History Main / BrainFood

[[caption-width-right:300:Always remember to eat your breakfast cerebral.]]

** The [[{{Cthulhumanoid}} illithids]], a.k.a. mind flayers, are the most well-known brain-eaters from the game and can perform an "Extract Brain" attack on a helpless foe that will insta-kill most creatures. Their ''actual'' food is minds, but consuming brains is how they get that when it comes to beings with brains.

* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'': [[CuteMonsterGirl Rottytops]] finds brains tasty, even though [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything she never follows up on any of her threats]]. In the ''Friends to the End'' DLC for ''VideoGame/ShantaeHalfGenieHero'', she finally gets the chance: her special power is to pull a brain out of her back pocket and chow down, healing the team.

* There's a moment in ''Film/BloodSuckingFreaks'' where a depraved doctor uses a straw to suck some woman's brains out.
* In the anthology film ''Film/BodyBags'', the hair growth experiment in the "Hair" segment is actually part of a scheme by wormlike alien invaders to [[PuppeteerParasite take over human hosts]] and eat their brains.

* ''Film/FiendWithoutAFace'' had invisible brain-like creatures that sucked the brains out of the skull.
* In the Japanese movie ''Film/GameraVsGuiron'' (AKA ''Attack of the Monsters''), two alien women from the planet Terra plan to eat the brains of two children. It actually has a scene where one of the kids is secured, with his head shaved, about to become the main course. And it's a ''kids' movie''.
** Funnily enough, at least in the dub, this doesn't seem to be part of their culture or usual plans. Just [[ForTheEvulz some random idea]] that one alien sprang on the other.

* ''Film/MindRipper'' (aka ''The Outpost'') had a mutant who fed on brains to get his fix of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterol sterols]].

* R the zombie in ''Film/WarmBodies'' doesn't just eat brains -- but eating the brains of his victims allows him to experience their memories and associated emotions. Eating Perry's brain in the beginning makes R fall in love with Julia.

* ''Literature/ClanOfTheCaveBear'': The Clan practices this as an OlderThanDirt trope, sacrificing a man to the totemic giant cave bear, after which the shamans adjourn to a private shaman soirée deep in the caves where they pass the victim's skull around and ritually munch his brains.

* ''Literature/TheDarkProfitSaga'': Zig-zagged in the prologue to ''Son of a Liche'', a newly risen zombie starts moaning "brains, braaaiiinnns", then another zombie helpfully yanks the ax out of his skull. But, then they start talking about how brains actually sound quite delicious now.
* ''Literature/DoctorWhoMissingAdventures'': In the [[Franchise/DoctorWho First Doctor]] book ''Venusian Lullaby'', it turns out the Venusians have a particular variant, both horridly grisly and somewhat heartwarming -- in funerals, it's customary to serve the deceased's brain as part of the funeral food. This is because the Venusians have the ability to acquire others' memories by consuming their brains, though as Barbara discovers when she accidentally samples the food, it can overwhelm humans to the point of actually reliving the consumed memories.

* ''Literature/{{Hannibal}}'': Lecter stir-fried some guy's brain. Thomas Harris lovingly describes how Lecter prepared it, tableside, fresh from the source (he literally scooped out the slices of brains from the victim's skull at the table, in front of Starling). He gently coated it with breadcrumbs then sauteed it, serving with caper-berries and black truffle brown butter sauce. Just the way that Harris described it is enough to make the reader hungry, especially since he is a foodie and the recipe would actually be delicious (except the obvious part, of course).

* ''Literature/TheRelic'': Mbwun. Human brains aren't its first choice, though, it prefers to eat the plants from the Amazon used as packing material in some specimen crates (which have much higher concentrations of the hormones and such it needs). The events of the novel happen because the crates are moved to a more secure area of the basement after a curator notices they've been broken into, forcing it to search for alternatives (read: brains).

* ''Literature/TerminalWorld'': There are biomechanical creatures called "Carnivorgs" that survive by eating the brains of the people they capture. The front of their heads ends in a drill, which they use to punch through their victim's foreheads. The worst part? This process ''[[FateWorseThanDeath doesn't]]'' [[FateWorseThanDeath kill the victim]].

-->''brains brains brains brains brains''
-->''brains brains brains brains brains brains brains''
-->''brains brains brains brains brains.''

* In the movie ''Film/PlanetTerror'', the zombie-like mutants eat Music/{{Fergie}}'s brain, prompting the gag "Looks like we've got a no-brainer." Similarly, a repeated line throughout the film is "I'm gonna eat your brain and gain your knowledge," first said as a small boy is playing with his action figures, although, by the time Josh Brolin [[IronicEcho starts saying it]], it gets [[TheyPlottedAPerfectlyGoodWaste creepy/hilarious]].
* The Kothoga monster from the film ''Film/TheRelic'' requires certain chemicals from the human brain to sustain itself.

* The main character of ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' does get information from his meal's brains, but he doesn't just eat the brain, [[ImAHumanitarian he eats the entire person]].

* One of Baraka's Fatalities in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' has him skewer his opponent's brain before pulling it out and taking a bite out of it. Keep in mind he has to pull off his opponent's face and the front half of their skull to get at it.

** The Brain Slugs. [[YourBrainWontBeMuchOfAMeal Fry is immune]], which actually {{foreshadow|ing}}s a plot point.

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Mark Chang threatens to suck out Chester, AJ, and Timmy's brains through a bendy straw in his first appearance. No other mention is ever made to Yugopotamians being brain eaters afterward, however.

** The Brain Slugs. Fry is immune, which actually foreshadows a plot point.

** And then there is Billy's pet chupacabra...

'''Mandy:''' Poor thing's gonna starve.

* Parodied and subverted in ''WesternAnimation/MyGymPartnersAMonkey'' episode "That Darn Platypus", where a new platypus student keeps rubbing into everyone's faces that he is an alien. Adam refuses to believe this, but the animals have reason to believe from various signs, such as when he keeps mentioning he enjoys brain juice. Turns out it was just a nutritional fruit juice. And then got inverted towards the end where it is implied that it really is made from brains.
** The REAL Alien is the hippo.

** ''Treehouse of Horror III'' focuses on a zombie attack, and is a fairly direct parody of ''Return of the Living Dead'' -- consequently, the zombies in its take follow very ''Return''-esque rules, and that includes an inescapable hunger for brains primarily, along with enough intelligence to talk about how much they want your brains. Given its popularity, it's sometimes theorized to be the TropeCodifier for this in zombie fiction. Similarly to Fry above, Homer Simpson is [[YourBrainWontBeMuchOfAMeal immune to a zombie attack]].
** When Lisa tricks Bart and Homer into thinking they had caught leprosy, they shamble to the home of their smart neighbor for his help:
--->'''Bart:''' Braaaaains... braaaaains...\\

** Burns was shown fancying monkey brains a few times and recalls having eaten the brain of an assistant when he sold him to cannibals.
** "Saddlesore Galactica" had the imp-like jockeys threaten to eat Homer's brain if he didn't make Duncan lose the race.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' "Happy Birthday Snake", the episode turns out to be VR simulation Meatwad put Frylock through to make Frylock realize he'd better listen to Meatwad or Meatwad will eat his brains.

** The zombies in "Scaryoke" follow the tradition, including a (temporarily) zombified Soos, who [[AffablyEvil cheerily asks the twins if he can eat their brains]].
** In "Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons", Ford's magical infinite-sided die accidentally summons Probabilitor the Annoying, a powerful "math wizard" from the world of DD&MD who plans to eat Ford and Dipper's brains and absorb their intelligence.

** The [[{{Cthulhumanoid}} illithids]], a.k.a. mind flayers, are the most well-known brain-eaters from the game and can perform an "Extract Brain" attack on a helpless foe that will insta-kill most creatures.

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'': Freddy Fazbear's Pizza: a popular kid's pizza parlor with fun-loving animatronics performing for all present... until the Bite of '87. [[WildMassGuessing There are theories around the details of the incident]]. [[spoiler:And ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys4'' [[AmbiguousSituation might elaborate on it]]. If not, then that means there's ''two bites.'']]

** During sufficiently large salmon runs in Alaska, grizzly bears love to eat ''just'' the fish's brain, skin and eggs, since those are the fattiest parts and if they can get enough of them, there's no reason to eat the leaner flesh. It's estimated that on average, grizzlies leave about half their salmon catch uneaten.
** Some accounts of the thylacine, otherwise known as the Tasmanian tiger, alleged that it could bite clean through the skulls of sheep or dogs, then consume the contents. It's most likely this was false however, as thylacine had rather weak jaws and likely specialized on small prey.
** Great tits ([[HehHehYouSaidX stop giggling]]!), birds that normally feed on seeds and small insects, have been documented supplementing their diet by attacking hibernating bats. Specifically, they peck the helpless bats' heads to get at the brains.

->''"All we wanna do is eat your brains.\\
We're not unreasonable, I mean, no-one's gonna eat your eyes."''

** ''TabletopGame/ZombieTheCoil'', a fan-made game, has zombies as playable characters. They gain [[{{Mana}} Viscera]] and sustain themselves by eating flesh. Eating the target's brain grants them the maximum amount of Viscera (though the game nots it takes effort to open the skull).

* Spoofed in ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'': a zombie character says nothing but "brains," with very eloquent subtitles expressing his personal, unheard woes. "He has the voice of a zombie-angel." It turns out Zombie Boy is in fact capable of regular speech.
-->'''Skinny Guy:''' Well then how come all you ever said to us is "Brains"?\\
'''Zombie Boy:''' Oh gee, let me think. [[NoFourthWall Maybe it's because it's in the F[bleep]ing script!]]

-->[[PlayedForLaughs "I'm sorry. I'd be honored to eat your brain."]]
* Subverted in the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' season 6 episode, "Bargaining", in which Anya points out that real zombies don't eat brains unless instructed to do so by their zombie masters.
** In another episode, Buffy fights hellhounds who eat brains. She takes advantage of this by questioning the butcher's shop to discover who's been buying cow brains and raising the hellhounds.
** Glory sucks the sanity out of people's brains.

* In ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' the cyborg Kaarvok had a habit of removing the brains of his victims with a straw -- which would them be fed into a slot in his head.

---> '''Sylar''': ''(incredulous)'' Eat your brain? [[spoiler:Claire,]] that's disgusting.

---> "Mm, it's a delicious memory!"

* The Psirens from ''Series/RedDwarf'', Series VI episode I. They look like man-sized insects and will project false visions to their victims. They're perhaps the first brain-eaters to use a ''straw''.
* Villain Angus Rickman in ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' suffers from a fungus infection in his brain which requires him to extract brain tissue from compatible "donors" and inject the tissue into his own brain, leaving the donor comatose. This is how he [[spoiler:causes Arturo's death.]].

* When Data has nightmares in a ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode, one of his visions is of Dr. Crusher drinking from Riker's head through a straw. It's unclear if she's supposed to be drinking his blood, cerebrospinal fluid, or (liquified) brains.
* The fate of [[spoiler:the Great Zambini]] in the ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' episode "Food for Thought", found with his brain being munched on by a gorilla. [[AssholeVictim He had it coming]].

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* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=279612 Appetite for Brains]]

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': if you play the RPG, ''Mechwarrior'', your characters may perchance encounter the [[https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Trachazoi trachazoi]], a horrible little bastard of a creature that lives in trees and drops down onto anything passing below. Its favorite target is primates, and it does ''not'' see humans as any different from the apelike alien creatures it normally hunts. The trachazoi's feeding habits are best described as "jump on anything vaguely humanoid, smash their heads open, and eat their brains before fleeing into the night." It does this with ''frightening'' efficiency as its oversized foreclaws are lethal, doing as a sniper bullet to the head.

** Great tits ([[UnfortunateNames stop giggling]]!), birds that normally feed on seeds and small insects, have been documented supplementing their diet by attacking hibernating bats. Specifically, they peck the helpless bats' heads to get at the brains.

* Averted in ''Series/TheWalkingDead''. Those zombies tend to go for limbs and necks instead.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Hungry" is told from the point of view of a MonsterOfTheWeek who tries to resist his cravings for human brains.

** Great tits (stop giggling!), birds that normally feed on seeds and small insects, have been documented supplementing their diet by attacking hibernating bats. Specifically, they peck the helpless bats' heads to get at the brains.

* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' (a special feature), the blue team pretends to be zombies. Caboose does the Zombie Gait with everyone else, but moans "Brians! Brians!", as he read the script wrong.