Line #30 BigEater/Literature


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7	[[quoteright:332:[[Literature/MrMen https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/do_not_put_these_two_in_charge_of_judging_a_baking_contest.png]]]]
8	[[caption-width-right:332:Don't put these two in charge of judging a baking contest, folks.]]
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12	!!Thin Characters
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14	* ''Literature/AnimalInn'': Teddy Taylor, who claims it's because he's a growing boy and needs the nourishment. Also Cleveland the cat, who demands four meals a day plus snacks.
15	* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'':
16	** 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, ''[[{{Autocannibalism}} 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. It didn't end up working, but the fact that the Taxxons gave up their own free will to escape their hunger says a lot about how overpowering it is.
17	** Ax, in human morph. His natural species has no taste buds due to having no mouth, so while in human form, [[SenseFreak the variety of different flavors of food tends to overwhelm him]].
18	* Mulch, in the ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' series. Let's not get into ''what'' he eats, please.
19	%% Zero context example, please expand into a full example before restoring.* Josh Pinto in the ''Literature/AToZMysteries'' books.
20	* Claudia Kishi from ''Literature/TheBabysittersClub'' 1980s-era juvenile book series is a model-thin junk food addict.
21	* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': All dragons are this, of course, being able to ingest ridiculous amounts of food. Feeding them can be a major logistical issue as a result, although in a pinch even civilized ones will eat just about anything and forage if necessary (as Bazil does more than once). Civilized ones [[EveryoneHasStandards draw the line]] at human meat, however.
22	* ''Literature/BeastTamer'': Kanade and Tania both eat heaping portions of food to keep their strength up. In fact, when Rein and Kanade meet, the only reason she's in danger in the first place is because she's weak from hunger. Once she's fed, she's unstoppable. Tania, meanwhile, can match Kanade bite-for-bite, much to Rein's surprise when they share a meal for the first time.
23	* Day from ''Literature/BestServedCold'' eats constantly. Her mentor scolds her for munching buns while they are waiting for assassination targets.
24	* Washy from ''Literature/BewareOfChicken'' is a carp who loves to eat food. And it's a good thing too, as [[MakesSenseInContext his whole job is licking dishes clean.]] He actually ''can'' be trusted with the farm's food supplies, though, because he's sufficiently [[EnlightenedSelfInterest far-sighted]] to ensure that he can keep eating well all year.
25	* Most of the Brotherhood boys in J.R. Ward's ''Literature/BlackDaggerBrotherhood'' series. Like Rhage (who is regularly described or insinuated to be the biggest eater, even amongst the brothers) and [[spoiler:Zsadist, as of book 3, ''Lover Awakened.'']] The latter is an especially fortunate development since the extreme and very detrimental opposite was the case beforehand. [[spoiler: In layman's terms, Z more than half starved himself for over a century, hating and outright not trusting any and all food he couldn't see whole or make himself, since he "didn't know if it was tampered with" otherwise. But thanks to his bonding with the aristocrat vampire Bella, he's since done a 180 and adopted eating alongside Rhage.]]
26	* Lila Merriweather of the ''Literature/BlackBlade'' series spent years living on the streets, then ended up with a job that included unlimited free board. She makes the most of it.
27	* ''Literature/BlueMoose'': The titular moose consumes seventeen bowls of chowder when he arrives at Mr. Brenton's restaurant.
28	* ''Literature/BooksOfTheRaksura:'' As large shapeshifting predators, Raksura need more food than their [[{{Humanshifting}} humanoid forms]] would suggest, [[PrefersRawMeat preferably in the form of raw meat]]. The CoolOldGuy Stone is even more so, since he's grown so much StrongerWithAge that his shifted form has tripled in size -- all with no change to his humanoid form.
29	* Benny from ''Literature/TheBoxcarChildren'' book series, despite being only 6-years-old.
30	* ''Literature/BruceCovillesBookOf'': Some of the villainous characters have this trait, such as...
31	** ''Bruce Coville's Book of Monsters'': The titular character of ''The Beast With a Thousand Teeth'' devours people three times a day (though it later switches to pastries).
32	** ''Bruce Coville's Book of Nightmares'': The title character of ''The Fat Man'', who is shown devouring five whole pizzas in a single meal.
33	** ''Bruce Coville's Book of Aliens II'': The aliens in ''Brandon & the Aliens'', who start out eating things like birds and move up to things the size of cows and horses -- and not just one at a time either.
34	* Index and Aisa Himegami of ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'', although the latter is only a big eater when it comes to burgers. Index, however, will probably swallow a kitchen before being satisfied. Fortunately for her (and [[CatchPhrase misfortunately]] for the guy), Touma knows how to cook.
35	* Templeton the rat in ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'' might be a VillainousGlutton if he actually did anything truly malicious (he's stated to have "no morals") but bribing him with food is pretty much the only way to get him to help with anything. He's persuaded to go to the county fair after being told of all the discarded food that would be on the ground after hours, and eats so much then that he comes back the next morning bloated to almost twice his size. Later in the book, after Wilbur promises to let him eat first from his slops forever in exchange for helping to save Charlotte's egg sac, he grows to nearly the size of a woodchuck from eating so much.
36	* Corwin from ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfAmber'', to the extent where his brother Random once snaps him out of an AchillesInHisTent sulk by showing up with a very large tray of food.
37	* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': Narnian centaurs are an entire race of Big Eaters, as revealed in ''Literature/TheSilverChair''. They have two stomachs, one of a horse and one of a man, so they have to fill both of these stomachs, and eat heartily for both. Their breakfast might include porridge, pavenders (a fish native to Narnia), kidneys, bacon, an omelette, cold ham, toast, marmalade, coffee and beer. They then would graze for an hour before eating hot mash, some oats and a bag of sugar.
38	* ''Literature/ChrysalisRinoZ'': Monsters need to eat to survive, but they also gain biomass points that they can use to mutate and improve their bodies. Consequently, they frequently eat more than their own weight, and mutate their stomachs to fit in even more. Some go further and have extra-dimensional stomachs, larger than the visible portion of the monster.
39	** Tiny has only three loves: eating, sleeping, and fighting. When Anthony comes across a fungus that Tiny is ambivalent about eating, he "can only assume it tastes like radioactive waste."
40	** Grokus is a demon obsessed with eating, and has been stocking up biomass for years. He's actually able to use it to achieve NighInvulnerability, with a skill that lets him spend biomass points to rapidly heal from any injury. And an aura that drains health from nearby enemies, essentially eating them alive.
41	* In ''The Ghost in Gold'', a TwiceToldTale of Literature/{{Cinderella}}, Chiara spent years being her stepmother's half-starved slave, so good food is one of her biggest weaknesses. She inhales three courses at the masked ball without realizing it, and even when employed at the palace and getting regular meals, food is never too far from her thoughts.
42	* [[ChangelingTale Jack]] in ''Literature/TheDarkestPartOfTheForest'' is constantly hungry and constantly eating as part of his fey nature. He'll eat entire loaves of bread and gallons of milk, swallow whole eggs at the grocery store, and if he's too embarrassed to ask for 5th helpings of dinner, he'll eat [[ExtremeOmnivore cotton balls soaked in water]].
43	* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''/''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' tie-in novel ''Literature/TheDawnOfYangchen'' [[AscendedFanon confirmed]] the popular fan speculation of [[HavingABlast combustionbenders]] as such, with [[spoiler:all three Unanimity members each]] apparently requiring at least double the caloric intake of their cronies. [[spoiler:All of them match]] the "tall and athletic" depiction of the specialty established in the shows.
44	* ''Literature/DeadCity'': Alex always eats an enormous lunch that would easily feed a group.
45	-->'''Natalie''': Alex eats more than any three people you've ever met. Try not to stare, he's very sensitive about it.
46	* [[ActionSurvivor Fitz Kreiner]] from the ''Series/DoctorWho'' Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures. He also has ExtremeOmnivore tendencies, and questionable table manners. And, as per usual for this trope, he's incredibly skinny, although when he's not busy running for his life and can have three square meals a day, he doesn't take long to get a bit out of shape. FridgeBrilliance: it's probably because by the time he's 33, he's spent about 2/3 of his life either [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII under rationing]] or traveling with the Doctor. Being on a see-food diet (you know, [[{{Pun}} if he sees food, he eats it]]) is ordinarily a useful survival mechanism which he probably picked up when he was still a small child.
47	* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Harry Dresden says that he "eats like a horse", but is still tall and skinny, because he actually alternates between eating like a horse, and getting so wrapped up in what he's doing that he ''ForgetsToEat''. So it comes to about even, overall. Also, he exercises regularly when not in a rush to save the world, and all that magic probably burns extra calories.
48	** When Harry and his apprentice visit the White Council headquarters, Harry's mentor Ebenezer makes sure that the apprentice gets access to the buffet normally reserved for full Wizards. Harry explains that Ebenezer believes that all apprentices are constantly hungry, but states that he is [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial most definitely and certainly not to blame for that misconception]], [[BlatantLies no sirree.]]
49	* Luke in ''Literature/EightDaysOfLuke'', [[spoiler:which makes sense considering that he's really Loki, who once almost won an eating contest with the anthropomorphic personification of fire. Also, by the time the book opens he's been imprisoned for quite a while.]]
50	* Rurune from ''Literature/TheFruitOfEvolution'' is an enormous glutton with a bottomless pit for a stomach, both as a donkey and after [[PowerUpFood the titular fruit]] [[HumanityEnsues turns her into a human girl]]. She ''happily'' eats ten evolution fruits in a single sitting, despite the fruits being legendary for their vile taste, and once makes a BlasphemousBoast that she would kick a god to death for the sake of delicious food. Her hunger is so great that [[AscendedToCarnivorism she eagerly consumes meat]], even ''drooling'' at the thought of gorging herself on horse meat sashimi. The downside to her HyperactiveMetabolism is that, similarly to Goku in his ''Manga/DragonBall'' days,her strength rapidly fades if she gets hungry.
51	* In the first ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' book, 12-year-old Zak Arranda tackles a free meal with such enthusiasm that only the Wookiee keeps up with him. ...though it probably helps that everyone else at the table was talking, and necessarily eating more slowly.
52	* Literature/GeronimoStilton's cousin, Trap.
53	* Justified in ''Literature/TheHammer2022''. Tiny's Mana Body technique, the source of his inhuman strength, [[CastFromCalories requires him to eat ten times as much as an ordinary person]] to maintain as a side effect of not requiring special herbs or medicines to improve. The more he eats, the stronger he becomes. His appetite is so obscene that he's shown stacking piles of ten or twenty bowls of food, with some wondering if he has dwarven blood for eating so much.
54	* The Librarian in the "Hard-Boiled Wonderland" segment of Haruki Murakami's ''Literature/HardBoiledWonderlandAndTheEndOfTheWorld'' is one of these, to the point where most of her salary is used to pay for food. It is explained as an effect of her gastric dilation.
55	* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Ron Weasley. It's a RunningGag to have him cheerfully stuffing himself at the feast at the beginning of every year at Hogwarts, sometimes grossing Hermione and Harry out. In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', it gets even worse. Because, you know, they're out in the wild, without any food, and anyone who fits this trope is going to seriously chow down when the opportunity arises. In the "years later"-epilogue, he has grown a fair bit around the waist, though in his teenage years it probably all went to his height.
56	* ''Literature/HeavenOfficialsBlessingTianGuanCiFu'': He Xuan is almost always eating, even when disguised as [[spoiler: Ming Yi]]. Despite being a Ghost King and not needing food to survive. His endless appetite starts out as a RunningGag... until it's revealed he starved when he was alive.
57	* The classic example of this in literature would be Falstaff in ''Theatre/HenryIV'', who was always drinking, eating, or sleeping. He also was the namesake for the term ''falstaffian'' which is now used to describe these people.
58	* ''Literature/HereticsOfDune'': [[spoiler:Miles Teg]] 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.
59	* What [[CatGirl Koneko Toujou]] from ''Literature/HighSchoolDXD'' lacks in portion size, she makes up for in consistency. Whenever she's seen during downtime, she's constantly snacking on something, yet somehow keeps her figure as a tiny underclassman. Possibly justified by her position as a [[ChessMotifs Rook]], those insane feats of strength she casually performs must burn calories pretty efficiently. Plus her less active (albeit older) sister is... [[MsFanservice significantly curvier]].
60	* Literature/HonorHarrington's portions often [[LampshadeHanging get comments]] (and envious stares from her less metabolically blessed colleagues), but then she is a genetically engineered {{heavyworlder}} with a SuperStrength and requisite metabolism. Though, given how much exercise she subjects herself to, she probably wouldn't be fat even without her genetic tweaks.\
61	Her big eating was even {{deconstructed}} in ''In Enemy Hands'', when she was captured and she lost a significant amount of weight because she was only fed standard rations. Her warden was particularly frustrated by this since he was trying to break Harrington psychologically but needed her physically fit for propaganda footage.
62	* [[ActionGirl Katniss Everdeen]] of ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' eats like a starved wolverine when given the opportunity. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that she comes from the poorest district of an oppressive regime, where starvation is a constant threat, and thus food is often on her mind. Her leanness is explained by her inconsistent access to food, and how much energy she expends to provide for herself and her family.
63	** Subverted by most of the Capitol. They can afford it, of course, but most of them still only have so much room in their stomachs (it's also stated that Capitol citizens consider thinness attractive). This doesn't stop members of this decadent society from gorging themselves, however; at feasts, enormous portions of food are served with the expectation that guests will induce vomiting multiple times over the course of the meal ("How else would you get to taste everything?"). Naturally, Katniss and Peeta are disgusted when they learn of this at the end of their Victory Tour.
64	* ''Literature/IBecameTheDemonLordSoICreatedADungeon'': Lefy is perfectly capable of eating a week's worth of food for two people in a single sitting.
65	* ''Literature/TheIronTeeth'' web serial's protagonist Blacknail likes to eat a lot, especially near evolution. Even as a skinny hobgoblin he continues to eat almost constantly.
66	* ''Literature/JaineAustenMysteries'': Jaine is one, much to her own chagrin. Her cat Prozac also eats a lot.
67	* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungry_Tiger The Hungry Tiger]] in the ''Literature/LandOfOz'' books is quite possibly the largest and most powerful tiger in the whole of Nonestica, and has an appetite to match. He is only full once -- after devouring a good portion of a royal banquet.
68	* ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'': Kimball Kinnison, Gray Lensman, who normally consumes 5000 or more calories a day. Although the issue only comes up when he's hospitalized and can't eat his usual diet.
69	-->If he ate eggs at all he wanted them fried; three or four of them, accompanied by two or three thick slices of ham.
70	* In ''Literature/LoyalEnemies'', wizard Veres uses a long-term healing spell to heal himself after being beaten into a pulp at the start of the novel. The spell accelerates his metabolism and burns energy constantly, making him chronically hungry to the point that "Veres ate all our food" becomes a RunningGag in-story.
71	* All the bird-kids in the ''Literature/MaximumRide'' series have this, because of super-high metabolism to give them energy to fly. Amusingly, in the first young adult novel, they show up at a restaurant and start to order dinner, and the staff think it's some sort of prank. The Flock will often go without ''any'' food, sometimes for '''''days at a time''''', so it's completely understandable that once presented with ample amounts, they would stuff themselves just shy of getting sick because they couldn't be sure when their next meal would be; or of [[{{Squick}} what quality it might be]] (i.e. Dumpster diving being a regular one-stop shop for the hungry mutant bird kid on the run).
72	* ''Literature/MonsterOfTheMonthClub'': The monsters tend to be this -- at one point in book 1, Rilla informs Icicle that the food he'd eaten the night before was supposed to last a week.
73	* Jarvis from ''Literature/TheMouseWatch'' might not look like one of these, but he talks about food and being hungry a ''lot''.
74	* Chocolat of ''Literature/MyMentalChoicesAre'' can put away enormous amounts of food...but only when she has amnesia.
75	* In ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' Katarina absolutely loves sweets and tea and will consume them until she literally gets sick and risks either throwing up or wetting herself. She can eat enough of them for several people and is only barely held in check by her mother and brother. She'll even eat off the ground if she thinks it looks tasty. It's eventually noted that this constant wolfing down of everything sweet in her vicinity ''is'' starting to cause some weight gain, though she doesn't care at all.
76	* Reina Izumi from ''Literature/MyriadColorsPhantomWorld'' eats like a black hole. She also has the special ability of sealing Phantoms by eating them.
77	* Mr. Vandemar, in ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}''.
78	-->Mr. Croup likes words, while Mr. Vandemar is always hungry.
79	* Every werewolf in ''Literature/{{Newshound}}'', due to the massive caloric requirements of shapeshifting.
80	* In ''Literature/OneCoolFriend'', Magellan the penguin, who's about a foot tall, clears out at least four boxes of frozen seafood from the freezer overnight.
81	* Joel Duffle in Damon Runyan's short story "A Piece of Pie", a competitive eater who consumes a huge amount of food during the story, but "does not look as if he can eat his way out of a tea shoppe".
82	* ''Literature/ThePlantThatAteDirtySocks'': The sock-eaters get bigger and hungrier in almost every book, but they're still ''plants'', so they don't really ''get'' fat (though Stanley's vines are noted as having gotten a little thicker in book 1, which Michael suspects is because of the sugary goodies he's burying in the pot for added treats). By book 5, Stanley's up to six socks a night (a trait his EvilTwin shares) and Fluffy, who's slightly smaller, eats five a night.
83	* In Creator/{{Plautus}}'s plays, table-companions (a peculiar Roman institution, also called "parasites") are played as comically large eaters, making this OlderThanFeudalism. Ergasilus in ''Captivi'', given the run of Hegio's kitchen, causes an uproar not unlike those common in ''The Slayers''.
84	* Most characters with an enhanced metabolism in ''Literature/ThePosterChildren'', but the most obvious one is Zip, whose metabolism is even more enhanced than most because she's a speedster. Before she came to Maillardet's, she couldn't eat her fill because her family couldn't afford it. She continued to eat less than her appetite demanded (fainting often as a result) until she was assured that she was allowed to.
85	* Sigfried Smith from ''Literature/RachelGriffin'' consistently takes huge portions of food, as he's used to being starved by adults and wants to stock up while he can.
86	* In the ''Literature/RainbowMagic'' series, all of the goblins ''love'' food and are very greedy about it.
87	* In ''Literature/RebuildWorld'', Akira finds that he's developed a voracious appetite following his hospital stay, finishing an entire full-course meal in one sitting without any discomfort. He only notices this while eating on Carol's tab, which Alpha explains as his body trying to make up for years of malnutrition after the hospital treatments cleaned out the impurities and toxins lodged in his body from eating slum food.
88	* ''Literature/TheRedemptionOfAlthalus'', by Creator/DavidEddings: Eliar. Although it's because he's a teenager and he grows out of it somewhat later on.
89	* Everyone likes to eat in ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'', but hares have it as a defining trait. To great comedic effect in most of the books. There's also a sequence in ''Salamandastron'' where two runaway {{Mook}}s try to keep up with the Abbeydwellers' eating, but since they're not used to eating so much, they make themselves horribly ill and have to be given a "fizzick" which makes them bring it back up.
90	** Causes something of a problem in another book; a horde of squirrels has agreed to help a hare find his platoon, but, in order, he:
91	*** Comes dangerously close to overeating on a piece of the squirrels' waybread, one bite of which is dense and calorie-filled enough to last a squirrel all day
92	*** Promises three entire loaves of the stuff to an owl they're bartering for info with, when they could have haggled him down to one had the hare not been so desperate.
93	*** Bitches, moans, and in general makes a whiny nuisance of himself over how hungry he is when the squirrels decide that since it was his bright idea to give three loaves to the owl, he can be one of the three poor schmucks who goes hungry until they can make more.
94	*** And finally, gorges himself on unripe apples, forcing the squirrels to give him a dose of their own brand of "fizzik" before they can move on.
95	** Bescarum the hare in ''Triss'' is also this. It gets him in trouble on more than one occasion, once when he eats all of the food of a tribe of hedgehogs that had given him and his friends shelter for a while. Had his badger friend not bailed him out the hedgehogs would have had him work to pay back the food he ate. He later does it ''again'' in Redwall, eating a massive trifle that was supposed to be the prize for the winner of a race the Dibbuns were having. He's not bailed out this time, and is punished by being forced to scrub the Abbey from top to bottom while eating nothing but a single meal of lettuce and water. In a stunning case of NeverMyFault he ''runs away'' rather than face the music, and sets up the final conflict of the book.
96	* Suggested several times with Ravenswood in ''Literature/{{Relativity}}''. In "Bajo el Muérdago", for example, several scenes show him to be eating long after the other guests have finished.
97	* ''Literature/RoysBedoys'': Downplayed for Roys himself, who sometimes takes more than his fair share of food or eagerly anticipates food.
98	* Fermín from ''Literature/TheShadowOfTheWind'' blames his thin build on his incredible metabolism, which he displays throughout the book.
99	* Wiktoria of ''Literature/ShamanBlues'' considers ten slices of a large pizza and a mega cup of ice cream to be typical dinner, while looking like a slim teenage girl.
100	* ''Literature/ShamanOfTheUndead'': [[InSeriesNickname Kruchy]] 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.
101	* In ''Literature/TheShatteredWorld'', a thief who'd taken professional pride in his slender physique is cursed to be a Big Eater by a sorcerer he'd attempted to cheat. He downs a huge ale and a platterful of meat before being thrown out of the bar puking, already feeling his perpetual hunger's return.
102	* Lina Inverse, Gourry Gabriev, Amelia and, in the anime adaptation, Pokota in ''Literature/{{Slayers}}''. Justified in-universe as the more you do, the more you need to eat to sustain yourself. As a result, spellcasters need to take in lots of energy to counteract the drain of the spells they cast, and Lina is extremely careless about slinging spells around. Gourry's hyper-swordsman skills (and his own considerable stature) take up a lot of energy for similar reasons. The only exemptions are Xellos, who is an EmotionEater, and Zelgadis, who usually eats ''less'' due to his nature as a Chimera -- being one-third demon and one-third [[{{Golem}} rock golem]] means he needs less physical sustenance. The one time he does eat like the others is to enjoy a victory feast for killing Copy Rezo and Zanaffar at the end of the first season of the anime.
103	* Kumoko from ''Literature/SoImASpiderSoWhat'' eats pretty much anything she can kill (given that starvation is a very real risk for her), and can consume many times her own mass in one go. She's a bit mystified as to how that works until she discovers that the excess is stored away magically.
104	* In ''Literature/SonicTheHedgehogInRobotniksLaboratory'' Sonic and Tails are constantly eating heaps of junk food, Sonic explains he needs to constantly eat because of his HyperactiveMetabolism. Other characters don't get that excuse; like Mickey the Monkey eating mounts of peanuts.
105	* Holo from ''Literature/SpiceAndWolf'' doesn't [[{{Pun}} wolf]] down an unrealistic amount of food like some of the other examples as fitting the more serious tone of the series, but she will eat herself sick if she's got enough [[TrademarkFavoriteFood apples]]. She's had serious hangovers more than once, too. This is all because she doesn't know her limits to eating while in human form. Like many people often do sooner or later, she finds herself pushing to the limit of how far she can go just because she doesn't know when to stop. This behavior is justified InUniverse as a case of MyInstinctsAreShowing (as Holo explains, a wolf's instinct is to gorge herself on food when she has it, because she doesn't know when she'll get to eat again), and Lawrence theorizes it might also be a case of ShapeshifterBaggage -- that is, Holo eats so much because her true form is a roughly elephant-sized wolf and she needs to support that body, not a mere petite human one.
106	* The main character from ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'', though it's justified by the extreme levels of physical conditioning they are put through. The main character at one point mentions eating a breakfast consisting of six eggs, fried potatoes, ham, hotcakes and toast, and immediately thereafter hitting the town to find a proper meal.
107	* Tofu from ''Literature/SuperMinion'' is absolutely obsessed with food between his desire to stockpile energy and human.exe giving him the ability to appreciate good food. Despite looking like a small human, he can eat immense quantities of food at once and is dense enough that he actually weighs several hundred pounds normally.
108	* Zedd from ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' is constantly hungry, and ''very'' skinny.
109	* ''Literature/TheTaleOfPeterRabbit'': The eponymous character fails to heed his mother's warnings and gorges on vegetables from Mr. [=McGregor=]'s garden. He looks for parsley to cure his stomach ache, but he comes across Mr. [=McGregor=] instead.
110	* ''Literature/TalesOfMU'' has the burrow gnomes with eating habits inspired by the above-mentioned Hobbits, as well as Mariel the sylph who eats as much as four people in order to keep her hyper metabolism up.
111	* ''Literature/TeddyAndCo'' has Sid the Snake. He eats plenty of muffins and never seems to get bigger.
112	* ''The Tigers and the Exciting, Inviting Meal'': The three young tigers devour an entire buffet clean; this understandably ends up leaving them feeling sick afterwards.
113	* Klößchen (Grunter in the English version) of ''Literature/{{TKKG}}'' is one. His German name means "Dumpling".
114	* ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'':
115	** 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.
116	** 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 ''The Fellowship Of The Ring'', 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.)
117	** In the book, though, it is Gimli who inadvertently eats a day's worth of ''lembas'', having mistaken it for the much less appealing ''cram'' (human-made waybread with excellent keeping qualities and the flavour and texture of cheap cardboard) and reacting with delight on finding that it's tastier than the best honey-cakes he knows of.
118	* Marie from ''Literature/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'', especially [[TrademarkFavoriteFood favoring steak]]. This is caused by multiple things. First, she suffered ParentalNeglect from ImpoverishedPatrician parents who were TheGamblingAddict, causing her to be malnourished for most of her childhood, so she instinctively eats when she can. She additionally seems to do it as PostStressOvereating.
119	* Infected in ''Literature/TheTroop'' eat vast amounts of food to feed [[spoiler: the mutant tapeworms they're infested with]]. However, the [[spoiler: worm colony]] guzzles it all away, and their body's nutrients besides. They eventually starve to death while [[ExtremeOmnivore eating everything they can get their hands on.]]
120	* Lieutenant Hélène Froissy, in Fred Vargas's thriller novels. She is seen eating a lot, and hides food wherever she can, including in the police station; the other policemen know this and use her food reserves as emergency supplies.
121	* The title character of the children's picture book ''Literature/TheVeryHungryCaterpillar'' stuffs himself by eating through various foods [[note]]1 apple on Monday, 2 pears on Tuesday, 3 plums on Wednesday, 4 strawberries on Thursday, 5 oranges on Friday, and a piece of chocolate cake, an ice cream cone, a pickle, a slice of Swiss cheese, a piece of salami, a piece of cherry pie, a sausage, a cupcake, and a slice of watermelon on Saturday[[/note]] for six days, giving himself a stomach ache. After eating a green leaf on Sunday, he feels better, then pupates and emerges as a butterfly.
122	* In ''Literature/VoidCity'', the vampire Greta has a very slim figure. However, in life, she was a compulsive eater, and her transformation into a vampire did not change this. When not hunting humans, she is constantly "snacking" on any small animal which comes within her reach.
123	* ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
124	** Graystripe 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''.
125	** His son Bumblestripe is the same here.
126	* Mat becomes one briefly in the third book of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' as the result of extremely taxing magical healing to remove a HatePlague. He ''has'' to eat the equivalent of fifteen big meals a day or he'll starve to death. When his appetite returns to normal later in the book, he continues to waste huge amounts of food to annoy his host, but regrets that when he reaches a city that is rife with famine.
127	* From the ''Literature/WildCards'' series of novels, we have Croyd "The Sleeper" Crenson, who can sleep for as little as a night or as much as several weeks/months. Upon waking, he is always a Big Eater, to the point that there's a jingle about it (Sleeper waking, meals taking/Sleeper speeding, people bleeding), and people recognize him by his eating habits.
128	** Croyd is the most obvious example, but it's mentioned once that the Great and Powerful Turtle has to eat fairly constantly, as using his telekinesis drains his physical energy, and it is implied that the other aces also have a faster metabolism to fuel their abilities. The most prominent example is the Midnight Angel, who is mentioned in her appearances as being constantly hungry due to her highly enhanced metabolism, and is capable of downing meals that shock the waitresses (or is at least constantly eating).
129	* Clay from ''Literature/WingsOfFire'' is always hungry and thinking of food. He'll often have dreams of eating lots of prey like hippos, sheep, bears, and mangoes. It's no surprise that he is in charge of the Prey Center (a room where they practice hunting animals) at the Jade Mountain Academy.
130	* In ''Literature/{{Curveball}}'', whenever [[SuperSpeed Red Shift]] goes all out, his powers also accelerate his metabolism for the next few days, with a corresponding increase in appetite. In addition, if he's going to be traveling a long distance at high speed, he has to wear a special IV harness that pumps glucose and nutrients directly into his bloodstream (and he's still hungry afterwards).
131	* Brittany from ''Literature/DimensionHeroes'' has been stated to fit into this trope, though it has yet to be seen.
132	* Anyone with paranormal powers from ''Literature/ShadowUnit''. Merely ''having'' paranormal powers doubles a person's calorie requirements, and actually using those powers burns even more calories.
133	* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'':
134	** Tennyo, at [[SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy]]. It turns out her mom is a superhero with Energizer powers, and can almost out-eat Tennyo. The ''one'' time Tennyo's felt full is after consuming [[spoiler:a horde of demons]]. It's possible her BigEater habits are an effort to try and make up in quantity for some nutrient that Earth food lacks.
135	** Exemplars and, as mentioned, Energizer type metas are also prone to huge appetites.
136	* Menelaos from ''Literature/GreekNinja''. After having caused a row by insulting Japanese food in front of Daichi, later on he is gulping down ramen and enjoying it. When Dawson questions him on it, he replies: ''"I like it, just I need a lot to get full"'', as his main grievance was that the portions were too small.
137	* The entirety of the human race in ''Literature/TheJenkinsverse''. Humanity's dense bones and efficient muscles and organs mean that a human's dietary requirements are something like quadruple that of most other sapient, spacefaring species of comparable size. Humans abroad in the galaxy are forced to subsist on offensively bland and uninteresting emergency ration spheres in order to meet their basic nutritional needs, and usually at a rate which taxes the supplies of all but the largest ships and space stations.
138
139	!!Fat Characters
140
141	* Mahaut d'Artois in ''Literature/TheAccursedKings'' isn't exctly fat, but she is described as a big, large, strong woman with a ferocious appetite, to balance her nephew [[LargeHam Robert d'Artois]]. In both the TV versions, she was played by relatively frail actresses, probably in order to make them opposites rather than reflexions of each other.
142	* The Orange Duke in Gianni Rodari's ''The Adventures of Cipollino''.
143	* 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...
144	* In ''Literature/BubbleWorld'', Ricky is always snacking on something or drinking something. It gets played for serious drama later. [[spoiler:In the real world he's morbidly obese and in danger of dying, but refuses to exercise or eat less because he enjoys eating that much]].
145	* ''Literature/TheColdMoons'':
146	** 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.
147	** The final chapter reveals that [[spoiler:Eldon's adopted son Rowley]] grew up to be a jovial and hungry badger. He's also the [[BigFun largest]] of the badgers.
148	* Faddey Bulgarin in ''Literature/TheDeathOfTheVazirMukhtar'', and presumably, in real life as well.
149	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''
150	** Most senior wizards spend their days eating huge meals. Most (but not all) of them are overweight as a result. Exceptions include the Bursar (who mostly lives on his nerves) and [[ButtMonkey Rincewind]] (who'd ''love'' to be one if he could afford to stop running). Their Hogswatch dinner has something like twenty courses, and is considered something like an Olympic sport.\
151	It actually seem that a Wizard's competency and power is directly proportional to how much he eats and how big he is. As seem with the Dean on ''Reaper Man'' (who is easily the fattest wizard of the book, but has the power to cast three ludicrously powerful spells at the same time with a delay, to [[ItMakesSenseInContext explode/implode a parasitic supermarket]]) and Rincewind in general.\
152	The eating habits are, in fact, deliberately encouraged by the University, as the whole point of the Unseen University is to keep wizards happy and content so that they don't revert to the bad old days of laying waste to the fabric of reality out of sheer belligerent contempt for everyone around them. Offering endless arrays of feasts to stuff their faces at is, traditionally, one of the easiest ways to do so.
153	** Although actually an object, one of the defining traits of the Luggage is that it seemingly eats everything and anything that stands in its way. Just don't ask where all that ends up at, as the characters themselves, who occasionally go to the Dungeon Dimensions (a very bad place), are terrified of wondering.
154	*** Whether the Luggage fits depends on your definition of ''eat'', since it doesn't do it as a regular life-sustaining action, and when it does do it, what, if anything it gains from it is questionable.
155	** Keldas of Nac Mac Feegle clans in general, such as Fiona, as seen in the Tiffany Aching books. When she's sharing a meal with Tiffany, she takes only ''slightly'' less than what Tiffany has -- and while Tiffany is a 15-year-old human girl, Fiona is ''6 inches tall.'' Justified as she is pregnant with litters of belligerent Feegle spawn all of the time.
156	** Restaurateur All Jolson combines Ankh-Morpork's finest examples of Big Eater and SupremeChef in one person, which the city considers a match made in mashed potato heaven.
157	* The original ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' trilogy has Caramon Majere, who eats a lot, but works it all off due to being the party's fighter, giving him an appearance implied to be a lot like ''Literature/ConanTheBarbarian'' -- tall, rugged, and rippling with muscles. And then comes the "Test of the Twins" sequel trilogy, which opens with Caramon having been cruelly snubbed by his twin brother. Depression made him eat even more and exercise less, causing him to bloat up into a fat, stinking, drunken blob. After the TimeTravel shenanigans, he ends up being made a slave-gladiator, which forces him to work off the flab and snaps him out of his depression, so he goes back to a healthier weight in the rest of the series.
158	* Baloun from ''Literature/TheGoodSoldierSvejk'' 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 (such as when he eats his officer's meals before being able to deliver them to him).
159	* ''Literature/{{Greyfriars}}'': Billy Bunter 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?"
160	* In Creator/MercedesLackey's [[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Valdemar]] universe, Heralds, Healers, and Mages who over-use their powers have to be force-fed sometimes.
161	* ''Literature/{{Huggly}}'': At the beginning of Huggly's Pizza, Huggly pats his belly, indicating he's hungry for pizza. At the end, he and his friends eat pizza in the slime pit.
162	* Nathaniel "Ned" Robbins in ''Literature/JellyBelly'' starts out as this. His friends at summer diet camp are straight examples, especially Richard. And Richard's parents.
163	* Zhu Bajie in ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''. A very classic example for those who also know of the legends and the [[Franchise/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).
164	** Once he gets ascended to heaven, he even earns himself a heavenly position to being "Cleaner of the Heavenly Altar", which means eating all of the food that is offered to Buddha for the rest of time. Bajie just thinks this is the best job ever, despite the lesser standing it has in comparison to the ranks his companions got.
165	* 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. (He manages, although he's completely zonked in a food coma at the end.)
166	** 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 ''Literature/TheWitches'', who is easily lured by the titular antagonists with the promise of chocolate and later becomes a very gluttonous mouse.
167	* ''Literature/MenInBlackTheGrazerConspiracy'':
168	** The Grazers themselves. An alien race resembling a cross between grasshoppers and cattle, they're big, fat and disgusting, and devour any plantlife that gets in their way, especially having an addiction to Earth chlorophyll (which is why they aren't welcome on Earth). The only way to stop them from eating is to flip them on their backsides, or to just kill them.
169	** The Zulla, another sapient race; the leader of their fleet eats fifty meals in a single "cycle", and increased weight grants higher status among their kind.
170	* ''Literature/MonsterOfTheYear'': Lulu Toomaloo, who's been this way since she was a baby. "I'm hungry" is practically her catchphrase.
171	* Being an obese sedentary gourmet who weighs a seventh-of-a-ton, Literature/NeroWolfe is this trope... but not quite to the degree you might expect. He eats large portions and he eats them well, but he's not a stereotypical glutton, and eats good food with refinement and class; a point is repeatedly made that he refuses to rush a meal under any circumstances. He'll pick at and even refuse bad food.
172	* Literature/{{Oblomov}} himself and also Tarantyev's buddy Ivan Mukhoyarov (brother of Agafya), who likes to spend his money on delicacies instead of more visible luxuries (if only because people could get suspicious -- as he says, they can't see what he has in his stomach).
173	* Nicely-Nicely Johnson and Violette Shumberger in Creator/DamonRunyon'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 fiancée who has put him on the diet and runs away with Violette.]]
174	* ''Literature/ReincarnatedAsThePiggyDukeThisTimeImGonnaTellHerHowIFeel'': The original Piggy Duke Slowe ate a LOT of food. The current Piggy Duke Slowe, however, averts this, as he decided to slim himself down.
175	* ''Literature/TheReluctantKing'': The King of Iraz, who's also incredibly obese as a result. Unfortunately, this leads to all sort of troubles, amongst them the fact that he's no longer fit enough to pleasure the great priestess as expected.
176	* In ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror,'' Cueseg constantly wolfs down whatever food he can get his hands on, despite [[ForeignQueasine his dislike for it]], much to Lyrah's constant annoyance.
177	* Wyman Manderly in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''.
178	* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TheStarBeast'', the alien Hroshii can [[ExtremeOmnivore eat almost anything, steel, concrete, you name it]]. [[VoluntaryShapeshifting They grow when fed, shrink when starved]]. The reason why the gigantic Lummox appears so much larger than the other Hroshii is simply because she was overfed on Earth (or bored rather whenever John Thomas isn't around). When reunited with her people they force her to go on diet.
179	* Lula from the Literature/StephaniePlum books is a very fat bounty hunter's sidekick, and is seen eating about half the time she's in the scene. Stephanie herself is one in regards to cake, but is only of average weight. Other big eaters in the series are Stephanie's sister Valerie (during pregnancy) and Bob, the BigFriendlyDog Stephanie and on-again-off-again boyfriend Morelli share.
180	* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''[[Literature/{{Videssos}} Tale of Krispos]]'' the healer-priest sent to deal with the cholera outbreak explains that although monks are supposed to be frugal eaters, healers are an exception.
181	* ''Literature/UkiahOregon'' and his brother eat prodigiously whenever they've been hurt, despite their lean, muscular appearance.
182	* Rose Hathaway from ''Literature/VampireAcademy'' has a big appetite. She eats as much as the dhampir guys. Justified because she needs a lot of energy to fight.
183	* In Creator/MaryGentle's ''Literature/WhiteCrow'' stories, recurring character Baltazar Casaubon seems to always have a snack at hand. And yes, he's fat... but, to paraphrase Gentle herself, it's more accurate to say that he's [[StoutStrength a huge guy who happens to be fat]].
184	* Ochre from ''Literature/WingsOfFire'' 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.
185	* ''Literature/WinnieThePooh''. 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!
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Context BigEater / Literature