7 TV Foodies We’d Like to Feast With
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Clockwise from left: Brooke Palmer/NBC; Warner Bros/Everett Collection; Bill Reitzel/NBC/GettyImages
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Detective Charles Boyle (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
If Boyle were as knowledgeable about women as he is about Jamón Ibérico, he might have figured out a way to score with the acerbic Rosa Diaz last season, rather than getting entangled in an icky affair with weirdo office assistant Gina. Dating deficiencies aside, Boyle may be TV's most accurate depiction of the modern-day urban foodie. He rates Brooklyn pizzerias in a weekly e-mail blast, loves Sudanese food and has a basket rigged to the front of his bicycle because "how else would you carry baguettes?"
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Cosmo Kramer (Seinfeld)
Jerry's "hipster doofus" neighbor was a world-class moocher, but that never stopped him from insisting on eating only the finest comestibles. Although Kramer often came off as a slob, his epicurean tastes were top-shelf: He adored the Soup Nazi, refused to put plain yellow mustard on his sandwiches, only ate "Mackinaw" peaches from Oregon and launched a one-man protest against Kenny Rogers Roasters (which was more about their glaring signage than their subpar chicken, but still).
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Sookie St. James (Gilmore Girls)
The Independence Inn's head chef (and later, head chef and co-owner at the Dragonfly Inn) lived for good cuisine in a way many real-life curmudgeonly chefs just don't. (Remember the time she showed up at a restaurant critic's house because he called her risotto merely "fine?") Sookie's love of food was so prodigious, she eventually married her produce purveyor, Jackson.
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Graham Chase (My So-Called Life)
Like many foodies, Angela's dad dreamed of taking his love of food to a professional level—which he finally did in the finale, securing investors for a restaurant he planned to open with a woman he met in his "Soups, Stocks and Sauces" class. In fact, that class was a confidence-boosting turning point for Graham; he enrolled as a student, but wound up teaching the course when it was clear his cooking skills were above-grade (and the original instructor went to rehab). Most admirably, Graham never talked down about food to others; instead, he used food to show how much he cared.
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Frasier and Niles Crane (Frasier)
The world’s most persnickety psychiatrists arguably did as much to perpetuate America’s love affair with—and pretentious attitudes about—gourmet coffee as Starbucks. In fact, fastidious foodies Frasier and Niles Crane may have been the biggest food snobs in TV history. Their know-it-all airs nearly ruined them in “The Innkeepers,” one of the show’s funniest episodes when they buy a venerable Seattle restaurant and promptly run it into the ground by ticking off the chef.
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Special Agent Dale Cooper (Twin Peaks)
You know how some foodies get super into one particular meal or cuisine? Such was the case with Twin Peaks protagonist Dale Cooper, who loved nothing more than to sit down with a damn fine cup of coffee and a slice of incredible cherry pie so good it'll kill you. Sometimes his coffee-and-pie fetish was so feverish, it became borderline obsessive-compulsive ("slice of huckleberry pie, heated, vanilla ice cream on the side, coffee"), but you've got to admire a guy who thinks the best food in the world comes not from a world-class, five-star restaurant, but from a sleepy diner in the Pacific Northwest.
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Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal)
Okay, so Dr. Lecter's favorite cuisine is of the freshly killed, human variety. Still, his passion for preparing an exquisite meal, which the series gorgeously showcases in cinema-quality montages, is unrivaled on scripted TV. Even if his ingredients are revolting, his kitchen accoutrements—calligraphed recipe cards! A spider-burner stove! Hand-cranked meat grinders and sausage stuffers!‚—may make you swoon.
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