Good Eats/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Crazy Awesome: Alton decides that his pepper mill's handle isn't good enough so he replaces it with a power drill. And it actually works.
  • Foe Yay: Alton and W. In "Behind the Eats", Alton's mailman reads a letter aloud, asking whether W is Alton's wife. (See Write Who You Know, on the main page.)
  • Funny Aneurysm Moment / Hilarious in Hindsight: In some episodes, after making a large batch of a dessert (such as chocolate mousse) Alton would half-joke that he would probably just sit down and eat the whole thing. Then come episodes like "Herbal Preservation" in Season 7 and "Live and Let Diet" in Season 13..
    • In the 2001 episode "Scrap Iron Chef", Alton competes with a sweet old lady in an Iron Chef spoof. Four years later Alton became the host of Iron Chef America.
    • Alton in a few episodes and appearances on other shows declared that he thought the "umami" craze was largely a marketing stunt and he thought it was pretentious and a little ridiculous. Cue his hosting of The Next Iron Chef, and he was having to hawk Kikkoman soy sauce and its "rich umami flavor".
  • Growing the Beard: The show started hitting a groove after the problematic first season, but didn't really run at its full potential until Alton took over production (and built the now-familiar Good Eats Kitchen) in 2001. This was partially due to space constraints; the white kitchen was a small kitchen in a small house, which made shooting trick shots and gags difficult.
  • Memetic Badass: Alton Brown once got carried away slicing carrots, and julienned his cutting board. Undaunted, he sauteed the splinters in olive oil and spices — and they were delicious.
    • To Alton, Louis Pasteur ("King Louie") is this. The man did once take down a Food Police helicopter with a flamethrower.
  • Shipping: A lot of fans seem to ship Alton/W. The knowledge that the former is married does not dissuade them one bit. This was lampshaded in the behind-the-scenes episode, believe it or not; the mailman bringing AB his fan mail comments on all the letters asking if W is AB's wife.
  • Squick: The Season 12 episode "Oh My, Meat Pie" was a parody of Sweeney Todd. Yes, folks, a Sweeney Todd-inspired episode, on a cooking show.
  • The Woobie: Okra. You heard me.