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"Ahhhh! Ruth! Ruth! Ruth! Baby! Ruth!"
Two characters who come from very different places meet for the first time. They don't speak the same language? They have totally different backgrounds? No matter how different their culture and origins, they will always become friends if they go through an almost ritual exchange of food the first time they meet - doubly so if the food is chocolate based.
Truth in Television: it's considered good manners in many cultures to offer food to people when you meet them, and sharing bread or salt created a real bond between people in the olden days. Several languages even have words for "friend" based around the concept of sharing bread. There's actually scientific evidence to back this cultural practice up, as the part of the brain that responds to food is the same part that responds to social interaction.
The trope generally occurs when the hero is in a Fish out of Water situation, and very often when they meet a character whose language they can't understand. After sharing food, the character helps them become familiar with their surroundings.
Subtropes:
- There's a tendency for the hero to give chocolate, probably because chocolate is awesome.
- The hero can also make friends with animals that way. (But use something other than chocolate. It's poisonous to many animals, especially dogs).
- When food is given to the heroes, it will look absolutely horrible. Two possible outcomes:
When a villain tries to invoke this, he may inspire I'm Not Hungry.
Part of Sacred Hospitality.
Compare Through His Stomach, which typically goes for more than just friendship, and Food As Bribe, which tends to be more practically oriented toward getting someone on your side. Contrast Enemy Eats Your Lunch, for when someone proves their hostility by taking your food.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
Comicbooks
- Hellboy: sort of. One of the shorter stories is about Hellboy being given pancakes by someone from the army. He doesn't want to eat them, then tries... and it's good! Meanwhile, in Hell, demons scream that he's lost to them forever.
- In B.P.R.D.: Killing Ground, Liz Sherman offers the mummy queen Panya a fruit smoothie to make her feel welcome. They hit it off pretty quickly afterwards.
- Green Lantern Sodam Yat found an alien who crash landed in the woods near his house and help him as he recovered from his wounds. They shared meals together, learned from each other (even though they couldn't understand the other), and became friends. Unfortunately, Sodam lived on Daxam, a notoriously xenophobic planet who proceeded to kill and stuff the alien and try to Mind Rape Sodam into fearing everything concerning space. It didn't take and pissed Sodam off so much, he had to be convinced his people were worth saving when Mongul conquered Daxam years later.
- Cartoon History of the Universe posits that offering scraps was how the first proto-humans befriended the first proto-dogs.
- In one of the Wild Hunt arcs of ElfQuest, Ember tries to convince a human to work with the elves rather than against them, which involves offering him food, pointing out "We don't share meat with enemies".
Film — Animated
Film — Live-Action
Literature
- Harry and Ron in their first year on the train to Hogwarts. Though the fact Harry bought every single kind of candy that was for sale on the cart certainty didn't mitigate anything.
- Another Harry Potter example would be in the third book where Lupin gives Harry chocolate after the Dementors attack.
- Though in this case, the chocolate does more than just introduce the two. Chocolate in the Potterverse is apparently the actually remedy for the effects a Dementor has on people.
- When Hagrid first arrives, he give Harry a birthday cake. JK Rowling LOVES this trope!
- Hagrid feeds Ron when they are being introduced as well.
- In the Elizabeth Moon novel The Legacy Of Gird, a fellow from the Evil Wizard Class tries to make friends with Gird by offering him food, only to be rebuffed because in Gird's culture providing for someone establishes your superiority to them. They realize that their two cultures have been misunderstanding each other literally from first contact, as the EWC had always thought of Gird's people as natural servants because they were so eager to provide for the new impressive strangers.
- In the Dark Tower novels, when Jake befriends Oy (an intelligent, capable-of-talking creature like a long, thin dog), he does so by feeding him some of Jake's food. Oy then gradually becomes a vital member of the group, saving several member's lives over the course of the books.
- Averted, subverted and played semi-straight in Nation. Daphne first sees Mau when he's dragging the bodies of all the Nation's people into the sea; recognising his numb grief, she leaves him mangoes when he finally goes to sleep. When she wants to make a proper introduction, she decides that tea and scones will surely overcome the communication barrier; unfortunately, she's trying to have a civilised English tea party in a grounded and listing shipwreck, and her terrible (first-time) attempts to make scones taste like rotten lobster, as the rather odd captain kept one in the flour barrel to eat the weevils; Mau comes away from the whole experience bemused and horrified by the foul taste, but recognising that the poor, strange Ghost Girl is making an effort. The third time, Mau makes a fish stew on the beach, which is much better; though they still can't talk to each other, their nervousness (and ridiculous attempts at table-manners given the circumstances) makes them crack up laughing, and they become proper friends.
- In William King's Warhammer 40000 Space Wolf novel Grey Hunters, after a tense Friend or Foe meeting, Trainor offers Ragnor a flask. They both drink.
- In Gav Thorpe's Warhammer 40000 Last Chancers novel, Kill Team, the kroot offer Kage a human brain to eat and he forces himself to do so. Afterwards, the kroot admits it was a test.
- In one Doctor Who Television Tie In Novel, it's mentioned that the Doctor's companion Fitz Kreiner, who had a really crappy childhood due to being half-German during World War II, doesn't think too badly of military-type people because his most prominent memory of them was meeting some American GIs when he was about nine, who played with him and gave him a candy bar. He doubts they'd have been as nice if they'd known his surname, though.
- Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein. The entire Martian society is based on the ritual sharing of water (a rarity on Mars). "Water brother" is the equivalent to the human "blood brother."
- Also, the greatest complement you can pay the dead is to consume them.
- Subverted in Brotherhood of the Rose by David Morrell. CIA chief Elliot befriends the protagonists as orphaned children by offering them candy bars. Later, when they're adult hitmen working for the CIA, Elliot continues to give them candy bars when briefing them on a mission, which they naturally assume is done out of sentimentality. It turns out that Elliot has been manipulating them from Day One; the candy bars are only to subconsciously remind the protagonists of their love for their surrogate father figure.
- Subverted in Jingo; Carrot warns Vimes that not to accept food from the D'regs would be seen as a terrible insult. But in fact, Vimes and the D'reg leader bond when Vimes becomes the first visitor not to fall for the old sheep's eyeball gag.
- Subverted in the Goosebumps book Deep Trouble, in which the main character tries to befriend a captured mermaid by dropping a chocolate chip cookie into her tank. She is not impressed.
- Discussed several times in the Elenium when the knights encounter the Peloi, and their tradition of "Taking salt and talking of affairs".
Live-Action TV
Mythology and Folklore
- Grimm's Tales are full of stories where The Fair Folk (or other supernatural creatures) respond to acts of hospitality with random boons (often, the Ugly Stepsibling then tries to replicate the event, but their stinginess gets them cursed instead).
- In the tale of Momotaro, he gains animal companions by offering them his rice balls.
Videogames
Fan Fiction
- Subverted in Tiberium Wars; Corporal Goodman actually gives a captive Sandra Telfair some food, and along with it he treats her quite nicely, even trying to apologize for the rape attempt on her in the previous chapter. The subversion comes a few minutes later, when Sandra cuts his throat with a ripped-up aluminum soda can. You know what they say, War Is Hell....
- If you feed Vienya, she will love you forever and ever—food is Serious Business for her.
Webcomics
Western Animation
- In the animated Transformers movie, The Universal Greeting {Bah Wheep Granna Wheep Ni Ni Bong) is supposed to be accompanied by the offering of Energon (Which transformers uses as food/fuel). It works with the Junkions, but earlier the Allicons only ate all their snacks, then got mad when they ran out.
- Parodied in one episode of The Simpsons, when Marge decides to take care of Nelson because her children don't want her to take care of them. The first thing she does is offer him a sandwich and he approaches it like a frightened squirrel.
- Both Applejack with a pile of apple products, and Pinkie Pie with all manner of sweets in her party try this with Twilight Sparkle when she first comes to Ponyville in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Then it's subverted, in that she considers it a waste of her time; it isn't until they trek through the Everfree Forest to stop Nightmare Moon that she warms up to them.
Real Life
- Providing someone with food affects them on a very basic level. It's a good way to get animals to like you, and of course, people are animals. Hospitality and providing someone with a meal is a tradition in all human cultures to gain their respect and friendship.
- During World War II, American soldiers came over to the UK with chocolate, unobtainable in Britain. Let's just say the women were very grateful.
- After the war (and after relaxation of their non-fraternization policies), they did this in occupied West Germany too. This situation did also lead to many German kids of that era being introduced for the first time to American Pop Culture. (Even stronger examples may be the CARE-packages
 and the Berlin Airlift, or the Marshall Plan, which helped kick-starting the West German Wirtschaftswunder.)
- After WWII during the reconstruction of Japan and through the end of the Korean war American troops often shared chocolate and other goodies sent to them with the Japanese people and showed them how to make other western foods like hamburgers and hot dogs (the latter would become a staple of many Bento lunchboxes) while the Japanese introduced the Americans to sushi in all its different forms (many of which would become very popular back home). This had the dual effect of re-introducing the Japanese to western concepts and ideas as well as forging a lasting partnership between the two nations that persists to this day..
- This is standard operating procedure for the US military. Giving out chocolates was done during the Vietnam War, both Gulf Wars, and remains ongoing in Afghanistan. Chocolate is cheap, it's a common item in combat rations, children are easily bribed to reveal info with it, and most adults see the gesture as benign.
- The word "Companion" may come from "cum paene" which in Latin means "with bread," making a companion someone you share bread with.
- In the Arab world saying that two people "shared bread and salt" signifies a bond between them.
- In many places in the world, showing hospitality to a stranger is still commonplace, and it's very bad manners to refuse anything offered to you, even if you're only doing it out of a desire not to impose.
- This can cut both ways: in Mongolia (and some other countries), it's traditional to leave a small amount of food on your plate to show you've finished. In British & American society, it's generally considered rude not to finish everything you're given. Whoops...
- If that's not complicated enough for you, in Tibet your cup/bowl/plate will be refilled as soon as you're done eating. Every time. The only way to be polite is to eat most of the food, and finish eating/drinking precisely upon leaving.
- The first time you meet a dog, give them some nice food (a piece of meat will do fine.) They will love you forever from that moment on. However, you want to be careful of the context or your 'gesture of friendship' will be taken by the dog as 'threatening gesture from me equals food from you.'
- This is a bad idea when it comes to dealing with wild animals. "Do Not Feed the Bears" signs exist for a reason.
- In parts of Asia jewel merchants close a business deal with a toast. In some places they use tea which of course has a great tradition. In other places, for some inscrutably prosaic reason, they use Pepsi.
- In Slavic countries, it is traditional to welcome guests (nowadays, mostly important guests like foreign heads of state) with bread and salt.
- In Lapland it's tradition to leave the three basic neccessities in the cabins that are used by hikers and hunters alike: Firewood, matches and salt. Not leaving enough for people who might drop by later (for example, taking shelter from a storm) is considered rude to the point of taboo (since you endanger someone's life if you don't).
- To "break bread" with someone is a commonly used phrase to signify a friendship. or at least tolerance.
- Want to win a horse's loyalty for good? Feed it.
- UsefulNotes.Tea And Tea Culture points at several ways in which the serving and sharing of tea serves this role around the world.
- In the Philippines most social interaction involves sharing food (or the offering of such) with others.
- According to double-blind tests, this reaction has a scent component. "Spiking" a piece of food with your scent causes the recipient's instincts to register you as a food provider. One medieval version uses this method to tame unmanageable dogs with a piece of bread that's been held under the arm for a time. (This was before commercial deodorants.)
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