Common Anime Features – Favorite Foods

Whu do some anime characters seem to eat only one particular type of food?

This is a question I’ve found myself wondering from time to time.

I’ve always been taught that you should (ideally) consume different things on different days. Even if you really, really like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, for instance, you probably shouldn’t just eat pb&j sammies every day. After all, your body would be missing out on all the important nutrients that the classic sandwich fails to provide.

Be that as it may, it seems like some anime characters don’t really care about minor things like vitamin deficiency. They just want to eat their favorite foods all the time. It gets to the point that they’re rarely shown eating anything else.

So here are some examples of anime characters who have very skewed diets. Said characters also have some sort of justification or explanation regarding their dietary patterns. Be advised: some of these reasons aren’t actually provided within the story and are just the product of me thinking for too long. I might need some new hobbies.

The Food is Healthy (?) or Versatile

First up is Kataoka Yuuki (from the Saki franchise) who seems to eat mostly tacos. She’s always eager to scarf down tacos no matter what. No explanations have ever been given for her love of tacos, either. Doesn’t she get bored eating the same thing all the time?

Well, Yuki isn’t as a diehard fan for her favorite food compared to the others on the list since she’s willing to accept things that sound like taco (like tako, or octopus). So she’s getting some actual dietary variety! Nevertheless, it seems like most of her meals consists of tacos.

I’m not sure if you all are aware of this, but tacos can be very flexible. You can walk into any restaurant that serves Hispanic food and you will see that there is a huge variety of tacos listed on the menu. Perhaps Yuuki is simply amazed by all the different kinds of tacos there are in the world.

Also, tacos aren’t the absolutely worst thing for someone to compulsively eat every day (see the following girls, for example). Maybe she’s keeping her health in mind while she munches on tacos? The world may never know.

The Character Has No Need to Care For Nutrients

Another character who comes to mind here would be Shana (from the Shakugan no Shana franchise). Shana is always wolfing down melon pan. She’s only really getting carbs (and sugars) from melon pan; does she not worry about missing out on vital nutrients?

Well, she is a Flame Haze, to be fair. Not only is she technically dead, but she’s also basically immortal (outside of battle, at least, where everything and anything goes) and has stopped aging or physically developing. Do Flame Hazes even need to eat? I doubt it. And I doubt that she actually needs nutrients. So you get a pass here, Shana.

The Food Holds Sentimental Value for the Character

Lastly, I would like to mention Yami, or Golden Darkness, from To-Love-Ru. This stoic girl is obsessed with taiyaki, which is a sort of fish-shaped cake that’s traditionally filled with red bean paste. It’s sweet and very fulfilling to eat (due to said cake being made out of pancake or waffle batter and being baked until it’s golden-brown). Still, it isn’t very healthy or nutritious. Why does Yami insist on only eating taiyaki?

Well, as it turns out, taiyaki was the very first food offered to Yami by the person she’s slightly interested in (I’m talking about Yuuki Rito, the local playboy who is denser than a black hole).

To her, the moment was something to be cherished. It was her first time! And in order to keep “celebrating” said moment, Yami continues to buy and munch on taiyaki. All while claiming that she’ll eventually assassinate him. Sure, Yami. You ain’t foolin’ no one.

She’s also a genetically-modified clone, so maybe she doesn’t really need nutrients and vitamins like us regular humans? That’s just a shot in the dark, though.

Why Do They Do This?

I can think of two additional reasons why characters (or at least, these three particular characters) insist on eating their favorite foods over and over.

Both reasons are rather reductionist.

1. A means of depicting childishness

Let’s just imagine that someone in real life only eats chicken nuggets. He drives up to McDonalds and orders 9 boxes of chicken nuggets every day without fail: 3 for breakfast, 3 for lunch, and 3 for dinner.

My initial impression of such a person would be that he’s maybe slightly childish. I think only a child would only accept one particular food above all else for every single meal. It’s essentially a given that you gotta do things you don’t really like as an adult, such as paying the bills, eating veggies, and washing the dishes (well, unless if you use disposable paper plates). His avoidance of meal variety, basically, colors him as immature.

And in a similar vein, Yuuki, Shana, and Yami are all childish to some degree. They’re all prone to emotional outbursts and they’re all rash, stubborn, and naive. Perhaps that was an intended implication. Or perhaps I’m thinking too hard.

2. A means of accentuating their “figures”

Look at Yuuki, Shana, and Yami. What do you notice about these three girls? What do they all share in common?

The anwer is that they’re all petite. They’re short like tree stumps and flat like building walls. There, I said it. They ain’t here to beat me up.

Their collective lack of cleavage is probably due to factors outside of their control, but one could possibly correlate their lack of height with their dietary choices.

That being said, genetics is a powerful thing and some people are just destined to be short. So this line of thought seems rather unlikely and is rather mean of me to say. So I’m sorry about that. Short people are fine, too. In fact, they’re better than tall people since they don’t get in the way when I’m trying to see musicians perform at a concert.

That’s all, folks.