A non-comprehensive list of typical interpretations of food
Fruits and Vegetables
- Apples: Usually red, sometimes green, but almost never yellow. May have a worm sticking out, sometimes to indicate spoilage and sometimes just because. They can also be in Pie form (below).
- Bananas: Large and canary yellow with maybe a green or brown stem, rarely with spots. Very often depicted as partially peeled.
- Cabbage and lettuce: Usually come in large, round heads. Typically green.
- Carrots: Full, large and always orange, with leaves on one end and a single point on the other end.
- Cherries: Always pairs connected at the tops of their stems, and bright to slightly dark red.
- Coconuts: Usually the brown, hairy, and three-dotted endocarps or "shells" of coconuts which tend to be split into halves, showing white flesh and sometimes filled with milk. One half-shell will be made into a drink with a straw, a tiny umbrella, and a lemon slice. Whole coconut fruits more often appear in East Asian works, usually as immature coconuts with the exocarps or "husks" colored green.
- Corn: Mostly yellow or white and almost always on the cob.
- Eggplant/Aubergine: Always oblong and usually dark purple.
- Grapes: Usually depicted as roughly triangular bunches of purple, reddish-purple or occasionally green fruit.
- Jam or Jelly: Usually strawberry if it's red, or grape or blueberry if it's purple. Orange marmalade might show up in British works.
- Olives: Typically green, sometimes black, never any other color. Always stuffed with a pimiento
to give a little visual contrast and prevent them from being just a solid-colored orb. - Peaches: Western works usually depict yellow peaches with reddish skin. East Asian works will usually depict white fleshed peaches with pale pink skin, a suture that resembles... a certain body part, and usually has leaves still attached. The Asian variant is also usually depicted upside-down, with the leaf and stem on the bottom.
- Peppers:
- Bell Peppers are blocky in shape with a couple of lobes. Either red, yellow or green.
- Chili Peppers are always long and red, never green, orange or Heaven forbid, yellow.
- Pickles: Generally sliced, chopped or whole miniature cucumbers, even though in real life a wide variety of other fruits and vegetables are pickled.
- Plums: Always purple, rather than blue, green, red, or yellow.
- Potatoes: If whole, always oblong and brown, possibly with dark spots.
- Pumpkins: Always of the large, bright orange "carving" (aka "jack o'lantern") cultivar, with a shape akin to a sphere with ridges and a dip at the top. Japanese works might show green kabocha pumpkins instead, but if it's Halloween they'll still almost always be orange western pumpkins.
- Tomatoes: Always red, medium-sized and spherical, typically with the green leafy circlet (the sepal) left intact at the top.
- Watermelon: Always has green skin and bright red flesh, and contains black seeds. Western works are more likely to show oblong watermelons, while Japanese works favor perfectly round watermelons with the stem still attached. Square watermelons might show up as a novelty.
Desserts/Snacks
- Bubble Gum: Almost always shown as pink.
- Cake: If it gets cut, it's almost always a circular layer cake, with the components being made in contrasting colors. The frosting is usually either chocolate or pink. In Japanese works cakes are almost always strawberry shortcake.
- Chocolate: Milk, never dark or white. Also, the chocolate is always in the form of a bar, or small chocolates from a box.
- Chips: Whether made from corn or potato, will often either be triangular or oval shaped. Always light to medium yellow.
- Cookies: Chocolate chip and always circular. Elaborately shaped butter cookies with red jam in the center are also common. Japanese works will usually feature checkerboard cookies or occasionally macarons instead. If there's Anthropomorphic Food or it's around the holidays, cookies will always be gingerbread men.
- Cotton Candy: Always pink or occasionally blue and on a stick. Not in a tub or bag.
- Crackers: If they are saltine or Graham, they will always be square. Circle crackers resembling Ritz Crackers will appear as well.
- Donuts: Often has pink icing and rainbow sprinkles, with a hole in the middle. If it's a filled donut, it'll usually be a jelly donut covered in powdered sugar.
- Ice Cream: Almost always chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry. Sometimes mint chocolate or pistachio are added into the mix; these are always light green. Often hard-serve. It's also usually served on a waffle cone with a pointed end, or in an extremely elaborate sundae. British works might include a Cadbury Flake bar sticking out, while Japanese works may feature Pocky or Pirouettes sticking out instead.
- Ice Pops: American works will usually have them be either orange, red cherry, or purple grape flavored, while Japanese works almost always show a light blue Garigari-kun style pop.
- Lollipops: Usually shown as big with an equally long stick, and flat and circular or sometimes spherical. Can be one color or sometimes a bright swirl design.
- Marshmallows: Shown as being white and cylindrical, unless they're in a breakfast cereal. S'mores are below.
- Pie: Usually shell crust with small vents cut in the top, or a lattice-like crust of several interwoven strips if it's a sweet pie (example: apple pie). Savory pies (usually made from some kind of meat) will often have a solid crust. When sliced and served, a slice of pie tends to hold its shape on a plate much better than it does in real life.
- Popcorn: Almost always shown in a striped bag or bucket, like the kind given at movie theaters. It's also always plain white or buttery-yellow, never any topping except butter and/or salt.
- S'mores: Always shown as 2 Graham crackers, a roasted marshmallow and some melted chocolate.
Drinks
- Alcohol:
- Cocktails are generally martinis, or at least served in a martini glass with an olive on a toothpick or a maraschino cherry. In a tropical setting they will instead be colorful, served in either a tall glass or a coconut shell, and equipped with a drinking straw and a little paper umbrella. A slice of fruit attached to the edge of the vessel is a common optional garnish.
- Wine is usually red wine in a classic wine glass, or white champagne in a champagne flute.
- Beer is gold-colored, usually with some froth on the top. It can be served in a clear mug with a handle, a handle-less pint pot, or a ceramic (and often elaborately-decorated) stein with a lid.
- Whiskey will almost without exception be served on the rocks, either in a shot glass or a wide, thick-bottomed "tumbler" glass.
- Bubble Tea: Usually brown milk tea with black boba.
- Coffee: Is in a small cup that is either steaming like espresso, or frothed like latte.
- Juice: Usually either apple or orange juice. Comes in a glass, a juice box, or a carton with colorful pictures of fruit on the side.
- Lemonade: Almost always yellow lemonade served in a clear pitcher or glass with ice cubes and lemon slices. Pink lemonade might rarely appear.
- Milk: Depicted in a carton or a glass. If the setting is more old-fashioned or the milk is farm fresh, it might be in a metal jug or glass bottle. Always regular cow milk. If it's for babies, it'll be in a transparent plastic bottle with a bright yellow nipple.
- Milkshakes: Always either white, brown, or pink in a tall transparent glass with whipped cream and a cherry on top. Always comes with a white and red striped straw.
- Soda: Almost always dark brown with foam on the top. Orange, Grape or Cherry soda may appear on occasion. Floats are almost always root beer floats with vanilla ice cream in American works, and bright green melon soda with vanilla ice cream and a cherry in Japanese works.
- Tea: Depending on the nationality and class of the character drinking it (or the kind of tea they're drinking), the kind of cup it's served in and what food it's served with can vary:
- If they're British and upper middle to upper class, it's served on fine china, which is often part of an elaborate tea set, and is served alongside dishes like cucumber sandwiches, or scones and other freshly-made pastries.
- If they're British and middle or working class, it will be served in a mug, possibly with ready-made biscuits or pastries like Jaffa Cakes or Digestives.
- Chinese tea is served in small handle-less porcelain cups.
- Japanese tea will be in either a hand-made, earth-toned cylindrical ceramic cup (for casual tea-drinking) or in a delicate hemispherical porcelain cup with a flower pattern (for tea ceremony).
- Turkish tea is served in small, glass, hourglass-shaped cups with matching saucers.
- Russian tea is served in a large glass with an elaborate silver handle and base.
- If it's the American Deep South, it will be a clear pitcher and tall glass filled with tea and ice cubes. (It gets hot down there.)
- Speaking of iced tea, it’s usually brown in colour (presumably peach flavour).
Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner items
- Burgers: They always have sesame seed buns, leaf lettuce, tomato, and cheese. May also have onions and/or sliced pickles. Often dripping with ketchup.
- Burritos: Usually just a tortilla with a meat, rice and beans with the occasional salad. They will almost certainly come with a side-dish of Toilet Humour.
- Curry:
- If it's Japanese curry, it's brown and has visible chunks of meat, potatoes, and carrots (which ends up making it look like beef stew), and is served on a plate with the curry on one side and white rice on the other side.
- If it's Indian curry, it's usually red, yellow, or orange, has a liquid-like consistency, contains meat and vegetables, and is served with rice and/or naan; most Indian curries will be also depicted as being intensely, mouth-searingly hot and spicy to eat; shows that rely on Toilet Humour will often depict curry's effects on the digestive system of whoever eats it (especially if the person eating it is not Indian).
- Eggs: Sunny side up and usually paired with bacon. Always white if used for baking. Omelets, whether regular old omelets or omurice, will always have a dab of ketchup in the center in Japanese works.
- Fries: Nearly always thin and rectangular (julienne cut) or sometimes crinkle cut, and either light yellow or golden brown.
- Hot Dogs: Always in a bun or a corndog. Toppings rarely go beyond ketchup, mustard, relish, chili, and cheese (an exception to this is the "Chicago Hot Dog", which has a wide variety of toppings but absolutely no ketchup).
- Onigiri: Always made with plain white rice and filled with bright red umeboshi. Often folded into a triangular shape with a single wide strip of nori as a handle.
- Pancakes: They are always in a giant stack with butter and syrup, fruits such as strawberries and blueberries are rare.
- Pasta: Spaghetti and meatballs, or lasagna (with tomato sauce and cheese if the artist sees fit to add any detail). Macaroni and cheese or Penne may occasionally appear. Naporitannote is the go-to pasta in Japanese works.
- Pizza: Always has pepperoni, with the occasional mushrooms or green vegetables. Anchovies and pineapple only appear if someone complains about them. The crust is usually authentic thin, deep dish is rare. May also be a stuffed crust.
- Potato salad: Usually depicted as the Northern German/American version (served cold, and uses mayonnaise as a main ingredient); when the Southern German version (served warm, and made using vinegar and bacon) is seen, it's referred to as "German Potato Salad".
- Pretzels: Always shaped into the classic knot and covered in salt, never sticks or other shapes and usually either small and crunchy, or big and soft.
- Rice: Generally white, and in a round bowl with chopsticks.
- Salad: Served in a round bowl, with lettuce, tomatoes, and more rarely: onions, cucumber, bread, cheese, herbs, or a meat (most likely chicken).
- Sandwiches: Usually either shown with white bread, yellow cheese, a lettuce leaf, and occasionally a pink slice of meat, cut into triangles, or they're enormous sub sandwiches. Or the really tall skyscrapers favored by Dagwood Bumstead and Shaggy Rogers. If peanut butter sandwiches are shown they are almost always peanut butter and jelly.
- Sausages: Always attached to each other in a string, guaranteeing that someone can steal them all at once.
- Shish Kebabs, Yakitori, and other foods prepared on skewers: Always solid chunks of meat, often with pieces of vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, and onions in between the pieces of meat. In addition to being cooked on a skewer, they're also usually served on a skewer as well.
- Sushi: Always either maki (usually futomaki) or fish nigiri. Usually served in an artfully-arranged manner on a wooden or lacquered tray, or in a large bowl if it's a large order for a whole table, but sometimes "conveyor-belt sushi" is also seen.
- Tacos: Invariably hard-shell with lettuce, beef, and cheese.
- Waffles: Yellow and either square or circular, always with syrup and usually with butter. Belgian waffles are almost always round Liege waffles.
Etc.
- Bread: Usually a loaf of white or tiger bread. If the scene takes place in France, baguettes are likely to appear.
- Cheese: Usually a wedge but sometimes a wheel or a slice, usually bright yellow or orange but sometimes white, always with large holes. It will sometimes be shown to stink.
- Fish:
- A whole grilled fish served with the entire head intact. Often it will be colored like a live fish, even if it's supposed to be cooked.
- Kippers are portrayed as whole sardine-looking fish in cartoons, despite the fact that in real life they are cooked herring cut in butterfly-fashion.
- Fish filets or slices will come in either tuna or salmon.
- Meat:
- Bright red unspecified stuff on a white Stock Femur Bone with both ends sticking out.
- Pork is either in sausage, bacon, chop or joint form, or just a whole pig with an apple in its mouth.
- Poultry comes in either drumstick or whole-bird form, with the flesh colored solid brown and a white bone sticking out of the leg(s). Wings may or may not be present.
- Steak is bright red when raw (and even cooked) or dark brown with black charred lines when grilled, and either a T-bone or a ribeye, as these cuts both come with an immediately identifiable bone.
- Ribs, usually pork or beef, are portrayed as slabs of red meat with tips of bones sticking out. Will be brown to indicate they're cooked and covered in barbecue sauce.
- Sugar: White. Never brown. And usually either in cube or pile form.
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