While food brings people together, some are meant to start arguments. Dare to express an opinion about toppings, and suddenly you’re in the middle of a digital food fight that would make your grandparents scratch their heads. To X threads that never end with weird recipe reels, here are the 10 foods that prove the internet takes everything personally, especially what you put on your pizza.
10. Pineapple on Pizza
The ultimate internet food war has spawned millions of memes, countless X threads, and probably ended a few online friendships. Team Pineapple floods the comments with fruit-pizza solidarity, while Team Anti-Pineapple responds with claims about “ruining pizza.” No food opinion goes more viral than a hot take about pineapple pizza.
9. Well-Done Steak
Order a well-done steak in front of certain people and prepare for a lecture about “ruining good meat.” The well-done defenders argue they don’t want to see any pink and prefer their meat thoroughly cooked, thank you very much. The medium-rare evangelists act like well-done steak is a personal attack on cows everywhere and will literally mourn your “destroyed” dinner.
8. Ketchup in Refrigerator vs. Pantry
This seemingly innocent storage debate has confused houseguests. Refrigerator people insist that ketchup needs to be cold. Pantry people argue that restaurants leave it out, and it tastes better at room temperature. They also have this belief that food tastes better with warm ketchup. Every visit to someone else’s house includes that moment of silent judgment when you discover where they keep their condiments.
7. Raisins in Savory Food
Nothing starts arguments quite like discovering raisins where you didn’t expect them. The pro-raisin camp argues they add sweetness to dishes like stuffing. The anti-raisin faction treats unexpected raisins like personal betrayals and can’t understand why anyone would ruin a good dish with an unwanted sweet surprise. Well, these arguments all boil down to potluck.
6. Cilantro
Yup, those tiny leafy herbs that you see garnished on pizza and pasta sparked online debates. For some people, cilantro tastes fresh, while for others, it tastes like their hand soap. But somehow, this fact turned into a food war online. The cilantro defenders couldn’t understand why haters don’t just leave them out. Meanwhile, the soap-tasters feel like cilantro is too much and unnecessary.
5. Candy Corn
October brings many things, like the annual candy corn controversy. Defenders claim it’s a nostalgic fall tradition with a unique honey-vanilla flavor that’s perfect for the season. Haters insist it tastes like sugary wax and represents everything wrong with American candy.
4. Coffee
This argument combines food preferences with personality judgments. Black coffee purists believe adding anything to coffee covers its true flavor and shows a weakness of character. The cream-and-sugar crowd (and latte lovers) think life’s too short to drink bitter liquid when creamy alternatives exist. Well, at the end of the day, we’re still getting our dose of caffeine kick.
3. Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Mint chocolate chip used to be today’s matcha. But somehow, this iconic flavor has already built its space as a permanent flavor in ice cream shops. Still, the debate over whether they deserved it remains. Haters claim that it tastes like frozen toothpaste. Even the color alone triggers arguments, with some insisting real mint chip should be green, and others prefer white.
2. Avocado Toast
Millennials post perfectly styled avocado toast photos. The aesthetically pleasing breakfast has become a symbol of everything from gentrification to student debt, turning innocent brunch photos into sociopolitical statements. Every avocado toast post inevitably becomes a debate about privilege, priorities, and whether spending $12 on breakfast is destroying the economy.
1. Pickles
Just months ago, we got Popeyes to do an entire menu dedicated to pickles. Of course, the pickle people are happy about it, and they will fight for extra pickles on everything. Meanwhile, anti-pickle people can’t understand why anyone would want to eat sour cucumbers and will remove them from burgers while complaining about pickle juice contaminating their food. Every deli sandwich becomes a careful negotiation.