Nine out of 10iconic food moments in Friends are about Joey Tribbiani. The guy grew up in an Italian household in Queens, meaning he was no stranger to delicious Mediterranean dishes. He loved his Joey Special (twopizzas), refused toeat canapés at Ross's rehearsal dinner in London, and cooked marinara sauce when upset about his acting career.
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Joey was food motivated, and his friends knew that about him.If Rachel wanted to get her point across,she knew all she had to do waspasshim a meatball sandwich. It's no surprise that the characterwhocarried a fork in his pockethas said some laughablethingsthat showcased his love affair with food.
"I'm So Stupid Ordering A Cheesecake."
After Rachel confirms her ex-flame Joey indeed has matured, Phoebe setshim up with a friend named Sarah. While Joey and Sarah's first date isn't exactly a hit, their second date goes from bad to worse. Hestopsher from taking a bite of hisstuffed clamsand in the process drops the plate onto the ground.
Things take a turn when Joey gets served anunappetizing cheesecake with raspberry coulis and Sarah, the delicious chocolate torte. "I'm so stupid ordering a cheesecake, trying to be healthy," says Joey as heshoves the plate aside.
"That's Like Fourth Of July Without Apple Pie."
How does Joey get Monica to cook him an entire Turkey for Thanksgiving? He uses his Tribbianiheritage to profess his love for food. He tells herabout thesignificance of cooking a turkeydinner on the holiday. "You can't have Thanksgivingwithoutturkey. That'slike Fourth of July without apple pie, or Friday withnotwo pizzas," Joeyexclaims.
Joey promises Monica not to worry about the leftovers and makes quite a case forhimself when he says: "That's right. Because I'm a Tribbiani. This is what we do. I mean, we may not be great thinkers or world leaders. We don't read a lot or run very fast but damn it, we can eat!"
"Let Me Explain To You How The Human Body Works."
On the actual day of Thanksgiving, Joey waltzes into Monica's apartment with a bag of chips in his hand. Whenshequestions him about eating outside of the main meal and not saving room for turkey, he educates her aboutthedigestiveprocess: "Let me explaintoyouhow thehuman body works. I have to warm my stomach first.Eating chips is like stretching."
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AsJoey concludes his lessonaboutthe human digestive system, he assuringly adds, "Don't worry, Tribbianis never get full."
"Peanut Butter Fingers."
Of all of the wedding tasks Monica could have delegated to Joey, she lets him choose appetizers. Thejob wasto narrow down 12items to six. "This is impossible, Monica. Why don't you just pick all 15?"he said, while makingmore additions to the list.
To make matters worse, Joey was looking for a completely differentkind of food,written down as "peanut-butter fingers."When Monica enquired about those, he mimeddippinghis two fingersinto a jar ofpeanut butter, scooping some out, and lickingthe butteroff.
"A Jar Of Jam And A Little Spoon."
"Rememberwhenyou wereakidandyour mom would drop you offat themovieswith a jar of jam and a little spoon?" Joey dreamily asks as herecalls eventsfrom his childhood.
In "The One with the Jam," Monica makes huge quantities of jam as part of her "Jam Plan," which she devises to get over Richard. Joey eats thejamstraight out of the jar, and as if that wasn't bad enough, he smears it all over his face.
"You Hung Up On The Pizza Place?"
Never call back your dates, but never hang up on a pizzeria, either.In "The One With Ross' Step Forward," Joey gets mad at Rachel because she hangs up on a pizza place.
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"Youhung up on thepizza place? I don'thang up on yourfriends!"he angrily asks. Given how obsessed Joey was with the New York specialty, he'd totally be in troubleif he wasn't friends with the pizza guys!
"Well, The Fridge Broke, So I Had To Eat Everything"
Joey knows hecannot afford to waste food, especially at a time of unemployment.However, he took the wholething a little too far by eating almost everything (includinga questionablething in an old brown jar) out of his fridge.He looked visibly sick fromeating too much in one sitting.
"Well,the fridge broke, so I had to eat everything.Cold cuts, ice cream, limes,"he tellsChandler. While Joey may have been careful not to let the perishable food go bad, he also shamelesslytricked everyone into paying for his broken fridge.
"We're Talking About Whipped Fish, Monica."
In "The One With the Stoned Guy," Phoebe gets Monica an interview with a massage client who's looking fora head chef for his upcoming restaurant. To get started, Monica preparesa gourmet feast days before the actual interview. She has her friends taste and critiqueeverynuanceof flavor in themeals.
WhenMonicapersistently asks Joey torateher twoversions ofsalmon mousse, the distastefully says, "I don't know. We'retalking about whipped fish,Monica. I'm just happy I'm keeping it down, ya know?"
"If You Can Finish A 32-Ounce Steak, It's Free."
Joey's dating advice was as bad as his criticism of Monica's food. In the same episode, Ross asked his friendsif they knew a good date place in the neighborhood. Joey suggested he take his date to a nearby restaurant to try and score a freesteak. "How about Tony's?If you can finish a 32-ounce steak,it's free."
Fortunately, Ross wasn't looking for a free meal and/ora potential way to embarrass himself.Neither did he havethe stomach space to carry a giant steak, so hedeclinedJoey's suggestion.
"What's Not To Like?"
It makes sense that Rachelwould be able to count on Joey to love her terrible combination of Englishtrifle and shepherd's pie. In "The One Where Ross Got High," thanks to a cookbook mix-up, Rachelaccidentally prepares a meat trifleas a Thanksgiving dessert. It's made of layers of ladyfingers, custard, raspberries, beef sautéed with peas and onions, bananas, and whipped cream. And it only has one layer of jam, much to Joey's chagrin.
To politely get out of eating the dessert,Chandlergoes tothe balcony,the Gellers, to their daughter's room, and Monica to the bathroom. Ross says the trifle tastes like feet, but Joeyloves every layer of it. "What’s Not To Like? Custard? Good! Jam? Good! Meat? Goooooood!”
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