Even if it’s not genuine, pizza is the best food ever. Let’s all be truthful, ’80s and ’90s kids: we were all insanely jealous of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles anytime they ate their favourite food, a piping hot pizza pie. What about the ooey gooey slice fought over by the puppies in “All Dogs Go to Heaven” throughout Charlie’s song about sharing? And, lest we miss, Max and P.J. ‘s epic cheese pull from the ‘za in “A Goofy Movie”!
One thing we all can agree on is that, even after being two-dimensional, cartoon pizza always looks extremely appetising. As it turns out, you’re not alone if you find yourself drooling at your TV screen while cartoon characters eat pizza. There’s a purpose illustrated pizza — or any food, for that matter — elicits temptations like none. There’s even a Reddit post dedicated to sharing examples of the most iconic toonified pies.
Why is it that cartoon pizza always looks so good?
For sure, pizza is delicious in person. The bubbling cheese mesmerises and the glistening toppings bedazzle the moment you open the box that was just delivered, or the second the server places the pie in the centre of your table. You dive headfirst into the freshly baked masterpiece, savouring every cheesy, saucy bite. However, cartoon pizza is in a league of its own. What precisely is it about animated pizza that makes it so desirable? It all comes down to our powerful imagination and subconscious desires.
According to Elephant, creative designer Ross Norman, who runs an Instagram account devoted solely to food on “The Simpsons,” cartoonists have the ability to add facts “like making sure the light is reflecting off the food to make it appear that much more delicious, or putting extra droplets of water, or a subtle vapour effect. Tom Hovey, the “Great British Bake Off” illustrator, explained the reason people find illustrated food so perfect and marvellous is because it is, well, unachievable. And because we can’t smell or grasp cartoon food, our imagination “goes into overdrive,” pressuring our brains to imagine how it should taste and smell.
Food and beverages are made to look inconceivably tasty in cartoons. Of course, everyone loves pizza, but there’s something about its cheesy, droopy nature that lends itself to animation. It’s a dish so deeply ingrained in pop culture that you’d be surprised if it wasn’t mentioned in almost every classic TV show ever; even so, it’s the animations that maintain to make it look unearthly.
Here are 5 instances where cartoon pizza outperformed the real thing.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Few characters in history have enjoyed a nice cheesy slice of pizza as much as the Turtles. What perfect way to unwind after a day of fighting injustice than by devouring an entire pizza with your 3 best friends?
Daria
Overlarge wireframe spectacles, permanent monotony, and a pizza obsession all scream ‘angsty teen.’ Daria ate her fair share throughout the show, and it was always true melty goodness.
Scooby- Doo’s
Scooby Doo and Shaggy both were voracious eaters, and when he was just not devouring Scooby Snacks, Scoobs might be found devouring a pizza or three.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons animators were masters of making foods and beverages appear impalpably yummy, with frosty beers being a prime example. But pizza appeared on the show on a regular basis, and man, did it look good.
Garfield
Garfield had a bottomless tummy for food and was a total pizza fanatic. It’s no surprise, then, that the iconic pepperoni pizza appeared several times throughout the show.