Why do Japanese animations ALWAYS feature characters eating food at some point? All Studio Ghibli animations have a scene, so do Paprika, Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers, The girl who laept through time, 5cm per second, and even Akira. I have actually downloaded and watched about 15 random anime series just to test my observation and it's true. The only exception I've found so far is the original Ghost in the Shell. Is this some cultural thing I'm not familiar with? As for western counterparts, only Ratatouille and a half a dozen titles come to mind.
>>89026 >Why do Japanese animations ALWAYS feature characters eating food at some point? Eating is an important cultural thing everywhere. It's not different than all those American shows where "the school day" is usually a sene at the cafeteria, or eating a pizza after school. Also scooby doo. they eat different things with a different ritual so it might look different but the idea is really universal.
A couple of these are plot-relevant. Dragonball shows eating because it's a running joke that Saiyans eat a crapton of food. Cowboy Bebop shows eating because it's a running joke that the crew are perpetually starving and eating what they can get.
>>89036 Or how Invader Zim practically revolved around snack foods. And South Park almost always has scenes of Cartman eating as well. Bugs Bunny is almost never seen not eating a carrot, the Coyote's trap for the Road Runner is usually bird seed which we see him eat, any Cat and Mouse duo (say Tom and Jerry, or Mr. Jinx and Trixie and Dixie) tend to be in conflict over the mouse stealing and eating food, and likewise Chip and Dale's conflicts tend to be about them stealing fruit or nuts or the like from orchards. Scooby Doo could never be talked into solving a mystery without some sort of food being offered, and generally both he and Shaggy ate throughout the episode regardless.
I mean really just....food is a constant in all cultures. It's a "people sit in chairs" level trope.
Meals are also universally-understood gathering areas, so they're useful in bringing together a group of people to talk about something (or have something announced to them). The narrative doesn't have to explain anything special about people gathering for a meal, as opposed to gathering in some random street.
As for on the go, snacking is a normal part of life. Imagine that you never saw characters blink; after a while it would be odd that you never see them eat, especially on long journeys.
And specific eating habits make for easy tropes to expand a character without going into large backstory. For Ed, Edd, and Eddy are always doing their scams to get money for jawbreakers, but rarely did they actually get the candy. The food was merely a motivation for getting the money with is the McGuffin used to set up all of their plots. No one cares for nor needs any more explanation than "they love jawbreakers", and everything follows.
