The more you watch Comedy Central’s Broad City, the more it becomes clear that co-creators and stars Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson are well acquainted with the munchies lifestyle (after all, Ilana did roll a massive blunt with trimmings she found on the floor of her bedroom). Virtually every episode of the UCB alums’ feverishly funny series is peppered with sporadic interludes of sex, mayhem, and, of course, food.
Though it often draws comparisons to the likes of Workaholics and Girls, the show, now in its second season, is its own animal entirely. Following the erratic Ilana (who can barely contain herself at her desk job) and put-upon Abbi (an aspiring trainer currently stuck in a janitorial role at an upscale gym) on their nihilistic, guest star-studded (oh, hello Seth Rogen) post-grad explorations of NYC, it’s a wide-open and instantly “gettable” premise. Your buddy wants to date them, your sister wants to befriend them, you want to do dabs with them, and The New Yorker wants to do all three.
The noticeable food hook is just another example of Broad City’s appeal. Whether they’re skulking through a neighborhood bodega or causing a scene at a Le Bernardin-style haute seafood temple run by chef (and Broad City producer) Amy Poehler, Glazer and Jacobson seem to eat and drink, and talk about eating and drinking, just like we do. The comedians are no strangers to culinary debates in real life, either—they recently dissected the all-important “would you rather have fish sticks for fingers or mozzarella sticks for toes?” question for Jimmy Fallon.
As tempting as it might be to go off on some abstract pseudo-cultural tangent about the unique relationships millennials have with the edible landscape in 2015 (blah, blah blah), we figured it’d be more entertaining to present you with hard evidence. Here are 15 of Broad City’s best food moments, featuring Abbi, Ilana, and friends at the height of their munchies-induced mania.
1. Ilana loses a tooth
Season: 1
Episode name: “P*$$Y Weed”
Food: Jawbreaker
“Kids used to say it would take them, like, a week to get to the center of one of these bad boys—but I know the trick to getting right to it.” If you have ever wandered into a candy store while wickedly stoned, you probably know where Ilana’s dental hubris is going to lead—with her tooth hitting the floor of a five-and-dive. Thank the porcelain-veneer gods for Ilana’s boyfriend Lincoln (Hannibal Burress), who plays a genial dentist (and avid home cook) on the show.
2. Abbi’s meal, sabotaged
Season: 1
Episode name: “Working Girls”
Food: Salad
The best part of a side-by-side montage showcasing the gross disparity between Abbi and Ilana’s mornings. After scrubbing up disgusting messes in the locker room of the gym that under-employs her, Abbi just wants to enjoy a quick bite. But sometimes, your brazen benchmate at the park is just gonna stick his pointer finger in your salad and claim it in the name of manifest lunch destiny.
3. “Garol”
Season: 1
Episode name: “Working Girls”
Food: Yogurt
The only thing standing between Abbi and the package she promised to pick up for her dreamy neighbor Jeremy, who reduces her into a nonsense-babbling mess every time he makes eye contact? Hard-ass “Garol,” who refuses to give up the parcel without proper identification. Garol’s pride in her job is rivaled only by the sheer size of her yogurt spoon.
4. Abbi drop-kicks poultry
Season: 1
Episode name: “Working Girls”
Food: Rotisserie chicken
Bevers, Abbi’s slovenly kinda-roommate, is terrible. He technically dates her actual roommate, who’s never there, and helps himself to all of Abbi’s food while developing “couch sores” from extreme lack of movement. When he screws up the plan to impersonate Jeremy to get the package from Garol, there are swift and life-altering consequences—i.e., Abbi punting the Costco chicken she bought him as a bribe like it’s an Aussie Rules football. Really impressive form from her, by the way.
5. Ilana snacking out of the trash
Season: 1
Episode name: “The Lockout”
Food: Discarded bagels
When a sandwich shop employee tosses out a giant sack of uneaten bagels, Ilana, ever the erratic and opportunistic eater, takes full advantage. “Are you eating garbage bagels?” a concerned Lincoln inquires when he shows up. They were just thrown out, doesn’t need to be a big deal…
6. Abbi’s “spite-eating”
Season: 1
Episode name: “Hurricane Wanda”
Food: Potato salad
Trapped in a New York City apartment during a hurricane with a bunch of people, including your crush, does not strike us the best time to eat your feelings in the form of an entire party tray of tater salad. It can only lead to big trouble in the small intestines. Can’t flush. Wanna die.
7. Bevers’ peace offering
Season: 1
Episode name: “Apartment Hunters”
Food: Bagel Bites
Yes, Bevers is a complete nuisance, but the guy has a sweet streak. Take this personalized plate of Bagel Bites—in the shape of an A, just for Abbi!—he prepared to made amends for jerking off in their communal area. (Okay, yeah, all things considered, Bevers is still terrible.)
8. “The Epcot of cereal”
Season: Web-only
Food: A million kinds of cereal
Slightly cheating here, since this is from one of the girls’ web extras, and not an episode, but who can deny the appeal of plowing through multiple bowls of sugary breakfast cereal with your BFF over Skype? Definitely what Skype was made for.
9. Ilana, who’s deathly allergic to shellfish, eats shellfish
Season: 1
Episode name: “The Last Supper”
Food: A million kinds of seafood
For Abbi’s birthday, Ilana pulls the ultimate dining sacrifice—eating a tasting menu composed of nothing but food that causes her throat to close up (“Your face looks like the underbelly of a tugboat!”). She’s just pacing herself for that chocolate lava cake, guys.
10. The Al Dente Dentist
Season: 2
Episode name: “Mochalatta Chills”
Food: Pasta
We mentioned Lincoln was a serious home cook—and nothing says serious more than a food blog. His “Al Dente Dentist” site, we learn, chronicles his Sunday-night experimentations with homemade pasta. The best part? It actually exists.
11. Ilana’s perv trick at the movies
Season: 2
Episode name: “Mochalatta Chills”
Food: Popcorn
Only Ilana has the non-gender-specific balls to pull off the hole-in-the-bag trick we amateurs have only read about in Penthouse Forum.
12. Bevers’ obsession with Cinnabon frozen drinks
Season: 2
Episode name: “Mochalatta Chills”
Food: Mochalatta Chills
More terroristic behavior from Bevers—this time in the form of a couch-side mini-fridge filled with Cinnabon frozen lattes. While completely ineffective, his use of an old-lady arm grabber apparatus to fetch them charts new territory in laziness.
13. Ilana’s power lunch
Season: 2
Episode name: “Mochalatta Chills”
Food: Martinis, mostly
Some unexpected workplace success leads Abbi and Ilana to lunch at a douchey jacket-required restaurant, where giant dirty martinis seem to be the only beverage option. It’s too bad Ilana gets sauce on her dope “white power suit.”
14. Abbi High at Whole Foods
Season: 2
Episode name: “Wisdom Teeth”
Food: All organic
“Ooh, earth-friendly cereals! Knock ‘em over, Abbi—they want to be on the ground!” Important corollary to the “never grocery-shop hungry” rule—never grocery-shop while completely tripped out on a lethal combination of oral surgery anesthesia and your friend’s homemade “Firecracker” weed shakes.
15. Jaime stoned in the fro-yo shop
Season: 2
Episode name: “Wisdom Teeth”
Food: Fro-yo
Jaime had one job: fetch the ailing Abbi a mouth-soothing fro-yo selection from “42 Squirts.” But it’s way harder than it looks, especially when there are so many yogurt flavors (pan-seared pea snaps! surf and turf! “brown town”!) and twice as many topping options (who likes gorp?).