in fanworks: characters cooking their love interests favorite meal. Dates including food at fancy restaurants or something homemade. Fanworks can use food for intimacy with characters touching during cooking lessons. Romantic gifts of the character's favorite comfort foods is a popular thematic element.

The Hurt/Comfort trope in fanworks can have characters bringing an injured/sick character food. Common thematic elements are cooking the hurt character healthy meals as a form of comfort.

In the crackfic genre, it can have one or more of the characters as food.

Food in fanworks used as a framework for showcasing canon character traits. When a character has a canon stance on certain food/drinks, fanworks can include food/drinks items for maintaining canon character traits. Alternatively, characters liking or hating certain foods to show Out of Character.

Popular thematic elements in fanworks involving food include characters being excellent chefs or horrible chefs. Another popular thematic element is a character only eating take out.

Elizabeth Minkel wrote an extended article about Food in Fanworks for Atlas Obscura in 2024, interviewing fanfiction writers such as aimmyarrowshigh, ppyajunebug, azriona, and SnapDragonAndDungeons. She also references YouTuber Andrew Babish and his series "Binging with Babish," in which he cooks foods directly inspired by those in movies and television. In Minkel's article, azriona is quoted:

“That I wrote something that convinced someone else to try something new? To do something that might make their lives a little better? How many authors get to say that? I do,” she says. “If I have no other legacy in fandom, I have that. I hope, 10 years later, that they’re still cooking, even if it’s only a few things, or once in a while, or if they don’t even remember how they got started. I hope they just cook, for themselves or someone else, and feel good about what they’ve made.”

Food as a sexual experience in fanworks: a stand-in for other activities, a kind of foreplay, or a kink in itself (Feeding kink). Food might also be used as an accessory during sex (Food kink.)

Favorite food

Canon examples reasonably popular in fan works

Some characters have a strong fixation and association with a favorite food in canon, and this carries over to fan works.

• DC Comics (Green Arrow) - Oliver Queen and chili
• Devil May Cry - Dante and pizza
• Hannibal Lecter and human meat
• Kingdom Hearts - various characters and sea salt ice cream (e.g. Sea Salt Trio)
• Naruto - Uzumaki Naruto, his family, and ramen. Uchiha Sasuke and tomatoes.
• Saiki Kusuo no Sai-nan - Kusuo Saiki and coffee jelly
• Sonic the Hedgehog and chili dogs
• Spy x Family - Anya Forger and peanuts
• Fire Emblem Fates - Hisame and pickles
• Fire Emblem Engage - Chloé and folk foods, Clanne and pickles, Veyle and spicy foods, Timerra and meat
• Various Fire Emblem games - Characters such as Gaius from Awakening, Lysithea from Three Houses, and Rafal from Engage love sweets
• Mahou Sentai Magiranger - Makito and his famous "aniki salad", which he loves serving to people as much as he loves eating himself
• Avatar: The Last Airbender - Sokka and meat
• Scooby-Doo - Shaggy Rogers (and Scooby-Doo) and Scooby Snax. In Mystery Incorporated, the gang are also very into clams.

Exaggerated by the fandom

Sometimes there is a canon basis for a character having some sort of association with a certain food, but this trait is noticeably exaggerated by the fandom.

• Ace Attorney - Maya Fey and hamburgers
• DC Comics
  • Stephanie Brown and waffles - In canon, home-cooked waffles represent a healing bond between her and her mother. In fanon, Steph's quirkiness and sunniness is often embodied in her love of waffles.
  • Tim Drake and coffee - In canon, Tim tends to enjoy cola and energy drinks. The coffee-addicted Tim fanon tends to be associated with Tim being sleep-deprived, overworked, neglected, self-sacrificing, and sickly. Due to Tim's infamous reputation for being heavily fanonized, "Coffee Tim" is sometimes used as a term to describe "Fanon Tim".
  • Dick Grayson and cereal - There have been a few rare canon instances in which Dick is too busy to replenish his food supply except for a sad stash of shelf-stable pantry items such as cereal. The cereal-obsessed Dick fanon tends to be associated with characterization of Dick as a manchild who is inept at basic meal preparation.
  • Lena Luthor (as portrayed in the 2015 Supergirl TV series) and kale
  • Edward Nashton and pumpkin pie - In The Batman (2022), Edward is sad to miss out on a slice of pumpkin pie when law enforcement arrests him in a diner.
  • Jason Todd and bread - The fanon originates from a scene in The Lost Days when Jason is homeless and breaks into a bakery to eat bread with gusto. This fanon never reached the popularity of Tim & coffee, Steph & waffles, or Dick & cereal, and the meme pretty much completely faded into obscurity by the time of 2016 or so.
• Harry Potter
  • Draco Malfoy and apples
  • Remus Lupin and chocolate
• Marvel Cinematic Universe
  • Thor and poptarts
  • Bucky Barnes and plums
  • Tony Stark and shawarma
• Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn: Ike and meat
• One Direction
  • Louis Tomlinson and carrots, which he mentioned once in as a joke in 2010
  • Louis Tomlinson and "chicken stuffed with mozzarella, wrapped in parma ham," which he made the mistake of mentioning twice (and cooking once for Harry, allegedly)
  • Harry Styles and pastries (he worked in a bakery prior to One Direction)
• Undertale: Papyrus and spaghetti. Ironically, while he loves to cook spaghetti, his actual favorite food is dinosaur egg oatmeal.
• Full Metal Alchemist: Edward Elric's hatred for milk.

Comments

the absolute worst thing a fictional character can do is admit to liking a food because the fandom wILL make that their entire personality for the rest of time

I think the most hateful thing that you, as a creator, can do towards one of your own characters is confirm their favorite food, because it’ll cause irreparable brain damage to fanartists and it’s all they’ll ever reduce the character to.

Example Fanworks featuring Food

Multifandom

• Stove Stories, a collection of "fannish works featuring food as a vehicle of social interaction" on the AO3

Bandom

• Catholic!Frank and Artist!Gerard Not!Fic by sena. Chef AU: Frank works with Gabe in their vegan kosher restaurant.
• The Cruelty-Free Sausagefests of Pleathermouth Vegan Cafe by jedusaur. Gerard gets a job at Frank's vegan cafe, but he has a dirty secret. One podfic by crazybutsound[1], one by TheOneCalledEli[2]

Beauty and the Beast

• Beauty & the Yeast zine by P.S. Nim.

Boku no Hero Academia

• A Nerd's Guide to Flirting by Saysi. Bakugou Katsuki asks Midoriya Izuku for help with learning how to flirt. Some of the advice includes home cooking.

Earth's Children

• Simmering by loveslashangst. Ayla invents (Wonder) bread.

Fire Emblem

• these hands are only human by SaraJaye. Post-Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Silque/Faye fic where Faye prepares a hearty and comforting soup for her overworked girlfriend.
• Homecooked, At Last by nyoggets. A Three Houses modern AU fic where Felix learns to cook after tiring of his friends' terrible eating habits. Contains Felix/Dimitri in addition to focusing on other friendships.

Harry Potter

• Belong, a part of the Cicatrix Cycle by ivyblossom. Harry/Draco fic in which Draco becomes an excellent cook.
• Theft of Assets, Destruction of Property by Helen. Draco/Neville, marriage-of-convenience fic in which de-magicked Draco becomes a perfect housewife who cooks a lot.

The Hunger Games

• Peeta Mellark's Five Favorite Things to Bake by aimmyarrowshigh. A Peeta Mellark character study with ingredient lists. Referenced and linked in "How Sharing Recipes Brings Fans Together" by Elizabeth Minkel.

Leverage

• the joy of cooking by ijemanja. Gen. Eliot cooks. The rest of the team 'help'.

Like Water for Chocolate

• La Adelita by Eruthros. Magical realism

Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh

• Cori Falls was well-known for adding at least two meal scenes to her stories, and describing in great detail what the characters ordered or prepared.

Sherlock (BBC)

• A Symphony of Chemical Reactions by what_alchemy. Sherlock applies his talent to cookery; recipes included

Stargate Atlantis

• Forbidden Fruit by cupidsbow. McShep fic in which watching John eat fruit makes Rodney unexpectedly happy. In his pants.
• Recipes from Pegasus by anyanka_eg. Fic vignettes of life on Atlantis interspersed with recipes.
• Battle Potato by fiercelydreamed. gen fic in which to help heal Teyla, Rodney cooks for her with John's help.
• If I Knew You Were Coming by Kass. McShep fic in which John obtains a chocolate cake for Rodney, who doesn't really get it at first (neither does John).
• The Hard Sel by aesc. McShep AU fic in which Rodney is asellerr.
• The Epic Tale of John & Rodney, Two Girl Scout Cookies In Love by bitter crimson. Fandom classic crackfic AU in which John and Rodney are Girl Scout Cookies. In love.

Supernatural RPF

• Kisses Sweeter Than Wine by topaz. J2 AU fic in which journalist Jensen has to interview celebrity chef Jared for Saveur magazine.

One Direction

• Aphrodisiac by aimmyarrowshigh. A Chef AU in which Louis is a waiter who knows nothing about cooking and Harry teaches him.

xxxHolic

• Eat Your Heart Out by rageprufrock. The bento story.

Voltron: Legendary Defender

• Space Bakes: A Love Story by ThatScottishShipper. Sheith AU fic in which Keith is an assistant at Hunk's bakery and develops a relationship with librarian Shiro.

Coffee

Coffee is a beverage used as a mild stimulant for thought and creativity. Given the ubiquitous nature of coffee and its strong association with creators, it is probably not surprising that many canonical works as well as fannish works include the consumption of coffee, tea or equivalent beverages. There are currently ~5500 works on the Archive of Our Own tagged with Coffee (sourced 10 September 2020).

The Coffee Shop AU became a very popular alternate universe fanfiction trope in the opening decades of the 21st century, and can be found across a wide range of fandoms. Among other things, it draws on the social aspects of coffee shops.

Example Fanworks featuring Coffee

• Coffee Time, a gen Sentinel vid by Sally
• The Tragic Ballad of an Under-Caffeinated Hawkeye by sara_holmes (The Avengers MCU). Steve and Tony are idiots, Pepper and Phil are 110% done with everyone and Clint just wants a cup of damn coffee. ...
• hazelnut, strawberry, and mint by jollypuppet (Teen Wolf). In which Stiles is cheeky, Derek likes dogs, and coffee is gourmet as hell.
• Espresso fanzine that features stories about relationships with oomph - the sort that gives the readers a caffeine jolt - double espresso style - whether they are sexual (straight, slash or less-well-defined), or explore characters who are 'just' friends or bitter enemies. (Coffee used as a metaphor for the desired effects of fanworks.)

• 

  HP Coffee Addict by periwinkle-blue, Draco Malfoy of Harry Potter as a caffeine addict (2008)

• 

  Summer in Delphi by Altie, Morgana of Merlin (TV series) writing a letter at a cafe table (2014)

• 

  Coffee Break by hadaka apron, Joan Watson and Marcus Bell of Elementary walking with coffee in hand (2014)

Gallery

• https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/2577357-starter-packs

External links

• https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/knuckles-likes-grapes