Through His Stomach: Difference between revisions

[[File:through-mikotos-stomach.gif|link=Mai-HiME|frame|For some, the first stage of love is also the most delicious.]]

 

 

Feeding someone, as a gesture of affection or an attempt to win it. (Or both.) The person doing the feeding may [[Oblivious to Love|not even realize]] why they feel this desire to feed the other. While they do not have to cook it themselves, that adds to the significance.

In addition to the more common romantic version, there is also the occasional mother figure to child version. In this version an older woman (occasionally male but usually a woman) tries to demonstrate maternal love to a younger person by cooking for them. If the child is a [[Broken Bird]], or if the older woman is a [[Lethal Chef]] this can result in failure.

 

 

Supertrope of [[Your Favorite]]. Compare [[Tastes Like Friendship]]. Has nothing whatsoever, aside from [[Rule 34]], to do with [[Right Through His Pants]]. For something that goes through someone's stomach ''violently'', see [[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice]].

 

** Shiho tries to win points with Yuuichi this way in the [[Cooking Duel]] after seeing that he's one of the judges. Unfortunately for her, she trips and plants her face into the completed cake.

* A hilarious version in [[The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer]]: Sami makes a meal, that turns somewhat lethal. She doesn't finish eating it, and tells Yuuhi that he doesn't have to either, but the man gobbles it up like nectar from the gods (and pays for it later).

* Nagi attempts this repeatedly with Hayate in ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]''. [[Lethal Chef]] indeed. Hayate, however, is actually touched by the attempts (despite the terrible taste), because his mother [[Abusive Parents|never did anything so nice for him]].

* Done in ''[[One Piece]]'' at the end of the Alabasta saga. {{spoiler|So what does a now world famous pirate want for saving an entire country and defeating one of the most dangerous people in world? Luffy only wants to be fed until he explodes. Vivi and Terracota manage to succeed which is a [[Big Eater|miracle in itself.]]}}

** In a gender inversion, amorous chef Sanji prepares special food and beverages for whatever beautiful women he can find, shrugging off even his captain until the needs of the women are met. He clearly implies that he does this to win their affections.

* In ''[[Battle Royale]]'', Noriko [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/battle_royale/c001/30.html bakes cookies to give to Shuya], whom she has a ''huge'' crush on. Unfortunately for her, it didn't have the effect she really wanted, since Yoshi (who had a ''huge'' crush on Noriko) ended up taking the cookies and eating them.

* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'': Shion {{spoiler|who is actually Mion in disguise}} inadvertently does this with Keiichi since he hadn't eaten lunch that day. While he wouldn't show much interest in her, it started a friendship.

* In ''[[D.Gray-man]]'', apparently this is the way to [[Big Eater|Allen's]] heart. It's entirely possible to bribe him into having positive, happy feelings towards the person. In one instance, Miranda, unable to think of any way to cheer him up, gives him her candy, which makes him ridiculously happy. In another instance, Rohfa apparently caught on to the idea, and is implied to be trying to court him by bribing him with huge boxes of Mitarashi Dango (his favorite). Granted, he only seemed to happily notice the food, ''without'' the romantic implications... but, well, it's a start, right?

* [[Meido|Fiore]] in ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' is the cook of the Sinners, so she has a tendency to do this to show familial affection. She's always cooking for Joshua (to the point where he raves over her pudding), and she also scolds Shader for eating canned food and gives her a home-cooked meal as soon as she sees her again. The most obvious use of this trope is when she cooks for {{spoiler|Azmaria}}, and is very thrilled when she seems to like it, telling her {{spoiler|"This was my sister's favorite. You remind me of her."}}

** Also, when Rosette first met Chrono, he was very weak—so she offered him some cookies and candies she had in her pocket. Chrono was deeply touched by her kindness and instantly took a liking to her after that—and, when she grows older, they become the series' [[Official Couple]]. (However, Rosette tries to actually ''cook'' for Chrono later in the series, and [[Lethal Chef|the result is less successful]].)

* in ''[[The Wallflower]]'', Sunako appears to be doing this to Kyouhei accidentally. There was one episode where Kyouhei [[Belligerent Sexual Tension|actually started to fall in love]] [[Fan-Preferred Couple|with her]]. But then, because the [[Status Quo Is God]], {{spoiler|he realizes that he just has a craving for some fried shrimp}}. And we're [[Ship Tease|right back where we started]].

* Nicely done in ''[[Saiunkoku Monogatari]]'', in which Shuurei's cooking wins Ryuuki's heart twice over. In the backstory of the series, Shouka shared the food Shuurei cooked for him with Ryuuki whenever Ryuuki visited the Archives, effectively becoming Ryuuki's [[Parental Substitute]] since he was neglected and abused by the rest of his family. Later, when Ryuuki and Shuurei first meet in person, she shares her tea and sweet bean buns with him; he recognizes her cooking, and falls in love with her in very short order.

* In ''[[Maburaho]]'' Yuna constantly cooks for Kazuki and brings him obento, because "that's whata wife is supposed to do". This is also played with in two episodes, one being where Rin wants to try to cook an obento for a teacher she had a crush on, however as she isn't as feminine as the rest of the female cast, her cooking tastes horrible. {{spoiler|In the end, she doesn't give the obento to the teacher, but instead gives it to Kazuki who eats it all, despite its horrible taste.}} In another episode, when Kazuki's parents are supposed to come over to visit, upon learning eel is their favourite meal, all three girls attempt to prepare eel to impress his parents.

* In ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', this is how Makoto tries to impress Motoki. Unfortunately, her meal preparations are interrupted when Zoisite attacks ''his fiancée''.

* Hikari offers to make Touji a bento in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''. She says it's because she "makes food for her sisters so she always has leftovers" but it guaranteed that the fandom thought them an item from that point on.

** [[Rebuild of Evangelion]] 2.0 has a surprisingly detailed and extended focus on cooking. Shinji is a good cook, and proves it during a field trip. Rei, hoping to reunite Shinji and Gendo, invites both of them to a dinner party where she will cook. Seeing Rei practice cooking makes Asuka jealous, and she, too, takes up the ladle and attempts to learn (though she is [[Tsundere|incredibly embarrassed when this is found out]]). A later scene proves that Rei is a far more dedicated learner than Asuka, as proven by the bandage count on their fingers.

** There's a filler episode in relaod about a [[Leathal Cook]] (litrally) trying to cook for her fiance

* Collin from ''[[Thundersub]]'' desperately tries to convince the crew to keep Anna on the ship by insisting, "She's a good cook! She's willing to cook!" They finally give in.

* In ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]] Ryo-Ohki'', Ryoko attempts to do this to win over Tenchi in episode 7. However, as she has no tastebuds to taste her meal and she's not willing to get Sasami, their resident cook, into the mix, the results are disastrous. She ends up giving up, though.

* Wendy Garret tries this in ''[[Gun X Sword]],'' but the plan fails because Van never gets to eat the meal she prepared, {{spoiler|at least the first time}}.

* While rare, Brock of ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' sometimes employs this tactic when attempting to woo the [[Girl of the Week]].

* In episode 15 of ''[[D.N.Angel]]'' Mio Hio tries to win Daisuke over by cooking for him. Risa also suggests that Riku should cook for Daisuke to win him over.

* In ''[[Oniisama e...]]'', when Nanako visits Rei in her apartment, she learns that Rei barely has anything in her fridge. She then decides to cook healthy meals specially for her.

 

* In ''[[Archie Comics]]'', this is an area where [[Supreme Chef|Betty]] always wins over [[Lethal Chef|Veronica]].

** [[Abhorrent Admirer|Big Ethel]] tries this all the time on [[Big Eater|Jughead]]. He's certainly willing to tolerate her presence when food is forthcoming, but it never gets her any closer to a date (unless you count the time it takes him to eat, and considering it's Jughead that can't be very long).

 

* In ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'' Haruhi starts making lunch to Kyon when isn't given one [[Denied Food as Punishment|because he is grounded]]. She still keeps making them after it's lifted though, as he has become a [[Big Eater]].

* Gender [[Inverted]] in [[Assumptions]]: After [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|Rainbow Dash]] wakes up in [[Nice Guy|Caramel's]] house (under innocent circumstances) after [[What Did I Do Last Night?|accidentaly drinking spike beer]], she starts dropping in regularly for breakfast, and even gets him to start preparing lunch. This is one of the reason she warms up considerably to someone she though of as useless a few days prior.

 

* Bill Engvall references this in ''[[Blue Collar Comedy|Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again]]'' during the "I Believe..." closing act. He says, "The way to a man's heart is not through his stomach... it's a little further south."

* Played with in ''[[Miami Blues]]'' when a woman intentionally cooks a terrible pie to test her hoodlum boyfriend. He pretends to like it and she takes this as a sign that their relationship is a sham.

 

* In the [[Expanded Universe]] ''[[Doctor Who]]'' Eighth Doctor novels, it's noted that the Doctor has an "almost maternal urge" to feed [[True Companions|his friends.]]

* In the [[Kate Daniels]] novels, shapechangers ascribe ritual significance to food. Buying someone dinner at a restaurant is a symbol of affection; actually placing food into another's hands is an incredibly intimate gesture. Becomes a plot point when Kate unknowingly accepts food from a shapechanger's hands; she's accepting a sexual proposition and acknowledging his dominion over her.

* Comes up in the young adult novel ''[[Darkest Powers|The Awakening]]'' by Kelley Armstrong. When Derek first sees Chloe again, he offers her food and asks about her injury. His romantic rival for Chloe's affections even comments that Derek is "showing him up". Later, Derek acts a bit of a mother hen over Chloe, making her a bed of tarps, offering her his sweatshirt, and giving her his last granola bar. So it came as no surprise when a new character instantly observed that Derek considered Chloe [[Our Werewolves Are Different|his mate]].

** Also parodied in another book. Assassins trained by the Assassin's Guild know to carry their knives low: the easiest way to a man's heart actually ''is'' through his stomach.

*** ... then up through the diaphragm.

* Mat Cauthon of the Wheel of Time believes that if you get a woman to start feeding you, she is halfway won. He happens to be right.

** And this is hilariously inverted when Tylin tries to deprive him of food to get him in her bed.

* In Brian Jacques's ''[[Redwall]]'' Cornflower's [[Yamato Nadeshiko|generosity and beneficience]] are shown by having her perpetually cooking for all the defenders, who all regard her highly. (Even though she is the [[Love Interest]], not so much specifically for Matthias.)

* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''The Orphans of Chaos'', Vanity offers to cook for Glum, which lets them manipulate him. She's not an objectively very good cook, but Amelia notes that whatever she makes is mysteriously delicious.

** In ''Titans of Chaos'', after Amelia offers Victor some papaya, he says she would make some man a good wife. She spends a ''long'' time pondering [[Engaging Conversation|what exactly he meant]]. In a slight twist, Victor is normally a better cook than she is.

* Subverted in ''[[Betsy Tacy]]''. Betsy claims that Tib's stolid German cooking would be a disillusioning experience for any boy, no matter how good the food is. Further subverted by the fact that Betsy herself only learns how to cook after marriage, with her husband doing most of the cooking before.

* In [[L. M. Montgomery]]'s ''[[The Blue Castle]]'', Barney is much taken with Valancy's cooking.

 

* ''[[Monk]]'': The old lady who becomes something of a mother figure to Monk in one episode wins him over by making cubic muffins.

* Mellie and her incessant pasta-making on ''[[Dollhouse]]''. Despite being a single woman who lives alone, she seems to make lasagne in gigantic portions. It's no real surprise that it works on Ballard.

* Eliot on ''[[Leverage]]'' uses a platonic variant on the team as a whole. And it's adorable.

* On one occasion in ''[[Farscape]]'', Crichton secures Jool's help by bribing her with the location of Rygel's stash of ''wamelon'' cake.

** Usagi also tries to win Mamoru's heart with Valentine's Day chocolate.

* Probably the main reason for the continuing marriage of Frank and Maria from ''[[Everybody Loves Raymond]]''

 

== [[Music]] ==

** Happens again in Kaito's version of Melt when he falls for a girl that offers him her ice cream

 

 

* In John Guare's play ''The House of Blue Leaves'', Bunny will sleep with Artie anytime, but won't cook for him till after they're married.

{{quote|'''Bunny:''' Because, Artie, I'm a rotten lay and I know it and you know it and everybody knows it-

'''Bunny:''' (...) So if I cooked for you now and said I won't sleep with you till we're married, you'd look forward to sleeping with me so much that by the time we got to that motel near Hollywood, I'd be such a disappointment, you'd never forgive me. My cooking is the only thing I got to lure on you with and hold you with. Artie, we got to keep some magic for the honeymoon. }}

* In the musical ''[[Of Thee I Sing]]'', the principal qualification of Mary Turner for her successful bid to become the wife of John P. Wintergreen and First Lady of the United States is her ability to "bake the best darned corn muffins you ever ate." Now, Wintergreen may have made a campaign promise to marry the winner of an Atlantic City beauty contest, but the winner's chances of making him honor his promise are doomed when he finds out she can't make corn muffins.

* "Mr. and Mrs. Rorer" from the Bolton, [[P. G. Wodehouse|Wodehouse]] & Kern musical ''Sitting Pretty''.

 

* Jam cooks for Ky Kiske in one of her endings in ''[[Guilty Gear|Guilty Gear XX]]''. Granted, she is a professional cook and [[The Cape (trope)|he]] helped her out, but her [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WroZYR25hCU#t=8m10s facial expression and body language leave no doubt about her intentions]. {{spoiler|Though this ends up subverted in that Ky ultimately gets ''someone else''}}

* In ''[[Persona 4]]'', the main character can occasionally cook for his friends. If the food is good, this will cause a increased [[Relationship Values]].

* In the ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' games, you can raise affection points with many characters by giving them the kind of food they like.

* In ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius|Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance]]'' [[Big Eater|Ilyana]] is noted in base conversations (as well as her supports with Zihark, Gatrie and [[Les Yay|Mia's Foot]]) to deprive soldiers of their food with her [[Moe|cuteness]] (then forget their names).

** More generally, during Fuuka's Social Link the female protagonist can also make a number of sweets which can be given as gifts during weekend dates; these always go over famously.

 

* Kotonoha in ''[[School Days]]'' tries this. She's a [[Lethal Chef]], but unusually enough actually seems to get better at it as the show progresses.

** Just about the ''only'' thing that gets better as the show progresses. Everything else...[[It Got Worse|not so much]].

** Sakura is the one actually trying for this trope with Shirou. It's somewhat ironic, considering that ''[[Real Men Wear Pink|he's]]'' the one who taught ''[[Parental Abandonment|her]]'' how to cook. Still, she eagerly learns as much as she can, from him and on her own, and he proudly acknowledges that she's managed to surpass him.

** [[Tsukihime|Kohaku]] uses this method to get closer to Saber in [[Battle Moon Wars]] after Shiro warns her not to over do it because Saber will never forget a meal. She does the exact opposite.

** Mayucchi usually makes, or offers to make food on the days when the [[Team Mom|dorm mother]] is off. In her route, she does this all the time for Yamato.

** Miyako also attempts this on a regular basis, but unfortunately for her, her [[Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce|usual choice of fare]] is not exactly [[Fire-Breathing Diner|popular with Yamato]].

** Episode 5 of the anime also features ''everyone'', including the guys and [[Robot Buddy|Cookie]], catching on to Mayuuchi's idea, and showers him with whatever food they happen to carry. For added hilarity, Momoyo mentions that she's eaten half her yakisoba-pan,<ref>Bread filled with noodles</ref> which would mean an indirect kiss. This causes the rest of the girls to take bites out of what they gave him.

 

* The parental version occurs in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' when Bob finally breaks through [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Galatea's]] paranoia by serving her some [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20080906.html microwave pizza,] the first civilized meal she's ever had.

* At one point, Faye of [[Questionable Content]] turns this on it's head, proclaiming that "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. That way, you don't have to chop through that pesky ribcage."

* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100616 Snaug brings Moloch a snack.]

 

* In a ''[[Mickey Mouse Works]]'' short, Minnie becomes tired of eating the same sandwiches at picnics because Mickey can't cook. When Mickey later sees Minnie talking to José Carioca (of all people) about how he's going to prepare her a gourmet meal, he panics (thinking that Minnie wants to date José because of his cooking ability) and tries to learn how to cook. Minnie tells him that's not necessary, because she was just hiring José to cater their picnics. Guess what José prepares...

* Attempted in ''[[Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends]]'' by Berry to Bloo, with snicker-doodles. Fails miserably, [[Ho Yay|it seems Bloo only has eyes for Mac]].

* ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'': Heloise attempts this on a semi-regular basis to win Jimmy's affections, including snacks "whipped up from scratch" and two very complete picnics ([[Big Eater|Beezy and Cerbee]] ruined the first). For an independent career woman, Heloise takes a surprising amount of pride in her cooking skills.

* ''[[Time Squad]]'': the beginning of "Ex Marks the Spot," with Larry preparing a gravy-smothered turkey for Tuddrussell, which would be fine, barring the rather Freudian subtext of shoving a funnel into the spot where the turkey's head used to be, followed by pouring a cannister of gravy into the turkey and a lingering shot of the turkey as it swells and overflows with gravy.

 

* Cooking a meal for someone is a good way to show you care, and will gain favor with anyone.

* Zigzagged in real life by [[Big Beautiful Woman|feedees,]] [[Chubby Chaser|feeders and]] [[Rule 34|foodees]] who find feeding somebody or being fed by somebody, [[Big Eater|especially stuffing them as much as possible,]] to be a kind of foreplay.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Unisex Tropes]]

[[Category:Love Tropes]]

[[Category:The Parent Trope]]

[[Category:Food Tropes]]