History BigEater / Literature

* In ''Literature/ShamanOfTheUndead'' [[InSeriesNickname Brittle]] eats a ''lot''. Ida complains a few times that her fridge is completely empty after his visits. This might be because [[ItMakesSenseInContext due to Ida's mental connection to a dead painter, she's now excellent cook]] and Brittle prefers her cooking to buying takeaways.
* [[spoiler:Miles Teg]] from ''Literature/HereticsOfDune'' undergoes a transformation that unlocks his SuperSpeed powers, and as a consequence, has to consume many, ''many'' normal human portions to satisfy his hunger. Justified as his metabolism is accelerated to compensate for the increased energy demands. This is commented upon with amazement by the people who observe him eat.

* Nicely-Nicely Johnson and Violette Shumberger in Damon Runyan's short story "A Piece of Pie". She participates in an eating contest and he is her coach, despite being on a strict diet himself. [[spoiler: At the end of the story, he leaves the fiancee who has put him on the diet and runs away with Violette.]]

[[caption-width-right:332:Don't put these in charge of judging a baking contest, folks.]]

* The hobbits from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' are seen as able to put away large quantities of food. In a normal day, they eat at least seven meals (Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Elevenses, Luncheon, Afternoon Tea, Dinner, Supper, plus whatever snacks they can sneak between); Literature/TheHobbit states it's ''eleven'' meals a day. Their tendency to this is such that that when Aragon, Gimli, and Legolas are trying to work out what happened to Merry and Pippin and find evidence someone ate lembas bread, smoothly ignoring the battle being fought around them, Legolas [[DeadpanSnarker dryly]] notes that alone is evidence a hobbit was here. As a reference to this, in the Films, elvish Lembas bread, a small bite of which is supposed to feed a normal man, is consumed in the amount of several loaves each by the sidekicks Merry and Pippin, with only mild indigestion to show for it.
** It's stated in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' that many of the dwarves have the same preference for meals as hobbits (many and often). Bombur was fat all his life, and by the time of ''Literature/TheFellowshipOfTheRing'', he's so obese that he needs six young dwarves simply to move him. Gandalf was a Big Eater too, on occasion. In one scene in the book (where Bilbo and the dwarves are guests in Beorn's hall) he eats four whole loaves, each covered with butter, honey, and clotted cream, in one sitting. (Justifed, seeing as he had been out all day scouting the area on foot.)

* Eldon, the lackadaisical and lazy leader, from ''Literature/TheColdMoons'' would prefer to sleep and eat over anything else. Even when on a dangerous exodus to outrun humans and their budger cullings, he slows down his group of 300+ badgers because he wants to eat worms along the way. However, Eldon's hunger isn't always an annoyance. His knowledge of where and how to find food can be useful when the group is in desperate need.

* Eldon, the lackadaisical and lazy leader, from ''Literature/TheColdMoons'' would prefer to sleep and eat over anything else. Even when on a dangerous exodus to outrun humans and their budger cullings, he slows down his group of 300+ badgers because he wants to eat worms along the way. However, Eldon's hunger isn't always an annoyance. His knowledge of where to find food can be useful when the group is in desperate need.

* As mentioned with Clay above, Ochre from ''Wings Of Fire'' is also a [=MudWing=] dragon and a big eater, wanting to always have a bite to eat. But unlike Clay, who is kind and loyal to his friends, Ochre is [[FatBastard greedy and unfriendly]]. Even sweet and kind Sunny can't stand him.

* In David Foster Wallace's The Broom of the System the character Norman Bombardini attempts to stave off his loneliness and rejection from the heroine by consuming so much food that everything Other becomes him. His endeavor was so successful he started generating his own gravitational pull...

* Eldon, the lackadaisical and lazy leader, from ''Literature/TheColdMoons'' would prefer to sleep and eat over anything else. Even when on a dangerous exodus to outrun humans and their budger cullings, he slows down his group of 300+ badgers because he wants to eat worms along the way.

* Zhu Bajie in ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''. A very classic example for those who also know of the legends and the [[Manga/DragonBall series' that]] [[Manga/{{Saiyuki}} reference it closely]], since characters from those said references seem to eat just as much as that pig (quite befitting; and even if the said characters who eat a lot are ironically based more on-and-named after Sun Wukong AKA Son Gokuu than Bajie).

* Eldon, the lackadaisical and lazy badger leader, from ''Literature/TheColdMoons'' would prefer to sleep and eat over anything else.

* Claudia Kishi from ''Literature/TheBabysittersClub'' 1990s-era juvenile book series is a model-thin junk food addict. Many an eating disorder can be traced to this character.

* Graystripe from the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series is called this by other characters, though we don't actually see him eating large amounts.
** Tigerstar possibly pushed him into it, forcing him to eat extra mice he would feed to Yellowfang in Firestar's place in ''Into The Wild''.

* Bruce Bogtrotter in ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'' swipes a slice of cake from [[DeanBitterman The Trunchbull's]] stash. By way of punishment, she makes him eat a cake. ([[CrowningMomentOfAwesome He manages]], although he's completely zonked in a food coma at the end.)

* [[Literature/WinnieThePooh Winnie-the-Pooh]]. At the beginning of the first book he cleans out Rabbit's pantry. In the second book he eats Tigger's lunch ''and'' Roo's. And he's incapable of carrying a pot of honey from A to B without devouring its contents along the way!

** A rather horrifying version includes the entire Taxxon species, who have a [[HorrorHunger maddening hunger]] that makes them eat anything they can -- including any injured member of their species or, on at least one occasion, ''oneself''. This hunger is so powerful that when Taxxons are caught up in it (which is a ''lot'') even the Yeerk inside can no longer control it. To its terror. There's a reason that only lower-ranking Yeerks are assigned to Taxxons. This hunger is why the Taxxons willingly became Controllers- the Yeerks promised them relief from their HorrorHunger in exchange for their service. Didn't end up working, but that the Taxxons gave up their own free will to escape their hunger says something about how overpowering it is.
** Ax, in human morph. His natural species has no taste buds, so while in human form, the variety of different flavors of food tends to overwhelm him.

* Zhu Bajie in ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''. A very classic example for those who also know of the legends and the [[Manga/DragonBall series' that]] [[Manga/{{Saiyuki}} reference it closely]], since characters from those said references seem to eat just as much as that pig (quite befitting; and even if the said characters who eat a lot are ironically based more on Sun Wukong than Bajie).

* Baloun from ''The Good Soldier Švejk'' loves to eat, and almost always feels hungry. Since he serves in the Austro-Hungarian army in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, this trait gets him into a lot of trouble.

* ''BillyBunter'' is a typical example. When on a camping trip with six other boys, he looks at the supplies they've purchased for tea (dinner) and says, with no consciousness of being ironic, "Let's see, there's seven sausages here. What are you fellows having?"

* The hobbits from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' are seen as able to put away large quantities of food. In a normal day, they eat at least seven meals (Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Elevenses, Luncheon, Afternoon Tea, Dinner, Supper, plus whatever snacks they can sneak between); Literature/TheHobbit states it's ''eleven'' meals a day. As a reference to this, in the Films, elvish Lembas bread, a small bite of which is supposed to feed a normal man, is consumed in the amount of several loaves each by the sidekicks Merry and Pippin, with only mild indigestion to show for it.

** Seems to be a rather common trait in Creator/RoaldDahl's stories. Most are less sympathetic than Bruce- there's the famous Augustus Gloop, who eats tons of chocolate bars and Bruno Jenkins of TheWitches, who is easily lured by the titular antagonists with the promise of chocolate and later becomes a very gluttonous mouse.

* Veres from ''Literature/LoyalEnemies'' has to heal himself constantly, as he's beaten to pulp at the start of the story and dropped in the middle of the action shortly thereafter. That makes him burn the energy constantly, as well as causes him to be constantly hungry, to the point that "Veres ate all our food" becomes a running gag throughout the book.

* A rather horrifying version includes the entire Taxxon species from ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', who have a [[HorrorHunger maddening hunger]] that makes them eat anything they can -- including any injured member of their species or, on at least one occasion, ''oneself''. This hunger is so powerful that when Taxxons are caught up in it (which is a ''lot'') even the Yeerk inside can no longer control it. To its terror. There's a reason that only lower-ranking Yeerks are assigned to Taxxons.
** This hunger is why the Taxxons are a [[HenchmanRace species of voluntary Controllers]]- the Yeerks promised them relief from their HorrorHunger in exchanged for their service.
** Ax, in human morph.

* In MercedesLackey's [[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Valdemar]] universe, Heralds, Healers, and Mages who over-use their powers have to be force-fed sometimes.