By Victoria D’Andrea

Average Burgers

So, I was watching Bob’s Burgers the other day, and had some sort of revelation half way. I mean, I guess revelation is a big word, but it did make me think.

For anyone who doesn’t know the show, Bob’s Burgers is an adult cartoon that revolves around a family restaurant that makes burgers. I mean, duh!
Anyway, their business seems always to be only just scraping by, even though Bob (the father/owner) is repeatedly shown to have a true passion for making burgers, making new specials every week with amazing puns for each one.  
This lead me to always assumed his burgers were truly amazing, as it really transpires how much he really cares about quality and taste, as well in a few episodes we see a few key people enjoying the food ( Mr. Fishoeder and a food critic that Bob kidnaps at some point).

But here is the thing… in one interview the main character’s voice actor (Bob) mentioned that he thought the burgers were probably just average. Granted, he is just an actor and not in any way a creator of the show (coincidentally the creator imagines them to be amazing) but it did make me look at the whole show under a different light. How did someone else watch the whole show and come to a completely different conclusion to something so fundamental to the entire show?! It made me start watching the cartoon with new eyes, trying to determine the truth of the matter.

First of all, there is no doubt about it; a number of people are shown to absolutely love his food and this has actually helped save the restaurant a number of times. On the other side, however, if the burgers were that good then they won’t be struggling all the time and would more than likely have a good amount of customers after all these years.  But the restaurant is generally always shown to only have one or two customers in, even during the lunch period.

So what if, in reality, Bob’s burgers are really not all that amazing, but the passion he puts into it make his food become special, deserving of having a dedicated restaurant -not to mention TV show.

Where am I going with this, you may wonder.

 I most be honest I’m not quite sure. I imagined something would come out by itself while writing. I just wanted to write about something light and not so serious as I have been feeling a bit stressed. Continuously examining my whole life to find something worth writing was not helping, so I thought I would write about something that routinely brings me joy.

But I guess there needs to be some lesson here. Maybe something inspiring about following your passion even if you don’t excel at it. Or how life is about the little achievements/wins (like being able to pay your rent on time for once). Or even just that you should always laugh at your own jokes/puns, even if no one else gets them. It will make you live longer (science says so people! https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/laugh-lots-live-longer/)!

I guess it just depends on what perspective you take to life.

And look at that I managed to insert another ‘amazing’ insightful life lesson.