Gods of Food is a Mockumentary series that premiered on Dropout in 2019, with multiple previews uploaded to its former sister site CollegeHumor. The series focuses on the rise of six unique chefs as they become masters of their field, each of which stars in their own episode:
- $36 Grilled Cheese: Anthony D'Anthony runs a food truck with the world's best grilled cheese sandwiches, which (apparently) entitles him to be incredibly arrogant.
- Buddhist Vs. Tourist: Pak Jang-mi is a Buddhist monk whose food attracts the attention of a lot of disrespectful tourists.
- Food Vs. Science: Blynn is a scientist attempting to make new food experiments, because of a belief that "different" is the same as "good".
- The Oldest, Saddest Chef: Giuseppe has been preparing baked goods in the same manner as his great-grandparents, who forbade their descendants from ever breaking from tradition while also forcing them into the family business. And while Giuseppe hates that, he doesn't want to besmirch the family name.
- Too Natural: Julia Splenderpoot is serving food as nature intended at her restaurant "Farme". And by "restaurant", we mean "empty field with no plates, tables, or hygiene standards".
- Food is Sex: Laura Sepanowitz runs "Full", a restaurant (or a sex cult passing as one) that takes Erotic Eating to new heights.
A playlist for the various previews can be found here
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Tropes
- Angry Chef: Anthony's defining character trait is how constantly angry he is, which other people are willing to deal with because of how good his food is.
- Appeal to Nature: Julia's restaurant, "Farme", is built on this, as it was designed to be as "natural" as possible. Unfortunately, this means it's an empty field where the patrons have to eat whatever they can find, raw.
- Body Sushi: "Full" has no silverware, because every meal is eaten this way.
- Brooklyn Rage: Anthony, full stop. He lives in New York City, has a Hair-Trigger Temper, and is rude to pretty much everyone.
- Crack is Cheaper: Despite Julia's "restaurant" being a field where patrons fend for themselves, she charges an obscene amount for it.You may think I'm an idiot, that I'm some wild woman living in the woods trying to sell you two different types of milk from two different teats of the same goat for $150, but you know what? I'm living my dream.
- Cult: One critic describes the Commune that Laura spent time in Argentina cooking for as a sex cult, as well as her current "restaurant" known as "Full."
- Disproportionate Celebration: Anthony's fame is largely because of the use of spices in his international-themed grilled cheese sandwiches; other countries have used spice for centuries, but a Caucasian doing so is unique.
- Double Entendre: "Food is Sex" is full of these, talking about how "putting soft things in each other's mouths" brings people together.
- Erotic Eating: Laura considers dining to be intertwined with sex, and enjoys the passion that can be invoked by putting soft items in one's mouth.
- Felony Misdemeanor:
- The one time Giuseppe attempts to deviate from tradition (by making one tiramisu cupcake with his old tools), everyone hates him for it, more for the tradition-breaking than the actual quality of the cupcake.
- Granola Girl Julia's former boss once bought a cake to celebrate her birthday. She called poison control in response.
- Forced Transformation: One of Blynn's inventions swaps a person's consciousness with an apple's, with no way to switch back.
- Freudian Excuse: Anthony claims to have this, but he actually grew up in an upper-class white neighbourhood, with his only excuse being that it was hard to commit crimes there. The only time he spent behind bars was community service for throwing a spraycan at an officer. If anything his "excuse" is that he's a spoiled brat.
- George Jetson Job Security: Anthony d'Anthony fires his right hand man for coming to work early, because it makes Anthony look bad. He then claims that it was because said right-hand-man had masturbated over the food.
- Granola Girl: Julia would rather break a tooth eating raw, unclean vegetables than alter Mother Nature's gifts in any way.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Anthony d'Anthony. In one scene he blows up at one of his employees because they coughed while he was talking, accusing them of having talked shit about him. He then fires the employee but doesn't let them leave until the end of the rush hour.
- Hate Sink: There is nothing likeable about Anthony. He fires people at the drop of a hat, has a Hair-Trigger Temper, is condescending to his employees and customers, takes ridiculous prices for extremely basic food, takes credit for "innovating" things that aren't innovations and even stalked his ex-girlfriend. While he is clearly suffering from stress and anger issues, it's pointed out several times that he has been advised to seek therapy or learn coping mechanisms, but refuses to do so.
- Haute Cuisine Is Weird: Much of the humor in this series comes from the bizarre meals these "expert chefs" serve, from Blynn's science experiments to Julia's way-too-natural food.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood:
- Blynn was part of an unlawful experiment to test how adolescent behavior is formed, and thus grew up with a toy monkey covered in wire for a parent.
- Giuseppe's grandmother was the first to be forbidden from ever changing family tradition, and her parents spit in her face for even considering it one time.
- Hipster: The majority of the Buddhist Monk's tourists qualify as this, taking pictures of food more for the aesthetic than the actual enjoyment of the meal.
- Ice-Cream Koan: Multiple people eating the Buddhist Monk's food interpret her statements of "the temple is not a restaurant", "clean up your trash", and "don't pick the flowers" like this, when she's being literal and trying to stop them from leaving trash, picking the flowers and treating her temple like a trendy restaurant.
- Invention Pretension: Anthony claims that his next big move is to build the first motionless food truck. Everyone remarks that he's basically creating a restaurant.
- Jerkass: Anthony is the most obvious example, but also Julia who starts wrecking a local farmer's market because they had transported their food a few kilometers.
- The Lost Lenore: Laura fell in love with a female fishmonger, and it was the first time she ever focused on an individual rather than communal service, but then the fishmonger was eaten by a whale. At least it was how the fishmonger always wanted to die.
- Mad Scientist: Blynn is one, whose main "ingredients" are her inventions rather than the food itself.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Anthony has 35 older siblings, all of which are girls.
- New Technology Is Evil:
- This was the belief of Giuseppe's great-grandparents, hence why they insisted their descendants only use their traditional methods for the rest of his life.
- In direct contrast to everybody loving Blynn's revolutionary cooking methods, the critic talking about Giuseppe's failed attempt at a Tiramisu cupcake claims that "anything new and different is bad".
- Not Hyperbole: Pak Jang-mi is not speaking in metaphors when she says she isn't a chef or that the temple is not a restaurant. She is not a chef, and the temple is not a restaurant.
- No OSHA Compliance: Julia's "restaurant" is actually just an open field where people have to scrounge for food, meaning hygiene is not great. Her previous attempts to create actual restaurants got shut down for this as well.
- No Sympathy: It's public knowledge that Giuseppe is miserable with his lot in life. He's the oldest man in the world, yet he never gets to stop working. He never gets to use any conveniences that would make his job easier. He's not allowed to express himself creatively in even the smallest way. Nobody cares how sad he is, as long as they get their traditional cakes.
- Nubile Savage: Julia invokes this trope to an extent, seeing as how she looks a lot more clean, well-groomed and healthy than a woman who refuses to even clean food before eating it. Then again, it may just indicate that her entire act is a marketing lie.
- The Old Country: Giuseppe's business invokes the feel of it, having remained unchanged for at least four generations of his family. Whether he likes it or not.
- Once an Episode: Every episode features a critic named Jamie McAvoy (Former Grub Enthusiast, Food Weekly) commenting "It was the Wild West out there; we were just flying by the seat of our pants!", regardless of the food or circumstances.
- Only Sane Man:
- Pak Jang-mi is the only "chef" focused on to not be 'eccentric'. Giuseppe is sane to a lesser extent, as he still allows his family's restrictions and adherence to the old ways to rule his life, though everyone's cruel reactions to him trying something new certainly doesn't help.
- Some of the people talking about Anthony do point out how awful he is, and how his motionless food truck is just a restaurant.
- A Party, Also Known as an Orgy: "Full" has pop-up dinner parties in a very home-like setting (which may, in fact, be just Laura's home), rather than being open every night like a conventional restaurant. And the "dinner parties" are really just an excuse for Laura, her staff, and her guests alike to have wild group sex.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: Anthony's girlfriend had to leave him to attend a Canadian university. Although a newspaper clipping is shown of her being a hero, all the food critics hate her for breaking Anthony's heart.
- Rambunctious Italian:
- Anthony D'Anthony, the creator of Cheese Punch, lives up to all the stereotypes. Subverted since he's barely Italian and grew up in Joisey.
- Inverted with Giuseppe, who is genuinely Italian but is an extremely meek, shy man who is browbeat into following his family's traditions despite his deserve to innovate.
- Replacement Goldfish: Some critics consider "Full" to be Laura's attempt to rebound after the death of her fishmonger lover.
- Straw Misogynist: In addition to his many other hateable traits, Anthony has never hired a woman to work at his foodtruck and thinks that cooking is a man's game. This is despite having grown up with 35 sisters and a grandmother who taught him to cook. He's not any better to his ex-girlfriend, whom he hates because she chose her career over him.
- Take That!: Aside from the obvious one to the idea of the celebrity chef, the mockumentary also attacks foodies and how pretentious and entitled they can be.
- Their First Time: Laura recalls her first time having sex with a boy named Toby at a beach party, and how the smells of the ocean and the smoke from the bonfire ignited her passion for food and cooking.
- They Just Dont Get It: Despite the non-existent hygiene standards, horrible condition of the food and the constant danger from wild animals which led to one diner getting bitten by a rattlesnake, Julia had no idea why the health department shut her first restaurant down.
