Food can be a pleasure as well as a necessity and some TV characters are well aware of that.
Sometimes a character just loves to eat the food that’s put in front of them. Other times they take pride and joy in preparing the food that they serve to others.
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Others have had to improvise with what they have to feed people they’re responsible for. Some, have an obsession over a very particular food.
Whatever their preferred method of engaging in this edible medium, there have been several characters that have reminded us to slow down, enjoy the simple things in life (and sometimes luxuries like delicious cake).
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We’ve compiled 31 of our favorite eaters and chefs who really know how to enjoy food. Enjoy.
Josh Hoberman (The Magicians)
Josh Hoberman’s skills in the kitchen are an intrinsic part of his character. During Season 2 of The Magicians, we found him selling edible potions, and by Season 4 he was comforting Margo with a “ball of carbs.” But Josh doesn’t just make the food, he loves to eat it as well, and it looks like old god cake might have ruined him forever.
Galina “Red” Reznikov (Orange is the New Black)
Red takes so much pride in how she runs her kitchen on Orange is the New Black Season 1. More so when she sends her girls out to look for the feral chicken during “The Chickening.” Red has big plans for her white whale that include eating the chicken, absorbing its power, and making a nice kiev. A kiev she’ll prepare most expertly.
The Eleventh Doctor (Doctor Who)
The introduction of the Eleventh Doctor was very food-driven. When The Doctor first meets Amelia Pond he asks for an apple and then goes through various foods until he finally settles on fish fingers and custard. While some of the running sequences don’t leave a lot of time for enjoyment, “fish custard” becomes a running theme throughout his time with Amy Pond.
Liz Lemon (30 Rock)
The writer of TGS loves good food as much as anyone else. She’s scarfed night cheese in a slanket, eaten an entire sandwich just so he didn’t have to throw it out in a TSA line, and is regularly seen eating everything from cheetos to cupcakes.
Monica Gellar (Friends)
Monica is a chef, and a bit of a perfectionist, so we know she can prepare an amazing meal. Yet she can also be seen throughout the series enjoying her fair share of cake, Chinese food, and other delicious food stuffs.
Lorelai and Rory Gilmore (Gilmore Girls)
This mother and daughter pair have a healthy appetite. The regular practice of ordering enough takeout to feed an army is a regular occurrence on Gilmore Girls, as is their patronage at Luke’s dinner. Oh, and they also enjoy tasting wedding cakes when they have no intention of ordering one.
Villanelle (Killing Eve)
Even assassins get hungry. In numerous scenes, Villanelle is eating everything from bruschetta to pasta. And let’s not forget that dinner she had with Eve Polastri in Season 1 where she dined on Niko’s Shepherd’s Pie.
Max Black (2 Broke Girls)
Max works in a diner. She runs a cupcake business. So, of course, she’s going to be on this list for that alone. But let’s top it off with Max finally joining Instagram and admitting her feed is mostly food. That takes food appreciation to a whole new level.
Eleven (Stranger Things)
It may be more accurate to say the Eleven loves Eggo waffles than the abundance of food available to her now. The waffles seem to make up three of her four basic food groups and she can’t get enough of them.
Sylvia Fine (The Nanny)
If Sylvia Fine comes over to the Sheffield House, there better be some food waiting when she arrives. Sylvia loves indulging in her daughter’s boss’s food, especially the stuff prepared by Niles.
Rube Sofer (Dead Like Me)
The head grimm reaper’s favorite haunt is Der Wafflehaus and he’s very particular about what he eats there. He loves the Banana Bonanzas and the patty melts, but he’s not so keen on the “instinct to miniaturize food.”
Frankie Bergstein (Grace & Frankie)
Frankie is the ying to Grace’s yang when it comes to diet and food. Frankie’s vice: junk food. She puts whipped cream on her breakfast, binges on Ben and Jerry’s, and has a science to her frozen yogurt selections.
James Aubrey (Bones)
James Aubrey seems to have a one-track mind: food. When he joins Booth at The FBI he’s constantly talking about food or eating. Even when he finds food as evidence he’s commenting how delicious it must have been.
Sookie St. James (Gilmore Girls)
Sookie St. James is the hapless chef at The Independence Inn when we first meet her, but she also takes pride in her kitchen and her food. In an early season, a bad review troubled her so much she had to investigate the critic’s bill to see what went wrong and it turned out he ordered the wrong wine. That’s some food dedication right there.
Ron Swanson (Parks and Recreation)
When it comes to food, Ron Swanson is a carnivore. He loves meat, foods wrapped in meat, and hates just about everything else. His ideal meal is a 16 oz T-bone steak with a 24 oz porterhouse steak; a combo he called Turf ‘n’ Turf.
Rufus Carlin (Timeless)
When we meet Rufus, he’s about to go out and procure tacos for Taco Tuesday. Later when he’s stuck in the past, and facing certain death, during Timeless Season 1 Episode 7, “Stranded,” he takes a few minutes to reflect on what he’ll miss. What he comes up with…chocodiles. (Chocolate dipped twinkies.)
Rodney McKay (Stargate: Atlantis)
Rodney McKay is always hungry or worried about food. His love for food knows no bounds either. He enjoys military rations and hospital food as well, but not airplane food because he can’t get seconds.
Helena (Orphan Black)
Food and eating is such a part of Helena’s character on Orphan Black. Art even introduces her back into the series with one point with “I’ll give you a hint; she’s eating.”
Dean Winchester (Supernatural)
One half of the Winchester brothers will do just about anything for a good burger. (Who can blame him?)
Eve Polastri (Killing Eve)
While Villanelle gets to eat all the exotic foods on camera, Eve Polastri is always thinking about food. A prime example is in Killing Eve Season 2 Episode 1, “Do You Know How to Dispose of a Body?,” when she throws up in the coroner’s office and ends up craving a burger.
Monty Green (The 100)
On The 100, food and eating is more about survival than enjoyment. While there may not be any five-star restaurants in this universe, Monty Green takes pleasure in growing algae on The Ring. His skill is admirable, since the first growth of algae could potentially kill someone.
Lydia Alvarez (One Day at a Time)
Lydia Alvarez enjoys preparing food and feeding her family. She’s often dancing in the kitchen with energy so infectious it makes us want to start experimenting with the contents of our pantry.
Joey Tribbiani (Friends)
Joey is the kind of dinner guest you want when you’ve cooked enough for an army and you are wondering what you’re going to do with the leftovers. Case in point: the time he showed up to Thanksgiving dinner with his turkey-eating pants on.
Stephanie Borden (Good Witch)
Every character needs a place to visit to grab a bite. The person to provide that on Good Witch is Stephanie Borden. The food she serves at her bistro is often the highlight of every episode.
Jughead Jones (Riverdale)
When a character announces that he’s going on a hunger strike and it’s met with laughter and “I’m sorry, man. You’re like always eating,” you know he enjoys a good meal.
Rita Farr (Doom Patrol)
Oh to be Elastiwoman! Rita Farr can eat entire tubs of whatever she wants, and it makes us hungry to just watch her eat.
Robin Scherbatsky (How I Met Your Mother)
Robin is always thinking about food and eating. Whether she’s really enjoying a sandwich or inconvenienced by being stranded somewhere away from food, she’s always looking for. way to even out her blood sugar.
Hilda Spellman (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina)
Food is an important part of Hilda Spellman’s spellwork on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Remember the cake she served Father and Lady Blackwood right before the Feast of Feasts? Or the yummy almond cookies she laced with cyanide? I am sure her unenchanted bake goods are just as delicious.
The Reagan Family (Blue Bloods)
No one lays out an elaborate dinner spread like the Reagan family on Blue Bloods. Seeing the family gather around the table for a meal is an important ritual for them, and everyone seems to enjoy the cooking.
Walter Bishop (Fringe)
Walter Bishop is the companion you’d take on a food tour. Not only is Walter always eating, but he always wants food involved, wherever he goes.
Jessica Day (New Girl)
Jess’s relationship with food is definitely interesting. She isn’t afraid to cook a classy Thanksgiving dinner or use her bread as a tool for wiping butter off her face. (Let’s be honest, that’s really the most creative use of bread ever devised.)
