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I noticed that not only protagonists/main characters, but also other
characters in an anime are shown to love a certain kind of food.

Here are some examples:

  * [Naruto](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/Naruto) loves [ramen](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MundaneLuxury). It's pretty much the only thing he ever really eats (as seen in Boruto where there are empty cups of instant noodles; he never leaves his office).

  * Eiichiro Oda listed [One Piece](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/OnePiece) characters' favorite food, in which we all know is mentioned that Luffy loves Only meat (even in dessert).

  * L from [Deathnote](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/DeathNote) has a pronounced sweet tooth and gorges himself on various sweets. 

  * Satellizer from [Freezing](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/Freezing) _really_ loves burgers. (Burger Queen to be precise)

  * [Shana](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana) loves melon bread just as Ren of [DearS](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/DearS) is utterly addicted to melon bread (To the point she saves old melon bread wrappers for the smell).

  * From what I remember Erza from [Fairy Tail](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/FairyTail) loves strawberry cake; when someone makes her drop it, [**run**](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BerserkButton). Natsu loves anything that's covered in fire. Justified as it's his [Power-Up Food](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PowerUpFood) aside from fire itself.

Why is this so? Is it relevant? Is this some kind of advertising or just a
focus for a gag.


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question
tropes anime-history
Why are some characters shown to only eat one kind of food?


As senshin says, it's kind of a bizarre question since people in real life
often do this too, but as our _raison d' etre_ here is to overanalyze
everything, here goes.

In most of the cases the OP lists, as well as most of the ones I can think of,
the quirk of obsession with a single food makes a character seem childlike and
immature. While adults have likes and dislikes, they tend not to be as extreme
with them as children and teenagers. An adult might like ramen, but a teenager
will like ramen so much that they eat nothing else, and have to be
hospitalized for lack of vitamins.

This portrayal can serve a few different narrative purposes:

  1. It makes a character seem charmingly simple-minded. Naruto and Luffy are both heroes after the mold of Goku: they love eating and fighting and have lofty goals that seem unattainable to other characters. Having them obsess over ramen or meat goes with being oblivious and childish. Ren in DearS, or Ayu from Kanon, are also childlike characters, and their love for melon bread / taiyaki helps create that image.
  2. Conversely, it can add a charm point for a character who seems unapproachable. This seems to be why Shana loves melon bread. It's also why the Monogatari series's immortal vampire Oshino Shinobu loves donuts. Angel Beats's main character Otonashi first bonds with impassive Kanade after he notices that she keeps ordering tongue-burning mabo tofu in the cafeteria. I would also put L here. While L and his successor Near are pretty much always the smartest person in any given room (we can debate about whether that's true when Light is in the room), and have command over various police forces, they also have strange, childish quirks: in L's case, constantly eating sweets, and in Near's case, constantly playing with toys. 

An interesting case of (2) is Code Geass. The show had some kind of product
placement deal with Pizza Hut. Supposedly, the director thought putting Pizza
Hut all over the place was funny (I heard this claim on [an ANNCast
episode](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/anncast/2015-09-08/.92657)), so they
went to ridiculous lengths to put Pizza Hut boxes in as many scenes as
possible. The character C.C., mostly a pretty formidable lady, has an
obsessive love for Pizza Hut which surpasses her love for life itself.
According to the [Code Geass wiki](http://codegeass.wikia.com/wiki/C.C.):

> C.C. also has a somewhat obsessive penchant for pizza, especially Pizza
> Hut's Cheese-kun (which sponsors Code Geass in Japan); she constantly orders
> pizzas to Lelouch's house using his credit card, much to his chagrin. This
> is often used for comedic effect. Her love for pizza is so strong that she
> is willing to risk herself being captured, twice nearly exposing herself to
> get a piece of a giant pizza being made by the Student Council (which is
> ruined both times); both Lelouch and Kallen sometimes refer her as "Pizza
> Girl". In addition to this she is an avid collector of Cheese-kun related
> merchandises and is often seen hugging a Cheese-kun plush doll.

The Pizza Hut logo was blanked out of the US versions of the show, apparently
because [Bandai couldn't make a deal with Pizza Hut in the
US](http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=29764).


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