If you have never heard of the show Friends, you’ve clearly been in hiding for the past 20 or so years (side note: where were you? I need a new hide-and-go-seek spot). The six main characters are extremely different, especially when it comes to their favourite foods.
If you can imagine a potluck dinner with the characters from Friends, you can probably guess that the varieties of foods would be like Rachel’s English Trifle — a mismatched array of flavours that don’t go together, but Joey will still eat. Here are some recipes that will have you and the Friends characters dancing for joy.
Which character do you identify with most? Try the recipes I’ve paired them with and tell me how you like ’em.
1. Phoebe Buffay: The Vegetarian
If you’re like Phoebe, you cannot stand the idea of eating meat. Besides her crazy outfits and alternative behaviour, her views on refraining from eating animals are a shared belief amongst the vegetarian community. Here is a recipe that takes eggplants to a whole new level and a list of 22 recipes that are better than plain old tofu and veggies.
2. Chandler Bing: Anti-Thanksgiving
Chandler is the “funny one,” always cracking jokes and making sarcastic comments. He refuses to eat any foods associated with Thanksgiving — yacking them up when you were nine can really do that to a person.
So every year on Thanksgiving, while his friends eat turkey, Chandler indulges in non-traditional Thanksgiving foods, while having frequent flashbacks of his father and the pool boy.
If you have a Chandler in your friend group, try making this amazing grilled cheese, or this baked mac and cheese goodness. Everyone at your table will want to swap out their turkey dinner for one of these recipes.
3. Rachel Green: Expensive Food on a Waitress Budget
Like most university students’ limited budget, Rachel had to put a hold on her luxurious lifestyle when her Daddy’s Visa got cut up. Her days of shopping sprees and expensive meals were over — goodbye Gucci and caviar.
But don’t worry, you aren’t going to starve. This French Onion Soup and Banana Cream Pie taste hella expensive, but they won’t break the bank.
4. Ross Geller: LOVES His Thanksgiving Leftover Sandwich
There’s not much to say about Ross. He is the definition of “meh” in my opinion. But he does hold one very strong view that I agree with — the holiness that is the leftover Thanksgiving sandwich. Here are the best ways to use up those leftovers if sandwiches aren’t your thing.
Just remember, these recipes are freakin’ amazing… so if someone eats your sandwich, don’t blame me.
5. Monica Geller: The Fancier, The Better
Monica’s a chef so in her eyes, the more elaborate, the better. But realistically, who has time for that? Here is a recipe for a Molten Chocolate Lava Cake (made in a mug!) and Creamy Spinach and Mushroom Risotto (yum!).
These two recipes will taste like you spent hours in the kitchen, but you really just whipped them up during reruns of Days of Our Lives.
6. Joey Tribbiani: Pizza
Warning: your place is going to smell incredible when you make these recipes, so I won’t judge you if you don’t share.
Joey will eat everything and anything in sight, which he’s done on multiple occasions throughout the show’s ten seasons. But like many of us, he has a soft spot for pizza. Here is the easiest homemade pizza recipe and a list of 27 other easy pizza creations to make at home that is guaranteed to have a recipe for everyone.
Although these recipes are great, we all know Joey. He’s too lazy and would rather order a pizza so he can see the hot delivery girl, Caitlin.
Bonus 7. Fat Monica: Anything and Everything
You put a bowl in front of Fat Monica and BAM, it’s gone before you can say big-fat-goalie. Try these 18 weird food combinations that Monica definitely ate during her chunkier days. If those weren’t enough, here’s an additional 10 bizarre combinations.
Now gather your friends, turn on Netflix and indulge in your English Trifle inspired dinner party — your favourite foods inspired by the Friends characters’ favourite foods.