Pop culture really “pop cultured” in the year 2023. For starters, we kicked off the year with Rihanna revealing her pregnancy during her Super Bowl performance and Ariana DeBose singing, “Angela Bassett did the thing,” at the BAFTAs. The major HBO series Succession officially concluded, while Netflix’s Is It Cake? got its second season. (The world needs balance.) Of course, when it comes to cinema, who could forget that based-on-a-true-story Cocaine Bear appeared in theaters in the same year that Chris Pratt starred as famous Italian plumber Mario in an animated video game film? To rapid fire some news at you, 2023 also saw the following, *NSYNC reunited, Pink recieved a massive Brie cheese wheel from a fan, the Eras Tour and the Renaissance World Tour boosted the economy, Ariana Grande started dating SpongeBob, and a cockroach crashed the Met Gala. Plus, Cheetos proved to be the hottest snack–no pun intended–of the year. While I could name my favorite news stories throughout the year all day long, I find it easiest to channel the years’ best moments and cultural occurrences through memes. What can I say? Half of my life is spent on Twitter and TikTok, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Here are the best food memes of 2023 from funny TikTok templates all the way to quirky Twitter parodies.
Girl Dinner
Cheese, crackers, pickles, and leftover hibachi dinner isn’t enough. I need to eat all of my Polly Pocket clothes, too.
Initially, the “girl dinner” trend arrived in the summer via TikTok user Olivia Maher describing her ideal meal being an array of bread, cheese, grapes, pickles, etc. This led to user @karmapilled creating the incredibly viral “Girl Dinner” song/TikTok sound enjoyed around the world. Of course, the internet couldn’t help but parody the phrase “girl dinner” by posting a picture of a single Red Bull or their favorite singer.
Of course, the existence of “girl dinner” implies the existence of “boy dinner,” which is just a piece of meat on a fork. Mmm good dinner!
The Bear
Season two of The Bear arrived in June 2023, and of course, it had us all saying “Yes, chef!” on the timeline. Frankly, I can’t get enough pictures of earnest Carmy. (P.S. Yes, the entire United States of America did realize we were never supposed to microwave Cup Noodles until just this year!)
Panera Lemonade
I hope there’s a Panera in hell, because that’s where we’re all going for laughing at all these lemonade memes that have been circling around.
Taylor Swift’s Raisins & Seemingly Ranch
Sure, Taylor Swift had a whirlwind year on the first leg of the Eras Tour and brought cinema back to life with her theatrical-release concert film, but she also made strides in the culinary world. She brought new life to vodka crans while watching her BF Travis Kelce play on the Kansas City Chiefs. And, of course, her fans discovered that she enjoyed chicken tenders with ketchup and “seemingly ranch” at the football stadium. Hey, I personally love the journalistic ethics that took place in the original post from Twitter user @tswifterastour.
Of course, this pop culture phenomenon evolved into Heinz Ketchup & Seemingly Ranch, and myriad Halloween costumes.
The fun didn’t stop there. After sharing the track “You’re Losing Me,” Jack Antonoff posted an insider photo of Swift eating raisins during a recording sesh, which led to a whole onslaught of our fave food/T.Swift memes of the year.
Grimace Shake
In the year of 2023, we honored our Lord and Savior Grimace‘s birthday by consuming his purple milkshake and dying on TikTok. IYKYK.
Jennifer Lawrence on Hot Ones
Every year, First We Feast‘s Hot Ones offers up meme reactions on a silver platter. This year, Jennifer Lawrence was the queen of the internet as she asked “What do you mean?” through tears. Honestly, this is me whenever my BF says we have food at home.
While J.Law was a star of this year’s hot wing gauntlet, we can’t forget the hysterical interviews with Cardi B, Jenna Ortega, and Pedro Pascal.
And just to spotlight pop culture moments, Hot Ones‘ Sean Evans and Chicken Shop Date‘s Amelia Dimoldenberg joined each other on their food-based interview shows and became each other’s interviewees. Chicken crossover of the century, TBH.
The Kevin James Smirk
Give me one margarita… and I start smiling like this. And then, I will ask you to buy me chips and guac. And then I will continue to stare at you like this until I get another margarita.
There will be signs…
If I won the lottery, everyone would know because my whole kitchen would have matching Le Creuset cookware and utensil holders. Plus… all the Trader Joe’s chocolate croissant my freezer could hold.
Barbie’s Dream House
It will be hard to describe the cultural zeitgesit that was “Barbenheimer” to future generations. Luckily, we have enough Barbie and Oppy memes to last us for years to come. It’s no wonder why Barbie topped the best meme round-up by Rolling Stone, as we got some of the best dream house and mojo dojo casa house jokes on TikTok.
In my personal Barbie dream house, we have several plants and herbs as well as magazines for the coffee table. My BF’s mojo dojo casa house merely has the tools needed for “boy dinner.” That is why women should be in charge!
Beverage Goblin
🎶 “One to hydrate, one to energize, and one just for fun!” 🎶 This TikTok-viral song hit a few people too close to home and made them reveal their cup-covered desks to the world. Though, some have hacked the system with the 3 Drinks 1 Cup.
The Cheese Tax
“The Cheese Tax” is the 2023 banger of a song from Puppy Songs, whose work also includes the mega viral “Stuck On My Teefs” song. While this went viral for the all-too-common phenomenon of pups demanding cheese while cooking with it, “The Cheese Tax” also brought rise to the notion of cat parents and significant others also needing to pay the cheese tax. Frankly, I will always deliver my dog’s morning cream cheese tax on her own little plate.
Pedro Pascal Sandwich
Oh to be Pedro Pascal, happily enjoying a PB&J. The clip originally comes from a recent episode of “Snack Wars,” launched by LADbible on YouTube, where he and Jon Favreau compare American and Chilean snacks, and has since become an iconic character for the super chill girlies who enjoy snacks.
Wonka
Why can’t they both be the kings of drip? After the Wonka trailer arrived in July, the internet couldn’t stop posting close-ups of Timothée Chalamet and saying, “Quiet up! And listen down. Nope! Scratch that, reverse it.”
P.S. Jokes aside, it’s actually a cute movie and you should watch it!
Aliens
So, apparently aliens–erm– “non-human biologics” are real, and we all glossed over the news when it arose. I bet you completely forgot about it until just now! Of course, many thoughts about these aliens included the desire to eat them. Hey, we’re all looking for sustainable food sources, right? However, I am most interested in what we can feed them, and we would start with an appetizer of Hidden Valley Ranch, as I play them the new blink-182 record.
Roman Empire
This is my Roman Empire, too! However, you can’t forget the addition of fries and a Diet Coke, aka the hot girl lunch of the year 2023.