And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

Title: Viva la Vida
Fandom: Toriko
Rating: PG-13 because Zebra has a potty mouth.
Summary: As a landlocked chef, Komatsu has never really fit in the world of the Gourmet Empire. Can an encounter with a mysterious stranger, an accidental abduction, and a whole new world of adventure help him find his place?
Warning: Toriko Pirate AU. Do I really have to say anything else? *facepalm*

Part  1A: For Goodness Steak! 

Part 1B: Pasta la Vista, Baby!

Part 2A: But I’ve Never Been to Boston in the Fall!

Part 2B: Frying Pans and Fires

Part 2C: Just for the Halibut

The morning dawned misty and cold outside the windows of the kitchen. A fog had rolled in during the night, enveloping the ship in a hazy grey that seemed to swallow both light and sound. As he pressed his nose to the kitchen windows, Komatsu wondered how anything could possibly navigate the chowder-like mess. Yet, the ship cut through the waves unerringly, smooth like shears through silk.

He had also expected an infamous pirate crew like the Four Kings to actually have a crew — or at the very least a small army of subservient lackeys to do all the boring chores. Every super villain needed minions, and on the deck of the Bon Appetit, there were supposedly four super villains, so by extension, there should have been hundreds of minions. 

However, it seemed that the crew had not received introductory leaflet about being evil pillaging pirates. At last count, there were still only four pirates on board, as far as Komatsu had seen.

Komatsu couldn’t decide if it made him even more relieved … or nervous. Maybe the reason there’s no other crew is that no one has survived for very long.

But then there was also the matter of the cloak. That certainly didn’t fit in any picture he had held of angry pillaging pirates.

After dinner, the kings had gone to their own separate parts of the ship, leaving Komatsu alone to try to figure out what to do, where to go, and more importantly, where he could safely sleep. Any direction away from Zebra, though, seemed like a good start.
 
Too weary and wary to explore without permission, Komatsu had gone back into the kitchen and settled down near the hearth. The baby wall penguin had snuggled up to his other side. The surface was a bit hard, but Komatsu had been blessed with the ability to sleep anywhere on anything, and that was even before he had gone through the exhausting trials of the last forty-eight hours.

He had awoke to find himself warm and somewhat more comfortable than before. When he had pushed himself up, he found that a heavy cloak had been tucked securely around him, sometime during the night.

And that’s definitely not out of “So Now You’re a Pillaging Pirate: Volume One.”

“I still wonder what they’re going to do with me. Pirates — at least gourmet pirates —don’t need class 5 chefs, you know,” he said to the baby wall penguin as he picked his way towards the stairs to the deck. He would have liked to stay in the wondrous kitchen forever, but he knew it would be of little use to hide.

“With a kitchen like this, they obviously can cook their own food, and I don’t think I can make enough every day to fill everyone. Zebra-sama and Toriko-sama  look like they can eat for about a hundred people each. Sunny-sama and Coco-san eat for at least three every time they sit down. So they can’t possibly want the little dishes I make.”

Moreover, sometime during the night, the kings had also finished off what was left in the refrigerator,  and Komatsu was willing to wager that all the stocks from the Imperial ship had already disappeared as well. Thinking about the sheer amount of food the kings went through made Komatsu’s steps stagger. 

“No wonder there are such big shortages when they’re around!” he mused as he climbed onto the deck.

“Yuuun?!” the baby bird looked at him, beady eyes glistening. “Yun! Yun! Yun!”

“Hey, stop pecking me. I hope you know they also don’t need baby wall penguins either,” he said as he tickled its head feathers. It wiggled and chirped; Komatsu could almost imagine it was smiling.

“No one can eat you, so I wonder … what you were even doing on that ship? Or are you as out of place in this imperial gourmet era as everyone says I am?”

“Yun?! Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!”

Komatsu laughed as the penguin flapped its stubby little wings. “Okay, okay — I guess we’ve got not choice but to treat it like any recipe; do what prep work you can and give it time.”

“Yun!”

“Eh, I just hope it doesn’t come out as a goopy, flaming mess. That happens too, somrtimes,” Komatsu said as he peered into the fog. “I wonder what they’re going to do today — are we near any ports? Maybe they can let us out there. Or maybe they’re going to raid another imperial ship?”
 
“Naaah, not today. Though it is fun!” came a cheerful voice out of the mist. Startled, Komatsu jumped, banging against the ship’s guardrails and nearly falling through the space between the bars. A hand immediately shot out and snagged the back of his shirt, leaving him feeling slightly choked and breathless, but grateful nonetheless. A meaty hand thumped his back enthusiastically, even as Komatsu wheezed.

“It’s not the best time for a swim. Gotta warn you … the water’s cold!”

“T-t-toriko-sama?!” he squeaked as he looked up (and up … and up) to see the owner of the hand. The pirate set him back down on the deck, head tilted as he regarded the chef.

“Oy, what did I say about the -sama business?” Toriko grumbled. “I’m a pirate, not some fancy shmancy naval captain. Actually, none of us like this -sama crap — except maybe Sunny, but you can ignore him.”

“O-okay,” Komatsu said. “Um, thank you for saving me! And er … g-g-good morning?”

“Good morning! Looks like it’s going to be a tasty one.”

“Eh?” Komatsu scanned the fog. “What do you mean?” Now that Toriko had mentioned tasty food, Komatsu’s own stomach burbled. The pirate smirked at the sound.

“There’s some reeeeaaaally nice ingredients nearby. I was thinking about getting some breakfast.” Toriko stretched his arms over his head, grunting as the joints popped.

“Nice ingredients? Um, are we getting close to a civilized port or town?” Komatsu stared into the mist, trying to make out the shape of any nearby land form. Could somewhere, out there, sleeping and unaware, be a populace just ripe to be pillaged?  Komatsu fidgeted, trying not to think of all the innocent people snug in their beds, about to lose their livelihoods.

“Ports? Towns? Naaaah. Where’s the fun in that? I’m going hunting!”

“You mean, like … in the wild?!” even as his stomach untwisted itself in relief, Komatsu’s hands tightened on the railing.

“Yeah, where else do you think ingredients come from? Huh, you’re not just short in the legs, you’re kinda short on the uptake, aren’t you?”

“But … you’re really going. Out there. Where the ingredients are!” And where they are walking, breathing …. living …. healthy and whole  — Komatsu’s breathing sped up.

“Hey, what’s with that googly pining look? Gah, it makes your face look even more horrible!”

“Huh? Oh, um, heh. I guess I never really thought about how the ingredients get to my restaurant The Empire controls the all the capturing, distribution — even what we chefs can receive and prepare, so I’ve never really thought that anyone could just go out there and hunt for the ingredients themselves. Everyone I know mostly gets their food from the marketplace.”

“But where do you think it comes from before it gets to the marketplace?” Toriko had hiked an eyebrow up, and his expression was sadly familiar; Komatsu had seen it many times on the faces of the people around him (especially his cooking instructors) when he had somehow missed a very important point.

Komatsu shrugged, hand coming up to scratch the back of his neck sheepishly. “Uh. Um, the Empire does send out food collectors, but it’s a highly guarded secret where they go or what they do, so we citizens don’t really know what goes on or where it comes from. We just eat what we’re given in our class level.”

And anytime I questioned that in the past, I get the same look you’re giving me now, he thought.

Toriko had wrinkled up his nose, as if he had gotten downwind of something particularly noxious. “But don’t you think it’s sad that you don’t know something as simple and as vital and as awesome as where food comes from?”

Komatsu opened his arms, palms up in a gesture of defeat. “What can someone like me do to find out?”

The pirate gave him a long look, scanning him from head to toe. Then he shrugged as well.

 “Eh, I guess a little guy like you can’t do much. Though I dunno why the Empire makes it such a big deal when you go and capture whatever you want. It’s not like people are living, farming, or raising animals where I go hunting. It’s the wild, right? And if you can catch with both your hands, you should have a right to eat it!”

Toriko yawned, then grinned brightly at Komatsu. “But I guess that’s why I’m a pirate.”

The pirate’s stomach took that moment to growl.

“So! Breakfast time!” he declared and proceeded to walk across the deck where Komatsu could see a small landing boat, used for short trips (or in raids, he supposed), had been lashed on to the main deck.

“Um, wait, Toriko-san! Um, if you don’t mind, do you think … I could … um, come along? To where the ingredients are?”

 Komatsu blinked, clapping his hands over his lips as he registered what his mouth was actually saying. Oh crap! I actually said that OUT LOUD, didn’t I? But … he couldn’t quite deny the shiver of excitement that echoed up his spine and prickled against his skin.

“Hmmmm? You want to come along?” Toriko raised an eyebrow. “Sure. But you gotta get  your will ready first. But …oh yeah, that’s right. You’re my loot, so … eh … you don’t need a will, so just get ready to die at any moment, ok?”

“Eeeeeeeeeh?!” Komatsu flailed. Toriko just grinned at him, both eyes squinted up into happy crescents.

Still … to see ingredients, raw and in the flesh, without having them being dead or chopped into pieces and marked by the Empire … even if it was dangerous, even if it was with a pirate …

“I’m coming, Toriko-san!” 

***
The trip over to Toriko’s targeted hunting grounds was uneventful — that is, uneventful if one did not include a whalebear trying to capsize their ship, a pod of dinophins that mistook the sound of their motor as a precursor to a mating ritual, and the flock of beegulls who swarmed them for being too close to their nesting site. Toriko took all the challenges with all the enthusiasm of a three toed frogturtle in rain.

Komatsu, however, was beginning to wonder if it was exactly a good idea. The small watercraft lacked the stability of the Bon Appetit; already he had found himself slammed against the sides several times as Toriko made some hairpin turns.

The pirate had merely chuckled at Komatsu’s plight. “Hey, hang on tighter! It’s gonna get a lot bumpier; navigating through this archipelago is a bit of pain. It’d be easier if Coco was here, but eh, he’s busy.”

“Um, so are the others coming along later?” Komatsu asked as Toriko finished eating the last unfortunate beegull who had come a bit too close.

“Nah,” Toriko said. “Zebra won’t be up until noon, Sunny’s got ship duty and Coco has to meditate; he gets awfully cranky if you bother him now. If they want some fresh breakfast, they’ll head out themselves.”

“So you don’t hunt together?”

“Not really.” There was something in how Toriko’s mouth had twisted downwards, just slightly, that made Komatsu pause. He didn’t really know the pirate all too well, but Toriko almost seemed … sad. Or disappointed. Or …

Oblivious to Komatsu’s train of thought, the pirate shook his head, and the expression vanished. “Even though we’re on the same ship, we tend to do our own thing, most of the time, unless it’s something big, like fighting an imperial fleet and raiding their stores.”

“Oh,” said Komatsu.  And strangely, something that felt much like disappointment also curled up from his belly as well (although the rumbly feeling may also just have been hunger, he amended. It couldn’t be that he wanted to see all of the Four Kings of Hell in action together, right?)

 “Umm … Toriko-san, do you really think this will be okay? Me coming along, I mean.” 

“I don’t know. But the way I look at it is this: the day you decided to do something, that’s your lucky day! Every day afterwards, well, maybe you’ll have the worst luck ever, but at least you made a resolution!”

“Err, I really don’t like the sound of having the worst luck ever, Toriko-san,” Komatsu said.

“Just stop worrying and just go along with it. Trust in your instincts.”

Komatsu squared his shoulders and gave a decisive nod. “I’ll .. .try. What are we hunting for anyway?”

“Weeeeeell … I heard there’s an especially nice prize that the Empire’s been also been gunning for unsuccessfully these past few years,” Toriko’s eyes gleamed as he bared his teeth. “And by the looks of those Friday Monkeys, we’re on the right track!”

At least with the wind in his face, it was hard for Komatsu to scream loudly; he had never seen a creature look quite as bizarre as the knobbly monkey things that had climbed onto the rocks surrounding their boat.  

 “Definitely a great sign; they’re found deeper inland usually,” the pirate mused.  “Something must’ve driven them out of their normal habitat.”

Within moments they were past the creatures, and Toriko slowed their progress to a crawl as he navigated through the increasingly thick mangroves. “Get ready, we’ll be there soon,” he said.

Komatsu nodded, not quite trusting his voice just yet. He wished he had some more practical items on him; he had left his apron behind and he only had his chef’s outfit — the same one he had been in since the night of the fire. He had tucked his one knife into the specially designed holster in his belt, but he had a feeling it would be poor protection if something really wanted to sink its teeth into him.

Toriko snorted, apparently having noticed Komatsu’s nervous glances at his cooking utensil. “Eh, there’s actually not that many weapons in the world that will do much good in the area we’re going into,” he said. “The best of the Empire’s guns and ammo aren’t enough against the hide and scales of most beasts in the true wild. That’s why they haven’t been able to catch my target today.”

Komatsu tilted his head as a sudden thought struck him. For all its size, he hadn’t seen a single weapon — cannons or otherwise — aboard the Bon Appetit. Toriko himself did not seem to be carrying anything either. Not that those gigantic muscles couldn’t be weapons in and of themselves, Komatsu reasoned, but he had expected a pirate crew to be absolutely bristling with weapons.

Then again, I expected them to have chucked me overboard by now, and they haven‘t …. yet. Instead, one of them is taking me hunting. It’s almost like I’m on a safari vacation.

I’m so confused.

“Hey, quit standing there daydreaming. Let’s go!” Toriko gestured to him impatiently. He hopped off the landing boat and moored it on an high and secure spot around an exposed trunk of the mangrove.  Komatsu shook himself as he carefully climbed out as well.

The muddy sand beneath his feet was soft, wet, and slightly sticky. The cold morning fog was quickly giving way beneath the warm rays of the sun; he had a feeling that the jungle air would be sweltering soon. The archipelago itself carried a moist, earthy scent of things growing, thriving. Browns and greens dominated the color palette, though occasionally, Komatsu could see the bright flicker of some exotic bird flitting through the trees. The air resounded with the ear stirring chirring of unseen insects, the cracking of tree branches, and the howls of something wild and wary, deep in the shadowy recesses.

Komatsu took in the sights, mouth half opened. Everything felt exotic, dangerous, and so very alive. His little restaurant seemed further away than mere distance now, with its already prepared ingredients and its climate controlled normality.

“Huh, listen to that. All the beasts are really stirred up! Let’s hurry … or are you trying to catch a breakfast of blueflies with that open mouth?” Toriko called. In one of his hands, there dangled a rather poisonous looking purple snakefish. The pirate ate in in a single gulp.

 Komatsu hastened towards him. One thing was clear; where ever Toriko was seemed the safest place to be standing.

That thought was proved right only moments later when a sudden crackling crash of brush revealed the piercing stare of hulking jungle cat at least twice the size of Toriko. However, it had only taken a glance from the pirate to send it running. “It’s just a baron tiger. Oy, you’re not scared are you?”

Komatsu could feel even his toes trembling.

“Calm down. What we’re after is a lot more dangerous than that little kitty. It’s a good sign that it’s out here, because that means it’s been driven away by something more stronger. More lethal. More … delicious.”

Komatsu had to take a step back. For a moment, even more than the dangerous swamp, Toriko had seemed demonically deadly.

Though their journey through the trees was occasionally interrupted by some creature blundering into them — then quickly crashing back the other way when it found Toriko staring it down.

Yet, despite the pirate’s exasperation over what he viewed to be Komatsu’s overreaction to anything that wanted to eat him (which, in the swamp, meant everything) Toriko did keep them both relatively safe — while happily crunching down or slurping up whatever wasn’t smart enough to get out of the way.

The only animal that actually made it through Toriko’s defenses was a fat leech that dropped onto Komatsu’s hand, but the pirate had also made short work of it as well by squeezing a salt leaf over it. He rolled his eyes as Komatsu stuttered his gratitude.

“You weren’t exaggerating, were you? You’ve really never been out to the wild!” he mused as Komatsu cupped his still bleeding hand, trying yet again to quell the trembling in his limbs.

“N-n-no, I haven’t,” Komatsu shook his head as he put more pressure on the wound, hoping that it would close eventually. “Even the Empire would allow it, I couldn’t leave my restaurant.”

“It anchored you down, eh? This must be quite a change for you then.”

Anchored me down? Huh. I never thought of it that way.

“It’s waaaaaaaay too late to go back to the ship though, y’know! I told you to get ready to die didn’t I?”

“Toriko-san, please don’t remind me of that! And I did get ready — it’s not like I have anything to leave behind.”

“See? If you put it that way, then it means you have all to gain, right?”

Komatsu considered. It’s a big change, and it’s different and scary and I’m afraid I won’t come back with all my limbs intact but … Toriko-san’s right, he realized.

I don’t have anything else to lose beside my life. And to put that on the line to see this …huh. The ingredients I used to get were all dead and cut up. Even if it scares the pee out of me, to see all of this …

Turning to face the pirate, he felt his trembling calm.  Despite all the danger around them, despite the acid bite of fear and worry churning in his stomach … I don’t regret it, he realized.

The pirate actually took a half step back in surprise, head tilted to one side as he studied Komatsu’s expression.

“Huh. You really are okay with this, aren’t you? Despite being scared enough to piss your pants, you really accept that you could die — and you still move forward, despite that,” the pirate said. “I guess you do have guts.”

Komatsu wondered if he was blushing furiously; his face certainly felt hot enough. “All this is a mega-super-mindblowing-scary-change for me. But so was being accidentally kidnapped by … err uh … you. But now, being here, seeing everything whole and so alive — I never would have gotten a chance if it wasn’t for you, so it kinda makes it even. I’m sorry I’m being so loud though. It’s just … the only dangerous things I’ve ever had to deal with were customers who ran out on their bill.”

“You don’t say? Food without the danger? Huh. That’s a world I can’t imagine, actually,” Toriko said good naturedly. 

Komatsu lowered his chin in consideration as he hopped over yet another hole that Toriko easily crossed in half a step. “Okay, maybe my restaurant’s sorta boring compared to this but you’ve had to have at least tried eating somewhere ordinary before …” Komatsu’s words trailed away as Toriko shook his head.

“Nope. Pirates, remember? The restaurants we can go to tend to be on the rather unlawful side of things. Food’s still really good— at least class seven and above — and I’d say even better than the Empire’s swill.” Toriko shrugged as he casually reached backwards, grabbed Komatsu by the collar, and stopped him from tumbling into a deep ditch. “But it still nearly always comes with an appetizer of stabbing and fighting. Hey, if you’re still alive by the end of the day, maybe we could take you there to try it! It’s really fun!”

Komatsu could only stare at him wordlessly as he regained his footing. We really are from two different worlds! How am I ever going to …

“Oh, stop right there for a second.”

Komatsu froze immediately as Toriko swung a fist straight over his head. There came a soft splat. When he turned, there was a pythonakeet twice the size of a normal car laying filleted against the trees.

“WAAAH! THAT’S HUGE! AND IT’S BEEN SPLIT IN HALF!” he shrieked.

“Can you stop yelling? It’s so annoying. Of course it’s split in half.  It’s about time for another midmorning snack, right?” Toriko huffed as he gathered up the carcass.

And there he goes again. I barely saw him move! Komatsu marveled. Toriko, meanwhile, had munched down the creature. Within moments, he was spitting out the bones and burping.

“You’re like walking ingredient magnet,” the pirate declared happily. “Huh, maybe you can be useful as bait?”

“Um … please tell me you’re joking, Toriko-san …” Komatsu said. “Toriko-san?!”

Toriko’s only reply was a not-so-reassuring chuckle. “Well, we should be getting close. The thing we’re after should be living in the heart of this swamp grove, deep within its depths. It’s usually nocturnal, but I’m betting that its rumored age and size means it’s constantly hungry and out hunting whenever possible. It’s probably tracking us already, especially now that it smells your blood along with the fresh pythonakeet kill.”

“My … b-b-blood?” Komatsu rubbed at his hand. It hadn’t stopped bleeding. “You mean it’s hunting m-m-me?!”

“Yup! But don’t worry, he probably just wants you for a snack. You’re so small that he’d have to kill about eight of you to even fill his mouth.”

“Toriko-san! Please don’t say that! I don’t want to be a snack!”

Toriko’s answer was only a great, booming laugh. “We’re all snacks to something! That’s what makes it fun — you gotta eat your every meal like it could be your last!”

“Um, actually, for me, I kinda like eating in peace,” Komatsu mumbled. “And I like digesting things instead of being digested by a thing.”

“Well, remember this — ‘I just want to live’ … that’s what everything that’s alive in the world thinks. The only way to stay alive, though, is to eat. So the way I think, well … it’s only when you’re really appreciating food that you’re really appreciating life. We eat or we are eaten, and in that way, our lives are passed on and on, forever. To waste that is to waste the blessing of life.”

Komatsu stared, certain that his mouth was open and ripe for catching flies again. “That’s … um … surprisingly deep. Um. Coming from a pirate. OhmygoodnessdidIsaythataloud?!”

Toriko snorted. “Yes, but it’s true. I am a pirate. The others are pirates. We’re not good guys. We raid imperial ships. We’ve destroyed more than a few fleets. And yes, there are people on those ships, and we do not give them any quarter, any more than we give quarter the animals we hunt. And make no mistake, we do hunt them. I ALWAYS take the food I want,” he said plainly, his sharp eyes never leaving Komatsu’s.

Komatsu could not stop the shiver that raced through him, any more than he could have stopped his own heartbeat. Looking into the pirate’s eyes was like taking a plunge into a endless gorge, dark and hard, with the certainty of something breaking at the bottom. He could just feel it, barely, the hint of something that raged behind Toriko’s eyes, a something that was intelligent in the way that all true wild things were, honest and brutal and instinctive.

 “But what I do, I only do it to really live. And that’s what makes this fun … right, Mr. Galala Crocodile?”

“Eeeeeh?” Komatsu asked. “Er, who are you talking to?”

It was the he heard the low rumbling growl that shook the very ground below him, reverberated up through his feet and raced along his spine, standing each and every hair on his neck at attention. Ohcrapit’srightbehind …

“Get back!”

It was the only warning he had before he was bowled off of his feet and sent rolling onto his stomach. Toriko had leapt over him, and was now between him and a …

It’s a DINOSAUR! screamed Komatsu’s thoughts. He would have screamed physically, but his jaw muscles had locked in fear. Holy shit, it’s three times the size of our landing craft!!! TORIKO-SAN WAS RIGHT! THAT DINOSAUR IS GOING TO EAT US FOR SNACKS!

Toriko, however, was regarding it without even the slightest indication of fear. “How long has it been?” he mused as he stared at his hands, “since I got to use these?”

Komatsu watched as Toriko raised both arms in an X across his body.

“It’s also been too long since you too, have had to show your true power, hasn’t it, Mr. Galala Crocodile? I bet you ate all the people the Empire’s sent; that’s why you have no fear of humans or human weapons. Well, if the Empire is too weak for you, let me show you the power of a pirate!”

Komtasu could not tell who moved first. Between one blink of his eyes and the next, Toriko and the enormous galala crocodile had blurred into motion. For a heartbeat, both of them seemed to hang in the air, fangs bared. Then, they collided.

The shockwave sent Komatsu skittering backwards. Toriko’s hands flashed, the crocodile’s jaws gaped wide. The sound of both their roars shredded the air.

At that moment, Komatsu was hard pressed to say which one was the true monster.

And then, just as quickly, it was over. There was great spray of liquid, arcing high and sparkling scarlet in the air. The head and body of the crocodile fell to the earth with a ground jarring thud. The air filled with the thick, cloying scent of copper.

Komatsu’s head spun from the adrenaline flowing in his body. It was almost too much. He knew he was shaking uncontrollably. 

So this is Toriko, the pirate. 

Did the imperial ships and the sailors fall in the same way? Do villages burn, and people starve because of this ungodly power? This is the pirate crew that sails the seven sumptuous seas, turning it red in their wake.

They could consume the entire world. I believe it.

Drenched in blood, Toriko stood tall and still, hands folded together palm to palm.

“Itadakimasu. I give thanks to the world and all its ingredients for the meal,” Then, and only then, did Toriko approach the body. Putting one hand on the head, whose eyes had just began to mist, the pirate nodded once, deeply and with respect.

“I also thank you for your life and the fight,” he said.  “Hey, come on, let’s eat! Wait, why in the hell are you crying?! Were you really that scared?”

I’m … crying? Komatsu’s hands brushed his face. His fingers came away wet. Oh. Was I that scared? Or was it something else?

It was rather strange, he had to admit, that he didn’t really know.

—-

Chapter 3B: Peponi

Next part to come soon, maybe late tonight. These parts seem to be getting longer too. -_- But yeah, let me know what you think, even if it’s “this sucks, why are you writing like this?!” Also, since I had to code the italics by hand and copy and paste, I might have messed up some parts. If it doesn’t make sense, I probably accidentally left a section out. Feel free to point out my mistakes — they help me get better (and boy, do I need help to get better!)

Also, it really does help to know someone is reading. :) And thank you for making it this far, (especially with all the bad food puns!)