Your Favorite TV Comedy and Drama Food Scenes

[Pickles]

Whether it's Lucy and Ethel stuffing chocolates in their mouths in the candy factory, or watching the staff of M*A*S*H suffering through Igor's latest adventure with powdered eggs...I suspect some of you may have favorite sit-com moments with food involved. I was thinking of All In The Family and one of my fave episodes involving Edith's Beef and Mushroom Stew...with tainted "Pokono" brand canned mushrooms--in the pink and yellow can. Archie thinks he's doomed to die of botulism when these mushrooms are recalled suddenly...and his trip to the ER is a classic. The Doctor is going over symptoms of possible infection:

Dr.: ".....any lassitude?"

Archie: "Nah she never puts that in the stew only the mushrooms..."

I know some of you have some more...."Let 'Em ROLLLLLL!"

[jo-mel]

Not any one scene, in any one sit-com, ----- but have you noticed in "The Sopranos" that they are CONSTANTLY eating!!?? The next episode, I am going to count how many times they are wolfing, snacking, or whatever.

[Pickles]

Not any one scene, in any one sit-com, ----- but have you noticed in "The Sopranos" that they are CONSTANTLY eating!!??

Here's another classic sit-com food moment from M*A*S*H:

Hawkeye in the MESS TENT--sick of liver and fish:

"I've eaten a river of liver and an ocean of fish!!! I can't make love unless I'm smothered in onions! "

[chromedome]

Barney Miller.

Hash Brownies.

'Nuff said.

[bigbear]

In Men Behaving Badly, Rob Schneider brewed some drip coffee using a pair of unlaundered Jockeys as a filter. One of the unsuspecting characters mentioned its "earthy taste."

[jhlurie]

Sitcoms seem a bit limited, and inevitably this topic WILL drift to other TV, so I'm changing the topic title from "Your Favorite *Sit-Com* Food Scenes" to "Your Favorite TV Comedy and Drama Food Scenes". I know it's a mouth-full, and I apologize to Pickles for ruining the elegance of the earlier title, but if we don't qualify it somewhat we'll be including... cooking shows.

And dudes... South Park has to win hands down for the MOST instances... except maybe for The Simpsons (but then again, The Simpsons examples are so legion we had an entire thread for them).

One thing I'd like to ask straight up. Please respect the eGullet.com Copyright & Fair Use Policy when discussing these shows, particularly the 10%/100 words rule when quoting. Summarizing and paraphrasing are our friends!

Thanks in advance.

[FistFullaRoux]

Married With Children's "Toaster Leavins"

[lala]

MASH...Hawkeye managed to get a shipment of fresh corn on the cob, and everyone was all excited about it. Theyr'e standing in the chow line, he's waxing rhapsidic. Cook lifts the cover off the steamtable...and slops soggy corn niblets onto the tray...he'd cooked it the only way he knew how, off the cob...

To think of the anticipation for such an emblamatic food from home, then the crushing dissappointment as the wet corn sloshed into the tray... awful!

Not another food moment, per se, but I've always missed Frank's Place. The guy from the North inherits his Dad's New Orleans restaurant, so there were lots of food scenes involving gumbo, etc... damn, I loved that show!

Edited March 27, 2004 by lala (log)

[Pan]

It's not necessarily a favorite scene, but I remember the MASH episode when they were going to slaughter a lamb and cook it for visiting Greek servicemen, but Radar released the lamb, so they made a "spam lamb."

Hmmm...Does the Hass und Pfeffer episode of Bugs Bunny count? What about the one with the young buzzard who can't hunt?

[clothier]

The Thanksgiving food fight scene at Carla's house on "Cheers".

Peter Brady's "pork chops and apple sauce" on the "Brady Bunch".

George Shrink's Aunt Eunice making Sho-fly Pie on "George Shrinks".

Dan Ackroyd - Bassmaster on SNL.

[hillvalley]

Not any one scene, in any one sit-com,  ----- but have you noticed in "The Sopranos" that they are CONSTANTLY eating!!??

Here's another classic sit-com food moment from M*A*S*H:

Hawkeye in the MESS TENT--sick of liver and fish:

"I've eaten a river of liver and an ocean of fish!!! I can't make love unless I'm smothered in onions! "

My favorite MASH food moments:

The episode where Hawkeye orders ribs from Adam's Ribs near the Dearborne station.

In an episode where the whole camp is discussing what they are going to do when they get home, Col. Potter discribes taking a pot of boiling water into the corn field and cooking the corn, still on the stalk, and enjoying it right there in the field. I've always wanted to try this.

[jo-mel]

Movie-wise, I always think of "The Four Seasons" where the guys are in the kitchen cooking Chinese food and the acrid smoke from the hot peppers gasses them all.

The Japanese film ??TemPoPo?? has a great food scenes, but my favorite was a pile of Japanese business men and one go-fer are about to order in a French restaurant, and they stumble over the menu. Not the go-fer! He orders in flawless French, including the perfect wine. The businessmen are agape, and mumble -- I'll have the same! (It REALLY was funny!)

[Mayhaw Man]

Tampopo

Maybe the most erotic food movie ever produced. I love the egg scene. Talk about your food porn.

[dankphishin]

If anyone's caught Chapelle's show last week, It portrayed Arsenio Hall at a wine and cheese party, going "Why didn't you tell me how good this cheese was, motherfucker?!? He then knocks two people out.

[jo-mel]

Tampopo

Maybe the most erotic food movie ever produced. I love the egg scene. Talk about your food porn.  

I forgot the exact circumstances, but another funny scene was the man who was dying on the sidewalk and taking his last breath. He gasps out to his companion how to finish cooking a dish. (I may have it all wrong, but it was along that line.) Real great sick humor!

[foodie52]

Seinfeld:

The babka

George and the trash can

The soup Nazi

Enough said!

[drinkingchef]

Malcom in the Middles "leftover parfait". A six layer casserole of the weeks leftovers. And at the end, it finally happens, last weeks leftover parfait is the bottom layer of this weeks leftover parfait

[drinkingchef]

Malcom in the Middle's "leftover parfait" A six layer casserole composed of the weeks leftovers. And at the end it finally happens, last weeks "leftover parfait" is the seventh layer of this weeks "leftover parfait"

[Pickles]

Seinfeld:

The babka

George and the trash can

The soup Nazi

Enough said!

Not quite....MARBLE RYE!!! And Elaine's face as Mr. Pitt eats a candy bar with a knife a fork. Or...how about Kramer coating himself in butter for a better tan? I also remember Aunt Bee's adventure in pickle making on The Andy Griffith Show. Those "kerosense cucumbers.."

[tanabutler]

Tampopo

Maybe the most erotic food movie ever produced. I love the egg scene. Talk about your food porn.  

Tel-e-vision.

TELEVISION.

Low brow (television), not high brow (films...there's a separate thread for food porn films). Domestic, not foreign. Wait, we can't ignore food on British television.

Monty Python.

Upstairs, Downstairs.

Fawlty Towers.

Start your engines.

[Pickles]

Upstairs, Downstairs.

OH!!!!! Yes....my Mrs. Bridges and Ruby, her hapless kitchen maid. I actually have a copy of the Upstairs Downstairs Cookbook which is out of print. Thanks for mentioning this. This series is so beloved to me. On the Brit-com line...my fave is Are You Being Served? and there are countless food references here. (shameless plug...come to the board I admin as "Tiddles" (http://pub109.ezboard.com/faybsfrm1) See my sig for one quote, and then the show is so bizarre I guess you have to know it to understand the food references on it! If some fans come forward, we'll have a field day.

Edited March 28, 2004 by Pickles (log)

[chow guy]

Akroyd and Belushi's "Cheburger, cheburger, chebuger" bit was a howl.

[jsolomon]

Coupling, the bi-vegetarian dinner sketch.

Baaa! Baaa!

[JennotJenn]

If anyone's caught Chapelle's show last week, It portrayed Arsenio Hall at a wine and cheese party, going "Why didn't you tell me how good this cheese was, motherfucker?!? He then knocks two people out.

God, yes, that and the Samuel Jackson beer (Chappel dressed as Samuel L.Jackson dressed as Sam Adams) with the uber-white bread young exec ordering one. And the fast-food public service announcement about how the fast-food industry has helped inner city neighborhoods, but then the poor guy who tried better living through fast food finds that the whole neighborhood hates him now (Ew, boy, you smell like french fries). I've got to remember to watch that show on a more regular basis.

Kerosene cucumbers may be my favorite Andy Griffith show episode ever. They let the speeder off without a ticket, providing he takes a few quarts of the pickles out of town. Lots of good food in that show. Like when the Darlings come to dinner and Aunt Bea feeds them white beans. And Aunt Bea getting drunk. Does that count as food

Thanks to Monty Python, we cannot eat sausage in our house without commenting about what a woody word sausage is. And my mom contends that the most disgusting scene from any television show, ever, is the sketch where the guy explodes in the restaurant. Thinking about it makes my mom turn green.

[Carolyn Tillie]

West Wing is riddled with some amazing obscure food references and elaborate food scenes. One of the Thanksgiving episodes had President Bartlett obsessed with his turkey, phoning the Butterball hotline. Another has him dining with Leo and waxing rhapsodic over the construction of the meal. C.J. Cregg is obsessed with goldfish. And a gift of elk meat becomes an eBay problem. Barlett is a great foodie president and I've been sorely tempted to write the "Food of the West Wing" book...