25 foods that remind us of “Friends” episodes

If someone happens to ask us, “Where do you want to go to lunch?” we immediately think of the Season 7 “Friends” episode, “The One With All the Cheesecakes,” and reply with the answer: “Mama's Little Bakery, Chicago, Illinois.” As you may recall, this episode centered on Chandler mistakenly receiving a cheesecake in the mail and devouring it with Rachel. The two try to get their mind off of their new obsession by going to lunch, but as the aforementioned exchange shows, it’s not easy to forget about a delicious cheesecake.

Way back in Season 1’s “The One With the East German Laundry Detergent,” Joey schemes with Monica to break up a couple, Angela and Bob, during a double date so that Joey can date the former and Monica can date the latter. The thing Joey likes most about Angela? She makes a little nibbling noise when she eats, which sounds “like a happy little squirrel or a weasel,” according to Joey. “Waiter, one more plate of chicken wings over here,” Joey says while dreamily admiring her.

In the Season 7 episode “The One With Phoebe’s Cookies,” Monica desperately wants to make Phoebe’s grandmother’s legendary chocolate chip cookies, but the recipe is destroyed in a fire. In order to figure it out, Monica makes batch after batch of cookies—some good, others not so much (especially Batch #16, which caused Ross to throw up). Phoebe later mentions that the recipe originated from her French great-great-grandmother, “Nestlé Toulouse,” and Monica realizes it was actually just the Nestlé Toll House cookie recipe all along.

Let’s stick with the aforementioned episode, “The One With Phoebe’s Cookies,” just a little longer. After making numerous failed batches, an exasperated Monica says, "I give up. I guess I’m not gonna be the mom who makes the world’s best chocolate cookies. I do make the best duck confit with broccoli rabe. Kids love that, right?”

Whether it’s mozzarella sticks, jalapeno poppers, or another unhealthy appetizer, any “fried stuff with cheese” makes us think of “Friends.” We’re, of course, talking about the Season 7 episode “The One With The Truth About London,” in which Phoebe wonders what it would be like if Monica married Joey. In an imagined scene, a morbidly obese Joey is seen saddling up to a table full of his favorite foods — the aforementioned “fried stuff with cheese” — made by his hypothetical wife.

Joey Tribbiani is not a fan of sharing his meals with anyone, including dates and adorable infants. In case there was any confusion about this, in the Season 10 episode “The One With the Birth Mother,” he twice exclaims, “Joey doesn’t share food!” The food that he is first seen not sharing? French fries.

After accidentally injuring a Girl Scout, Ross attempts to sell as many boxes of her cookies as possible so she can win a trip to Space Camp. She doesn’t win—despite Ross cheating the system by buying boxes himself—so he, Chandler, and Joey create a makeshift Space Camp experience in their apartment. Despite the creepy-sounding premise, Season 3’s “The One Where Rachel Quits” was actually a sweet episode and one we think about every Girl Scout Cookie Season.

Whenever someone tells us a dessert has no carbs, or no calories, or some other healthy feature, we think of the Season 8 episode, “The One With the Rumor.” In this installment, Brad Pitt guest stars as a former classmate of Ross, Rachel, and Monica who recently lost 150 pounds and comes to Thanksgiving dinner at Monica’s apartment with a pie. “It’s no fat, no sugar, no dairy…it’s no good, throw it out,” he quips.

Of course, we would think of “Friends” anytime we see or hear about homemade jam — Monica made tons of it to distract herself after breaking up with Richard (Tom Selleck). She even refers to it as her “Jam Plan.” There are other plotlines in this Season 3 episode, but it’s nevertheless entitled “The One With the Jam.”

Lasagna makes a few appearances in “Friends.” Most notably, it has a starring role in the Season 1 episode “The One With the Dozen Lasagnas,” in which Monica is stuck with 12 trays of lasagna after making them for her aunt but not being told they were supposed to be vegetarian. Thus, throughout the episode, Monica attempts to give them away to various supporting characters. Lasagna makes another memorable appearance in Season 4’s “The One With the Cuffs,” when Monica loses a fake fingernail while baking quiches for her mother’s party, and her mom reveals she has trays of lasagna in the freezer as a backup, since she anticipated a blunder on Monica’s part.

Macaroni and cheese actually makes us think of two “Friends” episodes. In Season 6, it is briefly mentioned that one of Chandler’s favorite foods is mac & cheese with cut-up hot dogs, which she makes for him for Valentine’s Day. However, the more obvious reference takes place in a several-episode arc in that same season, when Joey lands a starring role on a show called “Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E.” Joey plays Detective Mac Machiavelli alongside a crime-fighting robot named C.H.E.E.S.E., which stands for Computerized Humanoid Electronically Enhanced Secret Enforcer.

When Rachel refuses to leave her hotel room in Season 5’s “The One in Vegas: Part 2” because Ross drew a mustache on her face in permanent marker, she raids the minibar — at Ross’s expense. Among the overpriced items she takes are macadamia nuts, even though she doesn’t like them. Later, when the two are drunk off of minibar mini-bottles, Ross says, “Here’s that macadamia nut,” while picking up something off the floor and eating it, followed by: “No, something else.”

Meatball sandwiches are prevalent in “Friends,” as they are arguably Joey’s favorite food. In Season 5’s “The One With the Ride-Along,” Joey dives on a meatball sandwich when he thinks he hears a gunshot. In Season 8’s “The One With Monica’s Boots,” Rachel tells Joey’s sister to bring a meatball sub in case he gets upset when she tells him she’s pregnant. And in Season 10, “The One Where Chandler Gets Caught,” Chandler and Monica use that same tactic when breaking the news to Joey that they bought a house and will be moving to Westchester.

We enjoy a good muffin from time to time, and when we get one at a coffee shop, we always think of Central Perk. Specifically, when Joey was working there in Season 6’s “The One With Rachel’s Sister” and was forbidden from handing out free birthday muffins after he gave away 20 of them in a single day — and sang to each pretty woman that received one. The previous episode, “The One With the Joke,” also includes a muffin mention. When Rachel is giving Joey advice on working in the cafe, she tells him to give rude customers a “sneeze muffin.” Joey then immediately tells a very impatient Ross that he’s going to give him a free muffin.

We sometimes call the meat-free version of chicken noodle soup “noodle water” because in the Season 4 episode “The One With Joey's New Girlfriend,” that’s what Phoebe, a vegetarian, makes for an under-the-weather Monica: chicken noodle soup without chicken or chicken broth. Chicken noodle soup also reminds us of the Season 5 episode “The One Where Rachel Smokes,” because while shooting a commercial, Joey is incapable of remembering his line, “Mmm, soup.” Instead, he keeps saying “noodle soup,” and at one point even says, “Mmmm soup. I mean, noodle soup. I mean, soup!”

Pizza makes numerous appearances in “Friends,” but there are two episodes we often think of. The first is Season 4’s “The One With Ross’s Wedding,” when Joey calls Phoebe from London, and she tells him she ordered pizza and got “the Joey special,” which is revealed to just be two pizzas. Pizza also makes us think of Season 5’s “The One Where Ross Can’t Flirt,” as he spends the episode trying to hit on the delivery girl but has to order extra pizzas because he keeps making it awkward. 

Have you ever eaten a Thanksgiving meal with multiple types of potatoes? We have, and it made us reminisce about “Friends.” As you may recall, in the very first Turkey Day episode, Season 1’s “The One Where Underdog Gets Away,” the gang accidentally locked themselves outside while watching a runaway parade balloon, ruining the personalized dinners Monica was preparing for everyone. This included not one, not two, but three different types of potatoes: whipped potatoes with peas and onions for Phoebe, mashed potatoes with lumps for Ross, and tater tots for Joey.

Ever make a salad with a friend, family member, or spouse that’s a “Friends” fan? We’ve done this numerous times, and whenever we start talking about the ingredients, we all think of the “Friends” Season 2 episode “The One With The Prom Video,” in which a restaurant manager (Patrick Kerr) gets turned on listening to Monica talk about making a salad during a job interview.  Quoting the episode, we begin asking each other if the lettuce is dirty, if the tomatoes are firm, or if they’re “very, very bad.” And, of course, we all make a huge deal about the tomatoes being julienned. 

In “The One With Rachel’s Assistant,” from Season 7, Chandler reveals to Monica that Ross doesn’t eat tacos anymore because one time, when he and Chandler were on their way to Disneyland, Ross ate 10 tacos from a questionable source and soiled himself on Space Mountain. Oddly, the story gave Monica a craving for tacos, but when Ross stopped by her apartment and asked what she was cooking, she tried to avoid the subject by calling them “ground beef smileys.” In our household, Tuesday is Taco Tuesday, but we’ll sometimes refer to the meal as ground beef smileys in tribute to “Friends,” Ross, and his unfortunate accident.

We can’t hear the word “tartlets” without saying it multiple times, like Jon Lovitz in the Season 1 episode “The One With The Stoned Guy.” Lovitz played the titular stoned guy, a restaurant manager for whom Monica cooked a homemade meal in an attempt to land a job. But because the manager smoked a joint in the cab on his way over, he wasn’t concerned with her fancy meal and was more interested in mac & cheese (making another appearance in this list!), gummy bears, Sugar-O’s, and saying the word “tartlet” over and over until it lost its meaning.

During the holiday season, some restaurants serve a Thanksgiving-themed sandwich combining turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce — which reminds us of Ross’s sandwich from the Season 5 episode “The One With Ross’s Sandwich.” Of course, Ross’s version, made for him by Monica, contains a special ingredient: a gravy-soaked slice of bread known as “The Moist-Maker.” Unfortunately, Ross’s lunch was stolen from his office fridge when he was already in a fragile emotional state, leading to an absolute meltdown.

Toblerone bars have been around since 1908, but they don’t get a lot of attention, especially in terms of advertising. However, they do appear in pop culture in a few notable ways. Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge character is addicted to this Swiss chocolate bar, “Family Guy” makes regular references to them, and an enormous Toblerone was a running gag in the “Friends” Season 4 episode “The One with the Free Porn.” As expected, it’s Joey who develops an affinity for the extra-large versions sold at the airport.

What kind of list would this be without an entry for trifle? Not just any trifle, but the trifle — the one made by Rachel that included layers of ladyfingers, jam, custard, raspberries, bananas, and, because two pages were stuck together: beef sauteed with peas and onions. Ross famously said it tasted like feet, but Joey had a different opinion. “What’s not to like?” Joey says. “Custard? Good. Jam? Good. Meat? Gooooood.”

It’s rare that a November goes by in which we don’t wish someone a happy Thanksgiving using a GIF from “Friends.” We’re of course talking about the Season 5 episode “The One With All the Thanksgivings,” in which a flashback shows Joey putting a turkey on his head to scare Chandler. Back in the present, Chandler gets upset with Monica after learning some new information about a different past Thanksgiving, and in order to cheer him up, she puts a turkey on her head — complete with sunglasses and a fez. The get-up inadvertently scares Joey, resulting in Chandler telling Monica that he loves her for the first time.

In the sixth season episode “The One With Unagi,” Phoebe and Rachel are taking self-defense courses, and Ross, who claims to have “studied karate for a long time,” tells them about a state of total awareness known as “unagi.” However, Phoebe and Rachel (and later Chandler), make fun of Ross by telling him unagi is a type of sushi. They’re mostly correct, as unagi can be used in sushi, but it’s actually just the Japanese word for freshwater eel. (The actual name for this sushi roll is “unagi nigiri.”)