The final Game of Thrones season is upon us (winter is actually coming, etc., etc.) and while you're sitting there trying to remember which deaths have been most crucial, we're out here rounding up which meals have been the series' biggest game-changers.
That's what we do, after all. We write and we know things. ONWARD!
Season 1
Episode 5, "The Wolf and the Lion": Catelyn Stark and Tyrion Lannister arrive in the Eyrie seeking help from her sister Lysa. Lysa has gone mad. Semi-related: She breastfeeds her six-year-old son.
Episode 6, "A Golden Crown": Amongst a crowd of Dothraki, Dany eats a raw stallion heart, which she — and everyone — is scared at first she won’t get down. She does. She is beloved.
Episode 7, "You Win or You Die": A very drunk Robert Baratheon is fatally wounded by a boar while out hunting. He appoints Ned Stark as the “Protector of the Realm” until Joffrey (his not-actually-biological son) is old enough to rule. Baratheon had ordered Dany to be assassinated before he died; his attempt to poison her via wine sold by a local merchant fails.
Season 2
Episode 8, "The Prince of Winterfell": While discussing the Battle of the Blackwater with Cersei, Tyrion puts back some lamprey (…eel) pie. He notes Cersei’s lack of cooking skills.
Season 3
Episode 2, "Dark Wings, Dark Words": Sansa Stark, Margaery, and Olenna Tyrell have a tense little sit-down over some luxurious lemon cakes (her Achilles heel). Sansa eventually admits to the Tyrell women her fiancé Joffrey is a “monster.”
Episode 9, "The Rains of Castamere": The Bread and Salt ritual commences the Red Wedding. Walder Frey initiates the ritual to Robb and Talisa and the Stark defenders in attendance, having them share a bowl of bread and salt. Before they were all massacred, wedding guests ate “stringy beef” and calf brains at the Red Wedding.
Episode 10, "Mhysa": Ramsay Bolton joyfully eats a pork sausage in front of a newly castrated Theon Greyjoy. We call this foreshadowing.
Season 4
Episode 1, "Two Swords": Arya and the Hound celebrate taking on (and killing) a batch of Joffrey supporters they encounter in the Riverlands by grabbing a horse for her...and an entire chicken for him. To each her/his own!
Episode 2, "The Lion and the Rose": Ah, this is a big one. Shortly after Joffrey and Margaery get married, they feast upon a gigantic pigeon pie—a King's Landing wedding classic!—that unleashes several flawless doves into the sky. That's especially cute as just a few minutes later, that monster demands wine to wash down his pie with. Little does he know, the wine is poisoned and he's about to die. The death is quick, disgusting, and flawless. More on that in a bit.
Episode 7, "Mockingbird": Hot Pie! Hot Pie! Hot Pie gives Brienne of Tarth a loaf of bread shaped like a direwolf to let her know he'll help her find the Stark sisters after all. Hot Pie!
Episode 9, "The Watchers on the Wall": While Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly are up at the Wall doing their thing, they're seen eating mutton stew. Nothing about that is particularly significant other than that people eat the hearty stew when—you guessed it—winter is coming.
Season 5
Episode 5, "Kill the Boy": During a very upsetting dinner at Winterfell, Ramsay Bolton forces Reek to apologize to Sansa for murdering her brothers, while also toasting his future wedding to Sansa. He’s knocked down a peg by the news that his father is expecting a trueborn son, threatening his claim to House Bolton.
Episode 8, "Hardhome": In an effort to get to know each other, Dany and Tyrion share a decanter of wine as they discuss their fathers. However, realizing his value, Dany quickly takes the wine away from him as she needs him sober as her advisor.
Episode 9, "The Dance of Dragons": To show he doesn’t want war with the Lannisters, Prince Doran of Dorne breaks bread with Jamie Lannister. Ellaria Martell pours her wine on the floor to show her disgust with Jamie. Arya assumes the identity of an oyster/clams and cockles merchant. She is supposed to sell a poisoned oyster to one of the Faceless Men’s marks, but abandons the plan when she sees Ser Meryn Trant, a name on her kill list.
Season 6
Episode 1, "The Red Woman": Davos sarcastically requests mutton when Throne offers him anything he wants in exchange for letting the Night’s Watch reclaim John Snow’s currently dead body.
Episode 3, "Oathbreaker": Qyburn tries to tempt Vary’s former little birds with candied plums from Dorne.
Episode 4, "Book of the Stranger": Osha interrupts Ramsay as he’s peeling and eating an apple to try and seduce him. He tells her he knows she did the same thing to Theon to try and help the Stark children escape, so he kills her and continues eating his apple.
Episode 6, "Blood of my Blood": On assignment from the Faceless Men, Arya poisons the actress Lady Crane’s rum, but decides to save her from drinking it. Giving her a warning to watch out for her co-star, who she is convinced is behind the assassination attempt. Sam and Gilly enjoy a feast of venison when he brings his Wildling love to his family home. It does not go well with his mean old dad Lord Randyll Tarly who quickly insults Sam, Gilly, and basically everyone else at the table. After he saves Bran and Meera from the wights, Uncle Benjen prepares a rabbit for them to eat.
Episode 8, "No One": Tyrion tries to convince Grey Worm and Missandei to drink with him, but Grey Worm does not like the taste. Tyrion goes as far to say he wants to open up his own vineyard after the war is over.
Episode 10, "The Winds of Winter": Walder Frey is served a pie in his hall by a servant, who he quickly realizes is Arya Stark wearing another person’s face. She tells him his sons are in the pie. Definitely not delish.
Season 7
Episode 1, "Dragonstone": Arya (wearing the face of Walder Frey) kills his entire house with poisoned wine at a feast: “Leave one wolf alive, and the sheep are never safe.” Arya runs into a group of Lannister soldiers (INCLUDING ED SHEERAN) who offer to share their rabbit meat with her.
Episode 2, "Stormborn": Arya visits the inn where Hot Pie works and shares some pie and ale. She mentions her recent experience with Pie.
Episode 3, "The Queen's Justice": Jamie offers Lady Olenna Tyrell poisoned wine as a painless way to die. She drinks it one gulp and confesses she killed Joffrey: “Tell Cersei, I want her to know it was me.”
Season 8
Stay tuned. 😈🍻
