451

Farm
Posted on February 28, 2023 by David M Willis

451 thoughts on “Farm”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    Walky knows, the best way to break a fast is with a strong gut punch

    1. anon

      wouldn’t be surprised if ‘gut punch’ was a strong alcoholic cocktail too lol

      1. Bicycle Bill

        If it isn’t, it sureinhell should be.

        1. anon

          https://www.californiagolddust.com/products/gut-punch-turmeric-tonic well, found this lol

        2. Paradox

          There is a “Zombie Gut Punch” (www.hgtv.com/lifestyle/entertaining/zombie-gut-punch-cocktail)

          And a “Punch in the Stomach” (www.cocktailbuilder.com/recipe/punch-in-the-stomach)

          Neither of them appear string enough to earn those names though

          I did find this (midnight-mixology.tumblr.com/post/176501965793/the-gut-punch-i-need-a-better-camera-15ml/amp) which is worthy of the name, but isn’t a “real” drink, its a fan creation of something from a videogame

        3. Kintrex

          “Gut Punch” is the name of a drink in VA-11 Hall-A, which counts just fine in my book. Great game, I recommend anyone play it if you haven’t.

  2. Doctor_Who

    “Make Mine English:” Add HP sauce, remove all spices, patty is boiled instead of grilled.

    “Make Mine German:” Served with a beer.

    “Make Mine American:” Add 12 slices of Cheez*, patty is made of 100% compressed high fructose corn syrup.

    *for legal reasons we cannot describe this as “cheese”.

    1. Leorale

      “Make Mine Canadian” served with poutine and a hearty apology.

      “Make Mine Israeli” Definitely not a cheeseburger. Falafel instead.

      “Make Mine Russian” add vodka, and also boiled cabbage, because life is suffering.

      1. The Wellerman

        “Make Mine Japanese:” Served with seaweed, soft-centered eggs and narutomaki, basically a potato beef ramen bowl.

        “Make Mine Cybertronian:” Served with energon cubes.

        1. Dara

          “Oooh, energon cubes – those are hard to make! This must be a very advanced civilisation!”

        2. Time Sage

          But we need to make sure it’s Good Civilization, not Bad Civilization so Altera doesn’t come and smash it.

          (I wonder how many will get this reference)

        3. Rose by Any Other Name

          **raises hand**

        4. Rose by Any Other Name

          Actually, let me specify that I got it because I played Fate Extella first and then encountered her in FGO and Learning with Manga.

          **adjusts Fate Hipster glasses**

        5. Hilen

          (reads “Cybertronian”) Oh god, you reminded me of this xD

          https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A2w3tQrrfTo

        6. davidbreslin101

          Make mine French: Alors, non, we do not eat the filthy burgers! Instead, then, let us have a steak haché topped with fromage de raclette and niçoise salad, served in a miniature brioche.

        7. khn0

          urgh
          salade niçoise+raclette…..
          also Raclette is rather swiss, but that’s standard to all french things: stolen

        8. Librain

          Make mine Australian: Served with beetroot on a Vegemite bun.

      2. Kimi

        Wouldn’t it be a vegan burger made out of boiled cabbage because life is suffering, or just the bun? Also I feel like there should be beets in there too somewhere, or is that the Ukranian one.

        “Make mine Irish” mutton burger with potatoes, lots of potatoes.

        “Make mine from Boston” served with a cup of Dunkin’, a Boston cream pie and R’s take from where they should be and somehow put where the should not be.

        1. Inahc

          …boiled potatoes. no seasoning, not even salt or butter.

      3. Bicycle Bill

        re: “Make Mine Israeli” … Had a lady friend who was Jewish and followed kosher to some degree, but she had no problems sharing a veggie w/cheese pizza while noshing on a side of chicken drummies with me.  As she said, the proscription in the Torah had to do with ‘seething (cooking) a kid in its mother’s milk’ – and as she pointed out, since chickens did not give milk it was OK to have chicken and cheese at the same meal and still stay compliant with the letter of the law.

        See also this.

        1. Mr D

          “seething (cooking) a kid in its mother’s milk’ ”

          Wait does that mean that you could make a similar argument for eating cow cheese with pork and goat cheese with beef?

        2. kgy121

          Personally I interpret it as ‘as long as you don’t boil a young goat in goat milk you’re fine’.

        3. Gbz

          There is a small branch of Judaism that goes by the literal interpretation of the Torah where they would accept goat cheese and beef. They would not accept cow cheese and pork though because pork is already off limits. Most jews follow stricter rabbinic interpretation where no meat with dairy is allowed. However there is a recorded disagreement among rabbis (I believe in the Talmud) where one rabbi allows eating chicken and milk and the other doesn’t. But the one that doesn’t says do what your local custom is.

        4. Rex Vivat

          In general, I’d say that’d be a violation of the rabbinic guidance that basically goes “don’t do anything that looks like you’re breaking a rule, because you’re then encouraging anyone that sees you to break the rule for real”.

        5. CC

          and/or encouraging anyone who sees you to later use that as precedent to pressure someone else into doing it later and/or enabling anyone who sees you to think you’re doing something more unethical than you actually are. which i’m given to understand have both Caused Problems

      4. JohnnyO

        Make mine Lebanese – The patty is now lamb and it’s smothered in hummus

      5. Lysbeth

        Make mine really French: the burger complains

        1. Proxiehunter

          Make mine french me: replace the ground beef patty with beef tongue.

        2. Rowen Morland

          Sliced tongue is a thing you could put it between your patty and the cheese.

        3. Roborat

          And complains with an outrageous cartoony french accent.

      6. ischemgeek

        You say that, but all of our burger chains actually do offer poutine as an option on the combos.

        Also you forgot a maple glaze on the meat, because we’ll put maple syrup on damn near anything.

        And it’s always proper poutine with cheese curds instead of shredded cheese, too! XD

        1. ischemgeek

          Case in point: there are multiple restaurants in my city that serve maple pasta, maple glazed meat, and even (I *wish* I was making this up) a maple curry chicken sandwich. With mayonnaise. It’s exactly the crime against cuisine you’d think it is. XD

        2. Inahc

          … I actually remember ordering a poutine from freshprep and being pissed off when it came with shredded cheese, lol. luckily I had real curds in my fridge – although I was intending to use them to make my mac&cheese better. 🙂

    2. nobodybasically

      Having never heard of HP sauce before, I just assumed the English consumed something called “Harry Potter sauce.”

      1. Daibhid C

        It stands for Houses of Parliament, which makes about as much sense.

        1. davidbreslin101

          The secret ingredient is disgraced Members of Parliament, stewed in their own humiliation.

      2. oh no

        It’s a brown sauce brand, which is basically steak sauce.

        *dodges gently lobbed corgis*

        1. Inahc

          except it’s not *for* steak – I usually put it on eggs, or french toast.
          and it doesn’t taste like HFCS and tomatoes, it tastes like spices and tamarind 🙂

      3. MaximumZero

        It’s actually Hewlett-Packard printer ink, and it costs $650 a bottle.

        1. Taffy

          And you can only use the top 30% of the bottle before it stops working and you have to get a new one.

      4. Amelie Wikström

        I see HP sauce everywhere, here in Sweden. Would really expect Worcestershire sauce to be more essentially English. . .

    3. Kimi

      The German one would also probably have saurkraut and possibly sausage.

      1. StClair

        That was my thought too.

      2. Freemage

        German should definitely have saurkraut, and most likely brown mustard.

    4. DaveM

      Make Mine Australian – Patty is now optionally a small steak, add an egg, Beetroot and tomato sauce (not ketchup) (I’m assuming Tomato, cheese, lettuce, and onions are standard). A slice of pineapple may be added according to the conscience of the individual.

      1. Screwball

        I’ll take 2! *Thumbs up*

    5. Deviant

      Make mine Indian – It is chicken in naan bread “buns”, drenched in curry sauces of varying hotness.

      1. davidbreslin101

        It’s worth googling the menus for Macdonalds in India. Utterly bizarre- if I remember rightly, one of their mainstays is just a huge vegetable pakora served in a burger bun. A large proportion of the people who can afford to eat there are vegetarian.

        1. pope suburban

          Oh well, now I did that and I’m just very very mad that we don’t have these things available here in the States. So many of them are more appealing to me than our usual.

    6. Daibhid C

      Make Mine Scottish: Patty is a slice of haggis, deep-fried, add a tattie scone and chippie sauce.

      1. davidbreslin101

        Make mine Yorkshire: Comes baked in a savory batter pudding, topped with horseradish, Wenselydale cheese and fruitcake. The whole thing is the size of your head, but if you’re really hungry you can have it in a buttered roll too.

    7. Pylgrim

      Make mine Australian: Add a fried egg and some slices of beetroot.

      Unlike the previous, the joke here is that, although it sounds like a joke, this is the real way Australians make burgers.

      1. Screwball

        And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that!
        Aussie Aussie Aussie!
        OI OI OI!

    8. ValdVin

      Make mine German: Comes with potato salad made with Italian dressing, not mayo.

    9. zee

      Make mine Jamaican- Add an inedible amount of scotch bonnet and serve with boiled dumpling and green banana

    10. Autogatos

      “Make mine Californian”: veggie patty with arugula and avocado on it. We (and I specifically) love our arugula and avocado here. On EVERYTHING.

      Also sometimes with the addition of crispy onion strings.

      1. Mark

        Walky’s sandwich (and in fact the whole restaurant) already seems very Californian to this Midwesterner. Thinking of this essay as I read….

    11. Freemage

      “Make Mine Deep South”: The American, but then dipped in batter and deep-fried, served with a pitcher of tea so sweet it gives casual observers diabetes.

    12. Inahc

      “make mine chinese”: the bun is so sweet even americans would be concerned, and instead of raw vegetables you get chicken feet and stinky tofu. If you order the chicken burger, half a chicken head is placed beside it as decoration.

      served with a side of corn. (that part was actually a thing in mcdonald’s there)

      1. Blakey

        Aside from the awful bread I found the food in China uniformly excellent, and let’s be real, western style bread isn’t really part of Chinese cuisine so it’s not shocking that it’s bad. Bread is also just like that throughout East Asia ime, maybe less so in Japan.

        That said maybe the best bread I’ve eaten in my life – and I’m a reasonably accomplished baker – was in a cafe in Lijiang (or maybe Dali? Pretty sure it was Lijiang). Just a delicious doorstopper slab with an egg on top, yum.

        1. Inahc

          yeah, my comment came out sounding harsher than I meant it… there’s lots of good food (including the chou doufu) there. 🙂 there’s just a lot of, ah, *interesting* things too.
          god I miss the hangjhou rolls at zheda, they were so good, and it’s hard to find good versions of the ingredients here…

    13. Roborat

      Slight edit:

      “Make Mine German:” Served with a beer, then invade Poland.

  3. shadowcell

    Dumbing of Age Book 13: Potato Is the Best Kind of Salad!

    1. Bicycle Bill

      Ahhh, but what KIND of potato salad?  Mustard, creamy, Amish-style, German-style (with vinegar and bacon)?  And what do you put in the salad beside besides the spuds?  Bits of hard-boiled egg?  Bits of ham?  Tiny bits of diced cheese?  Chopped-up onions and celery – yes or no?

      1. Liara

        What? “German” style has Bacon in it? We have a bunch of different styles of potato salad, but I haven’t encountered one with bacon in it

        1. Lars

          Bill propably referes to Bratkatoffeln with onions bacon cubes and sometimes egg. Less salad more an alternative to fries.

        2. bhtooefr

          Looking at this article, it looks like what we Americans call “German potato salad” is descended from a Bavarian style of potato salad.

        3. Proxiehunter

          In America a German potato salad basically uses a bacon vinaigrette to dress the potatoes. Which basically means making a vinaigrette dressing that uses bacon fat in place of the oil.

      2. Chris Phoenix

        One word.

        YES

      3. Autogatos

        I’m a fan of mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, dill, green onions, other onions (red or sweet brown), celery, mayo, garlic, pepper, and a dash of curry powder and paprika. I like when potato salad packs a tangy flavor punch.

        Some pickles and diced hard boiled egg are also acceptable additions.

      4. Opus the Poet

        You forgot deviled egg potato salad, or Dan Quail Potatoe Salad (the ‘e’ is what makes it Dan Quail)

    2. Amós Batista

      take that, my nutritionist!!

      1. The Wellerman

        Eh, the saturated fat and cholesterol from mayonnaise and eggs isn’t too damaging as long as you consume it with healthy fats like those found in certain legumes, nuts and fish. 🙂

  4. Yotomoe

    There’s only so many ways I can say I love Walky. But I truly truly love Walky.

    1. Yotomoe

      Oh and there’s also so many ways I can say Jennifer is hot. But DAMN.

      1. The Wellerman

        How do you say it in French? ?

        1. Yarner

          Omelette du fromage

        2. Yotomoe

          Ohhhh Dexter.

        3. Dara

          It’s so dumb to me that the answer is literally “Jennifer est sexy” but it is. And it’s slangish and okay. French is such bargain-basement Latin, it really is.

          Quick search is telling me that you can also use charmante and that’s okay too. (charmant if you’re talking about a dude.)

        4. Yotomoe

          I sometimes read french comics so I was pleasantly surprised to see sexy is the same word. Which is helpful cuz there’s a lot of sexy french comics.

        5. Dara

          Honestly: almost all French words are in English. (Because of the Normans.) You just have to find the right one. Not all of them, of course. But it’s such a huge percentage.

          After previously studying Latin, Russian, and getting decent at Japanese I’m like “this isn’t a foreign language it’s a goddamn accent” and I’m mad because I thought learning foreign languages was hard. xD

        6. Yotomoe

          Reminds me of Most Popular Girls in School.
          “Stupid ignorant American. We don’t speak french in France. We just speak English, with french accents”

        7. Kimi

          I am always surprised how many German words sound similar too.

        8. Wizard

          Not very surprising, since English basically started out as German. The term Anglo-Saxon refers to Germanic tribes who migrated to Britain. Then the Norman conquest stirred in a bunch of French. Combining Indo-European and Romance languages goes a long way to explain some of the odder features of English. Then later on, the British built a globe-spanning empire, borrowing bits and pieces from languages all over the world, which explains most of the other weirdness.

        9. davidbreslin101

          Dutch seems to be even closer.

        10. Opus the Poet

          Old joke about English beating up other languages in a dark alley and going through their pockets for spare vocabulary.

        11. Kimi

          Makes about as much sense as explaining the origins of the Bostonian or Maine accent.

        12. Qube

          she deserves this

        13. Jamie

          Check out this video about Latin to French: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2TWBBxwhbU

        14. Rose by Any Other Name

          Fun fact I learned when researching my romance novel series that takes place in medieval Europe: the Latin term for romance languages is “vulgar latin”.

          Specifically, it refers to the ‘common’ latin spoken throughout the conquered lands, but since that was everything that isn’t Rome, and since vulgar latin is the basis for all romance languages (several of which have changed very little), the term still applies.

      2. Shorduie

        I feel ya, but regarding Joyce. I am honestly just happy Walky is getting a rise out of her

        1. Clif

          Wink. Wink Nudge nudge. Say no more.

          Or was it a wink is as good as a nudge to a blind man. I forget.

        2. Jinx

          That’s not Joyce.

  5. Sirksome

    Is this still breakfast?

    1. Ty34er

      Nothing about his order is breakfast.

      1. Proxiehunter

        The time he’s ordering it is.

      2. anon

        @ty34er: lol if you’re in the south you could easily get chicken fried steak and biscuits/gravy as a ‘breakfast’ item lol

        1. Dara

          Biscuits and gravy are by far my favourite southern food. Christ it’s good.

      3. Masumi

        Here in Taiwan burgers count as exclusively breakfast. Which is really annoying when I crabbe a burger at night.

        1. Masumi

          *crave dammit

      4. Azhrei Vep

        Sounds like a middling-quality breakfast to me. Needs a proper salad and a decent side or two, though.

      5. Comic.phile

        Seriously, who declared what food were for what times of day anyway? I’d like to have words with them.

        1. Azhrei Vep

          John Harvey Kellogg, who had a massive financial stake in manipulating that belief.

          And also thought masturbation was evil, and the solution to it was to chop off bits of the genitals of the offenders, unanesthetized.

          Fuck that guy, is what I’m saying.

        2. Roborat

          I see someone watched “The Road to Wellville”.

    2. anon

      Well, melted brie on a sandwich might be considered a ‘breakfast’ menu item but other than doing a workout later, nothing wrong with a ‘hearty’ burger as a first meal lol. plus if it gets too heavy and he belches or has stomach troubles he’d have an excuse to back out away from the group if he doesn’t find it ‘worth it’ to keep annoying jen more

    3. BBCC

      If we wanna be technical, the restaurant this is based off does not serve breakfast. It serves brunch and dinner. So yes, breakfast hours but a brunch menu.

    4. Bicycle Bill

      Breakfast is whenever you get up, and for a lot of people, that depends on your work schedule.  I used to work the graveyard shift (midnight to 8 AM), if I got up at,say, nine PM, then that was breakfast-time for me.

      The other thing that freaked people out was that I’d sometimes stop at the pub after work in the morning for a bottle or two of the stuff that made Milwaukee famous before going home.  I’d tell them, “Hey – it may be 8:30 AM to you, but this is MY 5:30 in the evening after work!”

      1. Azhrei Vep

        Indeed. I usually start fixing breakfast around 4:30-5:30pm, after getting up somewhere around 4 or 5. Nuts to ‘traditional’ breakfast foods for breakfast, that’s mostly a marketing scam anyway. That stuff’s way better for dinner.

      2. Roborat

        I used to work night shifts at a work camp every second week, 7pm to 7am. The annoying part was the kitchen refused to admit that night shift existed and provide appropriate meals, so I could not get breakfast when I started, and had to get creative to have something resembling supper when there was only breakfast stuff out to eat when I finished.

    5. Time Sage

      I stopped at Dennys the other day with a couple relatives at 8AM and had a burger while they had breakfast. As I said to the waiter; “They’re here for breakfast, I just gone done with work and want dinner”

    6. Deviant

      Breakfast is more about the time of day something is eaten rather than what is eaten.

      I mean, there are places where steak and eggs is considered breakfast, not dinner.

      1. Psychie

        It’s not even about time of day, so much as time relative to your sleep. Breakfast literally means to “break your fast”, with a fast being an extended time without food, and for most people most of the time the longest period we go without food is when we sleep, ergo the first thing you eat after getting up is breakfast by definition since it’s breaking your fast. As Bicycle Bill explained above if you don’t operate on the “standard” diurnal sleep schedule (awake during the day and asleep at night) then your breakfast won’t line up with “normal” people’s, as well as a few other “time of day” based complications.

        As someone who’s been on a nocturnal schedule for the last 5+ years, it can become incredibly frustrating to get basic things done because everything operates on the daywalkers’ schedule rather than mine, and if you complain about it the daywalkers get annoyed and accuse you of expecting the world to revolve around you, totally missing the point that I just want to be accommodated. If you had to get up at 3am to get a hair cut, wouldn’t YOU be annoyed that nobody’s open at noon when you’re actually awake?

        1. Bathymetheus

          Following on from your definition of “breakfast”, obviously “second breakfast” is an oxymoron (contradiction in terms). Tolkien was a language expert, so he well knew this, but this was a fun way to point out the irreverent nature of Hobbits.

        2. thejeff

          It also was a common thing in some areas, especially among farmers. Break your fast lightly, then go out and feed the animals and come back in for a larger “second breakfast”.

  6. Kyoulkoa

    Sounds like a good order

    1. anon

      now all lucy needs to do is constantly cook him amazing food to get a real ‘i love you’ from him hah

  7. DailyBrad

    Man, you can tell he missed messing with Jennifer.

    1. Yotomoe

      It’s basically like reconnecting with his sister.

      1. Jenniffniff

        I love their dynamic.

      2. Thag Simmons

        Probably harder for him to get a rise out of Sal, honestly.

        1. Jamie

          That’s the fun thing about their dynamic. Jennifer thinks she’s the older sister, and Walky enjoys pretending that it’s true.

    2. Joe Moose

      I live for this level of trolling.

    3. Sirksome

      I can see why Jennifer doesn’t like hanging out with him. This seems cute but it’s annoying if you’re on the other end. I’ve often been the Jennifer in this scenario for better or worse.

      1. brionl

        Jen’s problems seem entirely self-inflicted. Nobody else cares what Walky orders.

        1. Sirksome

          Yeah, that’s the point. Being the one who cares about stuff like that sucks. It doesn’t have to be about breakfast. It can be about anything, and sometimes you fail to understand you’re getting annoyed for no reason. I see a lot of that in Jennifer.

        2. Autogatos

          I genuinely can’t understand why this would bother anyone? Unless it’s a food with an offense odor, what someone else chooses to eat literally has no effect on anyone else they are eating with. Being annoyed by it makes no sense to me.

        3. Daibhid C

          I understand it, even if I don’t agree with it. From Jennifer’s perspective, Walky is ordering something that isn’t breakfast, then making dumb fake-pretentious requests like “make it French” in front of a group of people who probably care about “doing things properly”, possibly deliberately to make her look bad by association.

          Unfortunately for her, Walky is next-level trolling by making an entirely reasonably menu order that sounds like this. (Or maybe just ordering what he wants and only winding Jennifer up when she reacts.)

          (Ironically, Jennifer has no idea how judgemental these people really are, just probably not about this.)

        4. James

          Given the buildup to this and the advice Walky has received, he is almost certainly just acting with confidence on his actual desires. The fact that it’s winding Jennifer up this badly is a just a bonus.

        5. Autogatos

          Yeah it’s interesting how differently different people are reading this. All of Walky’s behavior here feels very satisfying and triumphant to me (a nerd just confidently being himself and actually being appreciated for it by all but 1 person there).

          Especially since there’s a long-established dynamic of Jennifer mocking and belittling Walky for being “uncool.” It’s really satisfying irony to see her “cool” friends think highly of him when she has put so much effort into putting him down over the years.

        6. davidbreslin101

          Yes, I wonder if “clowning with confidence” might be an accidental backroute to impressng the snobs….

        7. Autogatos

          I think a lifetime of weird eating habits/dietary restrictions (and being mocked for them) have made me completely unconcerned about doing things “properly” when it comes to food. If anything, it’s people having food rules they feel should apply to others that annoys me. It’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine.

          I know it IS a thing some people care about, I just never understand why.

        8. Sirksome

          It’s not about the breakfast order. Like I said, it can be anything. Another example is just a few strips ago when Jennifer told Walky he should compliment Lucy and he spun that around on her. Some people just have set expectations on things, it makes sense since Jennifer is so obsessed with popularity and appearance, maybe it’s even what she was taught as a kid. She works to meet these self imposed criteria and when others don’t it upsets you. Especially when they’re still popular and likable, like Walky is, and make it look easy, like Walky does, especially if they know you well enough to exploit this, like Walky does. Raidah’ s group have already warmed up to Walky in like 5 minutes. Jennifer thinks he’s a dweeb, but he could destroy her if he wanted. And I don’t blame Jennifer for not wanting to hang out with him because he brings out the worst in her which is hard to deal with when you’re trying to be better.

        9. brionl

          A couple strips ago with Lucy & Walky’s clothes was Jennifer’s fault too. She keeps picking fights with Walky about things that are none of her damn business. I don’t blame him at all for snapping back.

          She’s not trying to be “better”, she’s trying to be more popular and get her seat back at the cool kids table.

        10. Autogatos

          Maybe it’s a lifetime of being a nerd with lots of weird quirks I was mocked for (including weird food preferences). I guess the position of trying to meet specific seemingly arbitrary social criteria is just completely foreign to me, because I never have.

          I guess in a way that is one ironically freeing thing about not being popular. Zero shame or embarrassment over my food/hobby/media/etc preferences.

          And I guess like we’re seeing with Walky here, when you stop caring/don’t care so much about arbitrary social rules over things like food or clothing, it can actually lead to a weird sort of confidence and calm.

        11. Autogatos

          Ah shoot Willis plz ignore the flag, was trying to hit the reply button.

          Anyway, just wanted to add: I apologize if I sounded dismissive! I’m not trying to be. It’s just genuinely something I have a hard time understanding because like I said, I basically stopped making any effort to adhere to social norms like 2 decades ago (when it was clear I would never succeed). Plus neurodivergence can make it hard to appreciate or grasp why people might care about certain social norms.

          It honestly is something I would like to understand better. Both just in terms of understanding people, and as a parent of a kid who is kind of currently dealing with this issue at school and me having ZERO clue how to help because when she says she’s embarrassed to wear some item of clothing to school that she actually secretly likes my brain just goes “does not compute – if you like it why wouldn’t you wear it? If someone makes fun of you for it, why would you want to be their friend anyway?”

        12. Roborat

          I have decided I love your avatar.

        13. Zero

          But Jennifer is the one picking on Walky. How can she possibly be “on the other end”?

        14. anon

          yeah, it’s not like he’s hassling/making things difficult for the waitress, though i imagine they’d still need a good tip afterwards if jennifer basically is seemingly throwing a tantrum from an outsider’s point of view

          now watch as asher says “i’ll have the same” lol. But yeah other than if you rly can’t stand a smell or allergies or so, you don’t rly have the right to demand others “hey don’t eat/order that in front of me” lol

      2. Proxiehunter

        I mean, if she hadn’t decided to be unnecessarily antagonistic about him ordering a burger for breakfast it wouldn’t have happened in the first place. She started that fight, he just decided to finish it.

      3. Bittersweet

        Idk, I’ve been in this scenario too. My husband orders food at the wrong times for food too, and I just kinda ignore it and trade bits of my food for his.

        1. MisterJinKC

          There’s no right or wrong time for food. Besides, no one bats an eye if it’s “breakfast for dinner.” Especially when you’re an adult.

          …small addendum: Brunch.

        2. Opus the Poet

          Don’t ask about the brunch menu to an experienced wait-person. Subtle hint: It’s the food that didn’t sell during the week cooked again.

      4. Vanessa

        She could have just kept her mouth shut here. No one asked for her opinion of Walky’s order. I’m sure Walky considers this a very nice payback for all the snide, rude, and belittling comments he’s witnessed B’Jennifer make to all of his friends.

        I hope he doesn’t continue to hang with the frenemies/mean kids though. If he turns his smirk on Dorothy and Joyce we will all be annoyed.

        1. Clif

          It’s too early for him to flirt with Joyce.

    4. Deviant

      Messing with Jennifer doesn’t seem that hard to do though.

  8. Proto_Eevee

    The best salad is just a stack of lettuce

    1. BarerMender

      Romaine lettuce.

    2. John Campbell

      Best salad is just ranch dressing chugged straight out of the bottle.

      1. David M Willis

        french is better

        or catalina, but same thing

    3. RassilonTDavros

      The best salad is shredded lettuce with parmesan cheese on wax paper

      1. Taffy

        And then we added $213 for your fucking hubris.

      2. ktbear

        I don’t know, never really gotten used to the taste of wax paper. I mean, its edible with a dash of pepper I suppose.

    4. Autogatos

      I once tried to order a “veggie wrap” at a convention that was literally just shredded iceberg lettuce wrapped in another leaf of lettuce, with a few sad shredded carrots.

      It was one of the most depressing things I have ever seen.

      For a vegetarian (almost vegan) I’m shockingly not a big fan of most salad. If I’m gonna eat a leafy green it needs to be dark and flavorful, like arugula. And if I’m gonna eat a salad it needs to either have lots of actually filling ingredients (chickpeas or other beans, potatoes, croutons, artichoke or palm hearts and LOTS of dressing) OR it needs to be on top of something else that is NOT salad.

      I enjoy salad a lot more when it’s on top of a pizza, pasta, burger, sandwich, or taco. Then it becomes a delicious topping instead of a boring pile of leaves!

      1. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

        I’m basically vegetarian now and feel the same way about salads. Just because a meal does not contain meat does not mean it can’t be cooked! Some friends of mine from India (whose whole community was vegetarian) told me salads are not really a thing there. As a sidenote, finding a decent meat-free meal at a restaurant in the U.S. can be surprisingly difficult.

        1. Autogatos

          Right? I feel like there’s often this assumption that vegetarians and vegans hate the general food forms that most people love and while I know some might, plenty of us still want things like American comfort food. I love burgers, tacos, hearty sandwiches, pizza, etc.

          I think a lot of people not used to vegan food just are so used to meat being the centerpiece and veggies being an afterthought (and like…iceberg lettuce) that they’re not quite sure what to do without the meat. Most of what I eat pretty closely resembles recipes that do involve meat, but I just swap out the meat for something like beans or some other veg protein.

          And don’t get me wrong, I actually love arugula on a good veggie burger or vegan pizza, but yeah, the only salad I enjoy by itself is a really good vegan Caesar salad (preferably with dark leafy greens), in which case the greens are just a vehicle for the dressing and topping for the croutons. ?

        2. Opus the Poet

          As the father of a vegetarian/vegan the trick is to stay away from the chain restaurants whose menus are tailored to the lowest common denominator: meat and a starch. Also some vegan food is quite tasty, some decent, and then there are things like vegan “cheese” that only lack proper vulcanization from becoming part of a tire. And that’s a quote from my vegan daughter.

      2. davidbreslin101

        I hate salad, but more or less live on hefty vegetarian casseroles, stir-fries, chili, curry etc. I’m not even a vegetarian, I just like the stuff.

      3. Mark

        Being one of those people who can taste the bitter chemicals in dark greens, I would say that a proper salad is a tasteless edible carrier for conveying dressing, cheese and bacon bits to the mouth.

      4. Inahc

        yes! salad needs a bare minimum of three ingredients plus dressing, and any types of leaves only count for *one* ingredient. preferably I want a salad where I can’t list all the ingredients without eating it multiple times. 🙂

        otherwise it’s just the german word for lettuce.

      5. khn0

        I’d say there is a reason why most vegan/vegetarian food isn’t centered around salad: it makes no sense nutritionally. Not that steak+Lettuce makes a sense nutritionally either, but it’s more of an excuse that vegands and vegetarians don’t need.

    5. zee

      Lettuce is the worst part of salad
      The best salad is any salad without lettuce. I like quinoa salad

  9. Cattleprod

    Potato salad is an insult to both potatoes and salad. In this essay I will

    1. Vanessa

      Potatoes are not salad. Period.

      1. AlexanderHammil

        anything tossed in a dressing consisting of some portion of an oil and some portion of an acid is a salad

        1. Swissaboo

          “Salad” just means “assorted” and what we think of as “A Salad” was traditionally specifically a Garden Salad

        2. thejeff

          But what if I grow potatoes in my garden?

        3. thejeff

          Hmm, looking at this a little more – “salad” appears to derive from “salt” and to refer to salted dressings.
          “Garden salad” seems like it must be a fairly late term, since gardens in the modern sense weren’t really a thing while most of the population was still doing agriculture.

        4. Swissaboo

          Gardens were absolutely still a thing, you had your plot of land where you grew your staple foods and then you’d usually have a little patch closer to your house where you grew any of the stuff you wanted to kake your staple foods more interesting with

        5. davidbreslin101

          That makes sense – there are French salads that are basically cold meat, cheese and eggs with a few token vegetables.

      2. Daibhid C

        I do like potato salad. But on the question of “what is a salad?” I’m kind of reminded of a book based on a Radio 4 sketch show which went into a huge rant about all-you-can-eat salad bars, with one of the points being that you keep thinking “It’s salad, it’s healthy” as you load your plate with cold pasta and bacon bits.

    2. Dara

      You’re right and you should say it.

    3. anon

      i like potatoes in most form, cept mashed ( iknow a lot of ppl like it but had some bad experiences lol), and potato salad def doesn’t sound appealing. tho other than in fry form, should prolly have baked or boiled more often for the ‘health’ versus it being french fries lol

    4. Devin

      I salute you for knowing what you like. But not for yucking other people’s yums. Like literally.

      Boooooooooo I say

    5. Azhrei Vep

      I support this one hundred percent. Potato salad is an abomination and must be purged for the greater culinary good.

      Next, we drive pineapples to extinction.

      1. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

        What do you have against pineapple?!

        I’m not a huge fan of most mayonnaise-based salads (compared to alternative options) and wish we had a different word just for them. A chicken salad that is chicken and mayonnaise is very different from a chicken salad that is chicken on a bed of spinach.

        1. Azhrei Vep

          What I have against pineapple is very simple: It’s disgusting. The flavor is awful, and the texture is almost as bad. At least it doesn’t smell too bad, unlike most terrible foods.

        2. raaabr

          I have to wonder it taste do just be this divergent, or if I was relatively spoiled growing up in a tropical climate where pineapple is extremely delicious fresh.

        3. Opus the Poet

          It’s a thing where pineapple could be over a year from harvest by the time it got to the east coast for some people, so for them it was literally a picked-green-but-overripe abomination. I used to live just a couple of miles from the original pineapple shack on Kamehameha Highway on Oahu, where “fresh” meant “picked in the last hour”. After you’ve had that anything on the Mainland was a disappointment.

        4. Inahc

          eh, I’ve always liked canned pineapple. except for the years my body decided it was pure pain, but that actually went away at some point! 🙂

      2. Autogatos

        While I love potato salad, I’m with you on the pineapple. Literally my least favorite fruit.

  10. Stephen Bierce

    “You may think me decadent. Or worse, FRENCH.”–The Belgian Baron in the war movie CASTLE KEEP

  11. The Wellerman

    Yeah!!! Let your ADHDemon power shine, Walky!!! ✌?

    BTW any Canadian-type pokemon around here know of any French Hoosier Legacy Beef Burger recipes? Minus the brie, sounds delicious!!! ?

    1. BBCC

      It’s a burger with cheddar, pickled red onion, tomato and bacon jam, potato salad, lettuce, tomato, onion and kosher dill. To make it French you gotta add caramelized onions and brie. 😉

      1. The Wellerman

        Minus the red onion, dill and brie, really tasty sounding! Full disclosure, I just want more excuses to cook with caramelized onion ?

        1. Clif

          I’ll take what BBCC is having.

        2. Clif

          Damn it, it’s after midnight and now I’m hungry.

        3. BBCC

          Wish I could take credit but it’s a real item on a restaurant menu as are most places in this comic except Galasso’s (which is still based on Mother Bear’s) and McAwesome’s (which is based on Ami Sushi or something like that I don’t remember the name).

        4. Autogatos

          Minus the cheese (allergic) and bacon (vegetarian) and on a veggie burger, I would 100% happily eat this because it sounds amazing. Burgers, caramelized onions, potatoes, mayo mustard and lemon and/or vinegar-based sauces, and dill are some of my favorite things and this combines all of them.

      2. Devin

        This sounds amazing and I want one.

  12. AbacusWizard

    Dang, that *does* sound like a good burger.

    And I love potato salad as long as it doesn’t have bits of egg in it. Blech.

    1. BarerMender

      Gimme the eggs, gimme the mustard, gimme the weird spices.

    2. Kimi

      I am fine with tghthe yolks but not the whites due to the texture difference. Also a lot of nope for using miracle whip instead of mayo.

  13. Yotomoe

    Jesus Jennifer, LET HIM COOK.

    1. newlland(Henryvolt)

      Perfect time for that line.

  14. Nono

    Potato salad IN a burger?

    1. The Wellerman

      I think it’s like one of those gigantamax burgers you gotta use a fork and knife for.

      1. anon

        and depending on the kinda ‘burger place’ it is , might be one of those where you have to order it ‘medium’ or ‘well done’ if you don’twant it slightly raw, which some ppl might be ok with for steaks and stuff but i get sick if beef is raw so i always have to have mine cooked fully/a regular burger place that’s not too thick lol

        1. 80-watt Hamster

          For real. I’m pretty sure the only benefit of a burger cooked less than medium-well is to pretend you’re eating a steak, something which ACTUALLY benefits from being partially cooked.

      2. BadRoad

        I’ll let Walky be the judge of whether you *need* a knife and a fork.

    2. anon

      well, other than fries, a potato mash and dressing does seem like it’d be fitting in a burger if not too messy

    3. Mark

      Welcome to the US, where anything flat and round is pizza, and anything that fits on top of a patty can be a condiment.

  15. Sirksome

    Honestly, I too was with him until the potato salad. I feel like there are two types of humans. Those who like potato salad and those who don’t. Which are you?

    1. Thag Simmons

      Potatoes are a delivery mechanism for other ingredients, so it really depends on the salad.

      1. Inahc

        yeah, potato salad quality varies widely. the bad ones can be truly disgusting.
        costco’s used to be good, but lately I think they’ve been undercooking the potatoes.

    2. BarerMender

      Potato salad good. Baked potato with cheese and green onions bad.

      1. Big Z

        What is this, opposite day?

    3. Jess

      delicious, especially the kind with mustard!

      1. The Wellerman

        The only reason I eat it XD

      2. Autogatos

        I’d argue many/most savory things are better with mustard.

        1. The Wellerman

          Yeah! Real savory and spicy and tasty! ??

    4. Bogeywoman

      Potato salad bad. Never know what texture the potato will be. And people who serve it next to egg salad are evil.

    5. Dara

      Potato salad BAD!

      I do like some pasta salads though. I’m not sure why they’re so different to me tbh but they are.

      1. Kimi

        Might be that you know what sauce covered item is what with the pasta salad but not the potato salad.
        I prefer my potato salad with mayo, paprika and eggs yolks, though I can handle it with egg whites and pickles if they are cut up pretty small. Egg whites it tends to be a texture and lack of flavor thing. I know some people that like celery and/or onion in theirs though.

    6. Autogatos

      I love every potato based food, including potato salad…

      With only 2 exceptions: steak fries and potatoes au gratin. They’re just…soggy. And not very good. If a potato based food is going to be mushy, it either needs to be surrounded by or mixed with something crispy, or or needs to be mashed potatoes.

    7. Callid13

      It really, really depends. What passes as “potato salad” in 90% of the world is an abomination (mayonnaise!?), but Swabian potato salad (thinly-sliced boiled waxy potatoes, vinegar, finely-chopped onions, chives) is great, and Bavarian (same plus Dijon mustard) is OK.

      Still doesn’t belong *on* anything, but makes an excellent side dish, particularly to meat.

      1. Mark

        OK, that I would eat. Sounds yummy. I’m a vinegar fan.

    8. Jamie

      As Callid suggests, people really aren’t kidding when they’re disgusted with specific American food trends. Potato salad is one of those things where you need to attempt non-American styles of it before you make a judgement on it. It’s fine if you don’t like it, but a lot of Americans think they’ve tried something when they really haven’t yet.

    9. StClair

      For me, it’s a sometimes food. Given a choice, I prefer it “loaded” or with mustard.

    10. Devin

      Love it, but can’t have much anymore.

    11. not someone else

      Potato salad is an easy food for me. Get the mustard kind and it’s just carbs with one flavor. I’m fine with eggs, celery, whatever, I don’t have a lot of food texture issues, but… with this I know what I’m going to be getting and that can be great.

    12. 80-watt Hamster

      Potato salad, like so many things, is so dependent personal tastes and what it’s made of. My ex always hated potato salad, but she took some at my parents’ to be polite. Turned out that my mom’s potato salad specifically is something she genuinely liked.

    13. Azhrei Vep

      Oh, I’m fully against it, one hundred percent. I’ve never encountered a formulation of the stuff that isn’t a duel-worthy insult to both my palate and the poor potatoes being so abused.

    14. egg egg

      I’ve hated potato salad (and any “salad” where the base is mayo) since I was born. I found one potato salad that my husband’s family made that I enjoyed, and for that blasphemy I was given food poisoning that lasted three days.

      My aversion to potato salad afterwards got so bad that I couldn’t stomach the smell of it, and I forcibly removed it from the salad bar I worked at.

      I only liked it because it tasted somewhat like deviled eggs. All other potato salads are so disgustingly bland that they’re an offense to potatoes, which should be savory.

      1. Autogatos

        Deviled eggs are amaaaaaazing.

        Have you ever tried putting curry powder in the filling? It’s my secret ingredient and it somehow makes them even better.

        1. The Wellerman

          Curry powder with mustard and a bit of miso spread on a beef or tofu burger, with a poached egg to top it all off, toasted buns in butter… ???

        2. The Wellerman

          Oh and caramelized onions!!!

          Screw it, I’m making this next chance I get, thank you so much Autogatos!!! ?

      2. Callid13

        As I mentioned above, potato salads need not contain mayo (in fact, I’d argue that they shouldn’t), even tough that is the most wide-spread variant for reasons I can’t fathom. You might want to try Swabian (or Bavarian) potato salad (which are vinegar-based).

        My GF grew up on mayo potato salad, and hated it with a passion, but fell in love with Swabian potato salad when she tried it, and it’s now her favorite side dish 🙂

        1. khn0

          base recipe here:
          crude onions or shallots, mustard, boiled potatoes of the right kind, sour or soursweet pickles.
          Has to remains in the fridge once assembled for at least one night.

    15. zee

      I honestly have no opinion. I think I’ve had it at family events or something? It’s fine? Mid

    16. cbwroses

      Potato salad is practically the only type of potato dish I don’t eat.

  16. newlland(Henryvolt)

    Well yeah it’s not breakfast this is supposed to be brunch.

    1. Vanessa

      Exactly. One can get anything one feels like at brunch, from pancakes to steak.

      1. Autogatos

        I’m of the opinion breakfast should have no rules anyway. I routinely eat mashed potatoes or tortellini for breakfast.

        Except sugar. I dunno how people eat anything sweet first thing in the morning. Donuts, cinnamon buns, non-savory French toast…the only acceptable at all sweet breakfast for me is pancakes with no syrup, only butter.

        1. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

          I don’t really understand the American obsession with sweet food in general (as someone who was born in, raised in, and always lived in the U.S.), but I feel like if someone is going to eat sweets, the best times to do it are when they break the fast after sleeping and near the time they exercise. The idea of eating sweets before bed when you are least-likely to burn the calories seems bizarre to me, so I do not understand the tradition of dessert.

        2. Autogatos

          Tbh for me it probably would be better right before bed rather than in the morning. I have reactive hypoglycemia, so eating sugar causes a paradoxical blood sugar crash. I get tired, cranky, headaches, etc. which is why starting my day with sugar would be awful.

          But yeah in general I don’t usually like sweet things at any time of day (getting sick from it enough times left negative associations). I also hate the US obsession with sugar. I hate how it’s in like…every packaged processed food ever. I’ve been trying to find a tomato soup that contains neither added sugar nor dairy for literally a decade now (so I don’t have to make it from scratch all the time) and I have yet to succeed. Tomatoes are already sweet! They don’t need more sugar!

        3. Autogatos

          Also you may appreciate my take on dessert which is: if I’m gonna eat dessert (which I do very rarely, mainly at like…Christmas or thanksgiving when there’s pie or cookies) I eat a salty snack *after* as a palette cleanser. Chips or olives are an excellent post-dessert snack.

        4. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

          Ooooh, interesting! I might try that!

          I’m also an “after two bites to know what it tastes like, I lose the desire to eat more” type of person (meeting nutritional needs notwithstanding). I feel like the way I think deviates from the the ways the people around me think in so many ways that I’m not sure if I’m some flavor of neuro-divergent or just an odd neuro-typical or have sampling bias.

        5. cbwroses

          Salty and sweet is a great combination.
          Recently, I’ve been snacking on Hershey’s kisses and Ruffles chips.

  17. RassilonTDavros

    Potato salad on a burger sounds like an abomination to me, but then again I don’t like potato salad anyway so I’m probably not in the market. Anyway, I love the game Walky’s playing here.

    1. The Wellerman

      You have no idea how tempted I am to work on a DoA restaurant sim kinda game, if only I could just find the right kind of SPICE to set it apart from the crowd…

    2. CallynD

      Potatoes on a burger is one thing, but potato salad probably has mayo in it and everyone knows that most mayo is a sin against Gork And Mork. I wouldn’t touch that burger.

      1. Proxiehunter

        There are a number of mustard or vinaigrette based potato salads with no mayo in them, and they would probably go better on a burger than a traditional mayo based potato salad would. An old fashioned German one with bacon in it seems like it would be especially nice.

        1. The Wellerman

          Du hast mich, Poxiehunter!!! ?

        2. Autogatos

          Literally all of these (including the ones with mayo) sound amazing to me. I love potatoes, I love mustard, I love vinegar, I love foods that incorporate mayo as an ingredient. And I love weird things on burgers.

          You know what would be amazing? A restaurant that puts different potato-based foods on burgers. Potato salad burger. Tater tot burger. French fry burger. Mashed potato burger. Hash brown burger. Deconstructed baked potato burger.

          I want to eat all the potato burgers.

        3. The Wellerman

          You ever try McNuggets on a burger? Super yummy! ?
          McNuggets, ketchup, cheese, mustard, hashbrown on a burger… ?

        4. Jamie

          There’s a point at which you should jump dump everything in a bowl and take an immersion blender to it.

        5. egg egg

          That’s getting a bit too close to “famous vtuber puts her subway sandwich into a blender” territory for me.

          Also, texture is important.

        6. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

          There’s a point at which you should just dump everything in a bowl. Leave the blender alone and get a fork and knife.

        7. Autogatos

          I’m a vegetarian, and hated chicken before I became one, so I’m afraid I haven’t and would proooobably not like it. XD Sounds like something Walky would love though!

        8. The Wellerman

          hey now, I’m sure there’s a home-made version Binging with Babbish introduced that can theoretically be made with Beyond Meat. 😉

        9. khn0

          isn’t there?
          One of the mopst common way to get a vegan burger here is with some kind of potato-based fill: french fries is the most common, but I already got easily mashed potatoes, duchess (which is kind of close to tater tots), several versions of hashed browns (you get at least five kind as ur-regional traditional specialties), and deconstructed baked potato cooked in goose grease with vinegar is not uncommon either. I guess you don’t get all of them at the same place, but in a city big enough, in the same streets.

      2. Azhrei Vep

        The only reason Mayo is allowed to continue existing is because it is a necessary component in making ranch dressing, and that shit makes for an excellent dip.

        1. Autogatos

          I was looking up potato salad recipes (because of this comic and the comments) and actually just came across one that uses ranch dressing and it sounds pretty delicious! https://www.foodiecrush.com/ranch-potato-salad/

  18. True Survivor

    For some reason, Walky having what I can only describe as “come hither” eyes here just makes the strip a 1000% better.

  19. Rainhat

    What’s the over-under for how many times Jen walks into this trap?

    Her strategy of “shout at Walky like Lucy van Pelt every time he opens his mouth” is… not paying off today.

    1. StClair

      “Walky, you blockhead!”

    2. BarerMender

      What’s an over-under? I know it as a rifle with a shotgun barrel under it. I’ve run into the phrase in the last few days, but no explanation.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        “An over–under or over/under (O/U) bet is a wager in which a sportsbook will predict a number for a statistic in a given game (usually the combined score of the two teams), and bettors wager that the actual number in the game will be either higher or lower than that number.”

        -Wikipedia

      2. Benjamin

        It’s what the other commenter said. It’s sort of a way of just saying “What’s your guess for how many times [whatever]” or something, but it’s got the added imagined motivation for precision of, “And you need to aim to be as on-the-nose as possible because the other person in the conversation will get to choose whether to take all of the numbers above what you picked or below what you picked for the bet, so if you too obviously undershoot or overshoot, you’ll lose.”

      3. KerPop47

        Over/under is the 50/50 point. Usually for sports games, it lets you bet even if one team is most likely going to win, like “team x wins by 3 points.” Jennifer’s definitely going to keep walking into this trap, but the question is, how many times?

  20. Jenniffniff

    This is going well.

  21. C.T. Phipps

    Raidah will kick her out of the group now.

    1. UrsulaDavina

      Probably not she comes from wealth and Radiah intrest in Billie stems from that

      1. UrsulaDavina

        *Jenifer

        1. Clif

          It comes from another one of Sara and Joyce’s friends taken.

        2. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

          Nah, I’m pretty sure it’s primarily about the connection to her father’s real estate firm or whatever. Stealing a friend from Sarah is just a side-benefit.

        3. zee

          Billie and Sarah were never friends, they always at best tolerated each other for Joyce’s sake

        4. thejeff

          Yeah, but Raidah’s after Joyce too, due to the Jacob situation.

  22. Emperor Norton II

    “I’d also like some tea done the British way: Microwaved.”

    1. Kimi

      I can hear the yells of British anger all the way over here on the west coast…. maybe some Canadian ones too.

      1. Jamie

        Eh. Brits sully good tea with fucking milk. At least have the decency to toss some boba in, too.

        1. Daibhid C

          Tapioca belongs in puddings. Preferable someone else’s puddings.

        2. eh, whatever

          They have to put milk in it because it’s oversteeped! Seriously, try British tea without milk and report back.

          Tea is what they used to drink instead of coffee: simply the most highly concentrated solution of caffeine in water they could manage.

        3. davidbreslin101

          Drink a pot of English Breakfast Tea without milk and you’ve pretty much tanned your entire digestive tract.

      2. Daibhid C

        Gaol for Emperor Norton II! Gaol for Emperor Norton for a thousand years!

    2. PirateTawnee

      Some days you wake up and choose violence, some days you wake up and the choice is forced upon you. Not even 7am over here and “why I outta…” *sips tea angrily*

      1. Kimi

        There is also the blasphemy of making any and all types of tea using hot water from a spout from a coffee maker in restaurants. And we wonder why most Americans don’t like tea. Maybe if it was made properly it would taste better, and then you would like it. Though as an American myself, I don’t entirely understand the hate on boiling water through a microwave other than the lack of temperature control (though some hot water kettles equally lack temperature control).

        1. StClair

          Not a fan of tea or coffee. My preferred hot drinks are cider or cocoa (and soda or juice for cold).

        2. Kimi

          True non-alcoholic cider is the best, but I find it hard to find outside of New England along with being expensive. I am picky about my cocoa since I don’t like it watery.

        3. thejeff

          Preferably non-pasteurized cider.
          There’s an orchard not too far from me that makes it in the fall. Different flavors made from different types of apples.

        4. Kimi

          Yeah, I got cranky when my local farm back in Maine changed their apple mix for their cider, as they made it way too sweet. I prefer having at least some tartness in it, not basically apple juice flavor.

        5. morleuca

          Ginger ale and dr.. pepper are both good hot

        6. Mark

          First try tea made with hot water from an urn that was previously used to dispense coffee. They never scrub all of the coffee out. 😛

        7. 80-watt Hamster

          The only logical reason I can think of is one you mentioned: Temp control. Different teas steep best at different temperatures. A general recommendation for blacks is 95C, but I’ve tried some that steep OK at 99C, and others that will oversteep easily at even less than 95. A microwave can actually superheat water, introducing a non-zero chance of easily ruining a delicate tea.

          But yeah; for “basic black” tea, nuke away and let it stand for a couple of minutes, or transfer to a cold vessel before steeping. Any other objections are elitism, IMO.

        8. thejeff

          Or that being your source of hot water at work. Coffee flavor soaks into everything.
          That’s why I microwave water for tea at work, because the alternative is coffee flavored tea.

        9. cbwroses

          Most Americans don’t like tea?
          That’s news to the South.
          *takes a gulp of iced cold sweet tea*

        10. morleuca

          Sweet tea is kind of its own animal.

        11. thejeff

          Almost entirely but not quite unlike tea.

        12. Kimi

          Are you sure that isn’t sugar water with lemon and a hint of tea flavor in it? Otherwise, yeah, iced tea is basically the only type of tea you could find in the US (though it has gotten better in recent years). I still find loose leaf tea to give the best flavor though, but I do admit to having trouble with the spices not leaking out of the tea balls.

    3. Clif

      Your subjects have missed you, rightful ruler of the Americas. Where you been?

  23. Mr. Random

    Wanna know the difference between fake fancy and real fancy?
    When fake fancy goes home, they get comfortable.
    When real fancy goes home, they stay fancy.
    No one in the restaurant knows nor cares.

    1. davidbreslin101

      Yes, it is a trial having to make soufle Faustenberg for breakfast every morning, but one must have standards.

  24. Bryy

    Raidah just being so fake invested in her menu is sending me.

  25. Danae Jay, Local Gay

    The smugger Walky gets the hotter he gets

    1. Vanessa

      Are those little sparkles in his eyes in the last panel?

    2. thejeff

      Dorothy was definitely right.

  26. Warcodered

    Why do you care? Walky does goofy shit, you know this, why exasperate yourself over this?

    1. anon

      it’s a lot easier to get under ppl’s skin when ur related/childhood friends

      imagine if he had joyce level pickiness tho

  27. shrub

    Can’t wait for the hammer to drop on Walky, insufferable little git

    1. Proxiehunter

      How is it not Jennifer who’s being the insufferable one here?

      1. shrub

        She’s also being insufferable but Walky just annoys me by his very presence

        1. Schpoonman

          Yeah, sometimes I’m bothered when characters who represent me are acting like asses.

          Walky isn’t here at all (unless you just want to completely separate all context from the strip, which is par for this commentariat), but if you identify with Jennifer, it makes sense someone existing on their own terms annoys you.

    2. Alex

      I confess I can relate to Jennifer getting mad here.

    3. zee

      Yo guys I found billies alt account

    4. shoopdawhoop

      How dare he order what he wants to eat

  28. brionl

    Walky’s got that Asher smirk going in the last panel there.

  29. UrsulaDavina

    So Tl;Dr why isn’t this potato salad burger not served all day in a college toenit seems like a drunk food.

    I bring this up
    So I grew up in Rochester NY and there is a local dish called a garbage plate(only one restaurant Nick Tahoes has the name other restaurants have their own variations and just just call it a plate) that you can get in almost any restaurant or grocery store in the greater Rochester area as long as it’s not a national chain

    Here is a link to the description of what’s in it:
    https://www.visitrochester.com/restaurants/the-garbage-plate/
    Basically it’s a picnic lunch and you don’t eat it on a bun it’s served on the side

    Anyway it’s a drunk food that has mac or potato salad in it.

    It sounds disgusting but so is Chili on spaghetti Cincinnati

    1. Jess

      re: chili on spaghetti: I regret to say that you are wrong

      1. UrsulaDavina

        I should of said “so does” but I do actually hate spaghetti I hate the texture I ll eat the chili though

        1. Jess

          very fair! and I’ll admit it isn’t necessarily a combo most people would immediately think of

    2. BBCC

      There is also a dinner version. It doesn’t have the Make Mine French option.

    3. Autogatos

      I can’t critique anyone’s weird food toppings/combinations because I tend to love very weird food combos. Potato salad on most things sounds delicious to me tbh. Also that menu you posted now has me picturing baked beans and potato salad on fries or tater tots and I want to eat that.

      I wouldn’t eat chili on spaghetti…but only because I hate chili. I’ve put lots of other weird things on spaghetti. Like salad (also a fan of salad pizza). And have been known to put spaghetti sauce on everything from vegan pizza (I use it as pizza sauce because they’re almost the same thing) to baked potatoes to vegan nachos.

    4. Daibhid C

      Spaghetti and chilli sounds unusual but interesting to me, as long as it’s a mild chilli. There’s a discussion of drunk food combos in The Last Continent that includes spaghetti and custard, which sounds less appealing.

      1. StClair

        “Cincinnati chili” honestly sounds more like bolognese sauce (which makes sense, since it goes on spaghetti) or sloppy joe mix to me. Plus lots of fine-grated cheese, of course.

  30. Cmasta1992

    Jennifer,. Honey. You gotta calm down

    1. James

      But someone is DOING SOMETHING WRONG*

      *According to largely arbitrary social rules which harm absolutely no one when broken.

      …But he’s doing it in a way that MIGHT REFLECT POORLY** ON HER!!!

      **only because she keeps flipping out like this, she’s literally the only one here that actually cares so far

      1. J.Gawain

        In fairness to her. She didn’t get Raidah’s memo about tolerating anything Walky does. I agree that she is being overbearing, but I’m wondering if its more because she thinks her new besty overlord would berate him for it and she merely wants to save her the trouble. I’m waiting for her to realize that Raidah’s not appearing offended and getting suspicious of that.

        Still a bad look for her either way though.

    2. Alex

      Lol everyone’s got that one friend that annoys the shit out of them by doing innocuous things.

  31. Bittersweet

    What fancy restaurant has an item called a Hoosier Legacy Beef Burger lololol, that’s what’s getting me. It sounds like an item in a game lol. (I managed to find the restaurant by looking that item up specifically. I cannot tell if they’re fancy, their menu was in a font that made my eyes go “Nope” and hurt after like twenty seconds. May be my phone though.)

    Jennifer you need to chill. If someone orders a burger for breakfast, why should it affect you in the slightest, you don’t even want him in this group anyways.

    1. anon

      I mean, idk much about indiana but maybe it’s ‘fancy’ by ‘midwestern’ standards lol

      Kinda makes me think it’s like the opposite of that one 4chan greentext about anon repeating the ‘humiliating’/silly order names like ‘rooty tooty’ and all that lol

      Though a good chunk of america is super into sports so i can imagine there being a celeb ‘football’ burger named after a player or so lol

      1. Autogatos

        Dunno about the name but I’m in California, land of weird pretentious food, and anything with “bacon jam” on it would still be considered fancy here too I think.

    2. Daibhid C

      Yes, but they know she and Walky grew up together so, in her mind, when he looks bad, she looks bad by association.

      The fact he doesn’t look bad simply isn’t something that would occur to her.

  32. Sirksome

    I gotta say, Walky woke up and chose chaos today, cause why, when given the opportunity to eat breakfast food, would you pass it up? It’s objectively the best kind of food. The obvious superior of the three standard meals, and the heavy lifter in brunch.

    1. Clif

      He’s not passing it up; he’s ordering it.

    2. Booster

      Disagree, a good burger for breakfast just hits different. One of my favorite things. I dont like eggs though which really limits traditional breakfast food options

    3. Kyrik Michalowski

      I don’t enjoy breakfast meals for the most part. I’ll eat cereal, bacon, spicy/savory pancakes and butter toast, but I can’t stand eggs, waffles, sausage, sweet pancakes, and syrup, jam, jelly and other sweet toppings.

  33. BBCC

    https://www.farm-bloomington.com/menus/#dinner-copy

    This appears to be the restaurant the one they’re eating at is based upon! Complete with “make mine French” for the breakfast version of the Hoosier Legacy Beef Burger!

    And oh, Jennifer, this is not going well for ya.

    1. The Wellerman

      Yeah, maybe no dill or red onion on mine either, but still really tasty sounding! ?

    2. HueSatLight

      just beat me. I was looking for photos of the potato salad on the burger.

    3. Autogatos

      I was so excited for a moment to discover this was a real place but they don’t have an option to make it veg. RIP 🙁

      Potato salad and caramelized onions on a burger sounds delicious and I need to make it someday or find a place that serves this in veggie burger form. Imagining it with some mustard, pickles, and arugula…mmmmmm

  34. anon

    i mean, it is on the menu lol, you’d think jen would be familiar with this place unless they picked a new place lol. tho dang burger with onions that early in the morning, maybe he’s subconsciously not wanting a kiss from lucy after lol

    1. Autogatos

      In college, burgers (well, In N Out grilled cheese specifically, or a veggie burger from somewhere) were my go-to hangover breakfast. I haven’t had a hangover in over a decade but it’s still my go-to when I haven’t been feeling well. (Recovering from the flu, pms, a migraine, etc). Something about indulgent salty vinegar-y (from the pickles and sauce) food with potatoes is healing XD

    2. legsandgreen

      Iunno, I can respect it. Eat dinner for breakfast, drink at 7am, go off!

    3. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

      I can understand raw onion being an issue for someone’s breath, but are pickled onions and caramelized onions issues? I’m honestly asking. I have neither eaten those foods nor expected human kisses in a long time.

    4. Mark

      Maybe Lucy likes onion….

  35. Suet

    Farm Bloomington really gets a bad rep from us, first the Hoosier Poutine and now this.

    $17.50 for cheddar cheese, pickled red onions, tomato & bacon Jam, potato salad, lettuce, tomato, onion and kosher dill on a burger?! And Frenching it adds $3?! Goddang, Raidah, some fancy joint this is!

  36. Laura

    …I dunno about youse, but the news today about erythritol being linked with increased risk of blood clots and stroke just hit me like a ton of bricks. Erythritol is in just about everything I eat. Feels like losing a friend. 🙁

    …Now I know how my great grandmother felt when the doctor told her she couldn’t eat ice cream any more. The doctor told her daughter (my grandmother), “I think I just broke your mother’s heart.”

    OT, I’m sorry. But the talk about foods reminded me.

    1. The Wellerman

      Sorry to hear bruh, but look on the bright side (literally) — look at all this talk about potato salad, the perfect excuse to have mustard! ?

      1. Laura

        That is true. And with mustard one can have honey. So all is not lost.

        1. The Wellerman

          ??

        2. The Wellerman

          On that note, drive out to a sunny mustard field recently? ?

        3. Laura

          I should. Car’s in the shop for the past week, and foot is busted. I could bike, but the bump bump bump is not good for my busted head. So I’ve got a bit of cabin fever… :-/

        4. The Wellerman

          ? Awe. Sorry to hear. Perhaps you can drive out there with a dear friend?

        5. Laura

          Car should be fixed soon. Then I’ll go.
          Thanks for the reminder!

        6. The Wellerman

          ? Moutarde, comment puis-je t’aimer? ?

    2. Autogatos

      Oh no, this sucks. 🙁 I hadn’t heard about this, so thank you for sharing actually. My mom uses stevia a lot, and I have reactive hypoglycemia.

      While I don’t eat sweet things often as I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, I do like them occasionally, and often rely on artificial sweeteners that don’t spike blood sugar so I don’t have a hypoglycemic crash. This and xylitol were usually my 2 preferred ones.

      1. Laura

        Yeah, me too. I do have a sweet tooth, and I also have reactive hypoglycemia. So this was really something I relied on.

        So far, I’ve heard nothing bad about xylitol, *knock on wood!*. But what I’ve read about erythritol lumps it in with the other sugar alcohols or polyols in terms of potential health effects. 🙁

        1. Autogatos

          Heeeey reactive hypoglycemia high five! It’s annoying isn’t it?

          And yeah the only bad thing I know about xylitol is it can have a laxative effect in large doses apparently (the Amazon reviews on sugar free gummy bears are a fun read) but I think it takes quite a large amount. Like people eating an entire bag of gummy bears in one sitting.

        2. Autogatos

          Oh one you should look up if you haven’t yet is allulose! Based on what I’ve read about it, I’m hoping it starts seeing more use. I keep forgetting about that one because I only started seeing it in stuff recently.

        3. Laura

          High five! Yes, I’m hoping Allulose gets wider adoption. I have some, but it’s all mixed up with erythritol and stevia. So not exactly what I was looking for. But yes, figs and dates for me, please!

    3. Dana

      It looks like a study by a reputable group published in a good journal, good number of participants, but I don’t see a good way to understand info on the effect size without actually paying to read the study. The folks in the 4th quartile of blood level had about twice the risk of those in the first, but what about the middle 50%? I’d talk to your doctor before you freak out too much.

      1. Laura

        Thanks, Dana!

      2. eh, whatever

        Is it on Sci-Hub yet?

      3. Autogatos

        Thanks for the extra info! My brother is a chemistry PhD so he might be able to read (and properly interpret) it. I’ll try to remember to ask him next time we talk!

    4. Needfuldoer

      What about good old saccharine and aspartame?

      I usually use either Splenda or plain old sugar.

      1. Autogatos

        I’ve heard mixed things about all of those. I think saccharine used to have warnings on it, but later research came to different conclusions? I know Splenda isn’t recommended for baking because of concerns about chemical reactions that occur when it’s heated.

        And aspartame is one I’ve always thought of as a bad option but I think research is still pretty conflicting so I don’t know for sure how valid the concerns are. I’ve always avoided that one specifically because it’s thought to be a possible migraine trigger (and I’m prone to migraines).

        I also just find a lot of the other artificial sweeteners (like aspartame and saccharine) to be way too sweet.

        When baking I usually use maple syrup, fruit, or molasses to sweeten stuff. They definitely still raise blood sugar but not as quickly as white sugar, and I tend to use whole wheat, oats, and nuts in my baking too which helps slow blood sugar spikes (thanks to the fiber and protein) so I can at least get away with eating like, one or two small cookies.

        Allulose is a less commonly used one that I’m starting to see in stuff more often that may be interesting! Seems safe so far, isn’t quite as sweet as some of the other sweeteners, and some research has shown it may have a beneficial effect reactive hypoglycemia.

        1. The Wellerman

          What about monk fruit extract? I heard it cooks just like regular sugar.

        2. Laura

          Issue with monk fruit extract is that it’s usually mixed with erythritol or stevia or dextrose to get the crystalline / granular structure that folks expect for sugar. Also, it’s very rare (only grows naturally in China) and in high demand, so US agribusiness is now trying to grow it as a GMO.

    5. zee

      Ehhh, everything we eat is gonna give us cancer or heart disease. Birth control is linked to blood clots and tuna is full of poison from biomagnification. Everything is slowly killing us so might as well enjoy it until our doctors say stop

      1. Laura

        True that!

      2. The Wellerman

        yup. your solar system is just FULL of catch 22s. Like for instance the star you call the sun emits radiation that slowly kills you, but at the same time is essential for all life on earth to even EXIST.

    6. BBCC

      I took a look and it says that it’s mostly a risk for those already predisposed to cardiac/stroke, clot or diabetes issues and that it needs further investigating. It might be a good idea to try to cut down for now, but this is still an unfolding investigation. As Dana said above, I’d talk to your doctor (and, if applicable, your cardiologist and/or any other relevant specialists) before you make any big adjustments.

      I’m not a big artificial sweeteners person so not many recommendations here – I only know Splenda and I haven’t had it for years. In general though, anything in moderation should be okay!

      1. Laura

        Thank you, BBCC!

  37. Reltzik

    Walky, having burgers for breakfast isn’t healthy. Tasty, perhaps, but not healthy. Think about Billifer’s blood pressure!

    1. Laura

      LOL!

    2. anon

      well, neither is bacon and some syrupy waffles but be hilarious if it was a ‘hipster’ cereal bar where walky could have like fruit loops in a giant bowl as an option haha

      1. temperaryobsessor

        Yup. Actually burgers are healthier than most breakfast foods.

        1. The Wellerman

          Does Jack in the Box’s breakfast sandwich count as a burger?

        2. shoopdawhoop

          Burgers can have vegetables in them, that’s a lot healthier than a pile of sausage, bacon, and eggs.

      2. GeekyWarrior

        Seeing as they’re college kids. This “nice breakfast place” looks a small step above a typical diner.

    3. Needfuldoer

      Have you seen how much fat and salt “breakfast” stuff has? He’s probably better off ordering the burger than a sausage, egg, cheese, and bacon English muffin sandwich.

  38. Icalasari

    I love how confident and goofy Walky is being

    1. Laura

      Taking Dorothy’s advice!

    2. Amós Batista

      Valentine’s day effect is powerful.

  39. Autogatos

    Ok a burger with potato salad and caramelized onions sounds freaking DELICIOUS. (Minus the brie because I am allergic to cheese)

    1. Laura

      Yeah, it does! Making my mouth water!

    2. anon

      hopefully ppl let you know all the ingredients because i think there’s some burgers where there’s cheese inside the patty that’s supposed to melt as it cooks lol

    3. Kimi

      Is it a whey allergy? That is the worst. I have a friend that has that and they add in whey into so many things that it’s ridiculous.

      1. Autogatos

        Not 100% sure, probably casein? But could be whey. It’s definitely a dairy protein allergy either way. And yeah it’s such a pain. I used to LOVE cheese, but ultimately I decided I love breathing more. ?

    4. BBCC

      Hey, fellow cheese allergy! It’s the mould for me and I don’t care enough to learn which cheeses have which, if any mould so I just avoid it all.

  40. ZerglingOne

    Once Walky and Billie’s relationships implode by the end of this book, they need to just fuck and get it over with. There is so much tension built up between them.

    1. Needfuldoer

      They’ll have to pick up some Folger’s first.

      1. june gloom

        I’m a little amused and appalled that I get that joke.

        1. StClair

          Same.

  41. AGV

    Walky has experience looking for the “unfancy” food in the fancy menus

  42. Keulen

    Walky is enjoying this so much and I love it.

    1. anon

      i mean, assuming raidah or someone is footing the bill, i’d say this is incredible restraint compared to someone that’d order ‘one of everything’ to troll everyone, but that’d either make the chefs super happy or super pissed depending lol

  43. goggleman64

    I fucking love how well Walky is trolling Jennifer X)

  44. Ophidiophile

    Has Jennifer always been Walky’s mom?

    1. Laura

      Pretty much.

    2. StClair

      Sometimes she’s been his sister.

  45. James

    “That’s not breakfast”

    I’m ordering it during breakfast time, as my first meal of the day. Of course it’s breakfast.

  46. Amós Batista

    Wait a minute: don’t nobody eat burger at breakfast?

    1. Zaxares

      McDonald’s breakfast says yes! 😉

  47. Needfuldoer

    “Stop trying to be fake fancy!”

    Yeah! You tell that kettle, Ms. Pot!

  48. Sean Smith

    Walky is having a lot of fun infiltrating Jennifer’s pretentious “cool kid” club.

  49. Sombrero

    If fake fancy is what makes Asher tick, this is the score right now:

    Asher: win
    Jennifer: lose
    Lucy: lose
    Ruth: win
    Jason: lose
    Walky: TBD

    1. Laura

      Hm? Not sure I follow.

  50. Deviant

    Its easy to forget, but Walky’s quite affluent upbringing probably means he knows a lot about fancy stuff.

    I bet that if he really wanted to, he could be way more fancier.

    1. 80-watt Hamster

      In Middle America, affluent and fancy are loosely correlated at best.

      1. Laura

        Yes, but his mom tries hard to get him to be fancy and impress important people.

  51. Doopyboop

    I hope this means Jennifer’s gonna have to look herself in the mirror; it’s easy for her to think all of her issues had to do with the people she was affiliated with before. That Ruth, Joyce, etc are all to blame for the drama she experienced. Raidah’s put the idea in her head that it was all them being toxic when really, Jennifer can be toxic too. She knew this when she was Billie, kinda embraced it in an unhealthy way, but Jennifer CAN’T be toxic! Jennifer is mature, Jennifer is above it all!

    Neither path is healthy. Jennifer needs to recognize her unhealthy attitudes/habits, and try to work on it. It’s hard, absolutely! But so long as she’s working to be better, she’ll feel better. Ignoring everything isn’t going to help, especially with the way she’s been acting with Walky. But trying to marinate herself in toxicity because she thinks that’s what she deserves? Obviously not great.

    1. Sirksome

      This is not true. Jennifer never blamed anyone in her past group for drama except Ruth because Ruth was a source of drama. That’s justified. Ruth even admitted she fucked it up and still wants to selfishly hate Jennifer for the breakup anyway. Jennifer is still very much friends with her old group.

      Raidah didn’t put anything in Jennifer’s head that would probably have the opposite effect since Jen still cares about them. She just pulled Jennifer away, which didn’t really work either, cause her original group are good friends who don’t care who Jen spends time with.

      Jen has always been a little toxic when it comes to appearance and popularity. This isn’t a new thing. And the way she treats Walky isn’t new either. She tried to abandon him at the start of the first semester. Walky is an annoying sibling to her. She doesn’t like hanging with him most of the time even if she loves him as a brother.

      Jennifer needs to work on herself more, but they all do honestly. I don’t understand.

      1. Sirksome

        I think this strip proves it best.

        https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-12/05-this-was-halloween/punchy/

        Raidah tries to implant the idea that Jennifer’s friends are the problem, but Jennifer knows it’s herself that’s the issue. She just took some of the wrong lessons from it. A bit of a sideways move instead of real progress.

        1. Doopyboop

          All that strip proves is that back when she was Billie, she did see herself as the problem. You have to admit that with Raidah whispering in her ear about how much Sarah and her friends suck, including stating “Joyce looks like shit” in a way that is obviously meant to insult her, along with Jennifer NOT defending Joyce, this moment ( https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-12/04-dont-stop-billie-ving/seeingyou/ ), https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-13/01-bring-me-to-life-drawing/martyr/ (this one is focused more on Ruth, which yes, Ruth is rightfully called out for being toxic, but the fact that Jen if focusing on Raidah and her FRIENDS, vs comparing Ruth to Asher, along with Jen clearly AVOIDING her old friends and the aggressive attitude towards Walky, makes it clear she has been avoiding her old friends for a reason. Likely, she doesn’t view them as stable)…

          You can disagree if you want, I’m just saying, from my perspective, Jennifer has dumped Joyce, Walky, Sal, Dorothy, and Becky because she projects what it was to be Billie onto them. They remind her of when she was Billie, so they gotta go. She could certainly have new friends without dumping the old ones otherwise, right? And honestly a lot of her interactions with them do come off much more aggressive than before. She and Walky always had beef, but they could at least stand to be near each other and she sought him out when she was upset about Ruth. Now, the guy can’t even fucking order his food without her breathing fire at him about it.

        2. thejeff

          Nah, this is a pretty common phase in the Jennifer/Walky relationship. It’s a messed up sibling relationship. She’s afraid her nerdy brother is going to mess up her status and she takes it out on him. Like she did in high school. Like she did at the start of the first semester, when she didn’t even want to know him.

          And yeah, she’ll turn back to him when she hits the bottom, because he’s her brother and she knows she always can. She tries to help him out too, especially romantically.

          I don’t really see her dumping Joyce or the others though. She’s around less, but she still helped Joyce out with her cramps and tried to check up on her afterwards.

        3. Doopyboop

          Joyce is the only one to get that treatment. And even then, she implied to Joyce’s face that being her best friend was a sign of her being in a low point, even if she added “don’t take it personally”. She’s honestly kinda insulted Becky and Dorothy by saying they weren’t properly handling Joyce’s PMS. We can argue about who’s responsibility it is, but Jennifer still came in, bulldozed her way into the situation and acted as if nobody else was doing enough, then dosy-doed right back out of the situation at her leisure. The others mention not having seen Jennifer in months, even her own roommate Lucy barely sees her. It’s clear that Jennifer has latched onto Raidah and co. instead.

        4. thejeff

          She’s definitely latched onto Raidah (and Asher even more so), I’m just not so sure she’s deliberately dumping them because of bad past associations. However much Raidah’s trying to push that.

          IIRC, her reaction to the “closest friend” thing is basically the same as it was back when she said it. It wasn’t something she was comfortable with then either.

        5. StClair

          Joyce, whatever else she may be to Jennifer, is a way for the latter to demonstrate competence and affirm the part of her identity labeled “alpha bongo, problem solver.”
          Problem is, Joyce also serves that function for Dorothy. And while Joyce may have enough problems to go around, they have and will probably continue to fight over who gets to fix help her.

  52. The Other Mike

    I love potato salad (and totally agree with Walky on this one), but the problem with it is that no two people’s potato salads taste the same.

  53. Yeet

    Did anyone call Jennifer embarrasses herself by being mad at Walky for being, at worst, mildly goofy?
    I’m guessing nobody else actually cares what he eats for breakfast – and his clothing was clearly appropriate despite this group “trying harder” – are we going to see a breakdown because she tried so hard and came so far and in the end it didn’t even matter?
    Seems like all she actually had to do was be rich and not be particularly objectionable for at least a few minutes.

    1. thejeff

      It’s hard to tell whether anyone else cares, because we know that Raidah and Carl are going to put up with whatever he does for their own reasons. I’m sure they’ll tear him (and Jennifer) apart in private afterwards.

  54. Nicoleandmaggie

    Walky is Jennifer’s kryptonite.

  55. Barswanian

    Anyone else wondering if this breakfast ends with Walky, Jennifer, and Lucy back in Jennifer/Lucy’s dorm?

  56. AlaninDC

    What IS her problem?!

    1. timemonkey

      She has to constantly try to be cool to fit in, completely changing who she is and then here’s Walky, the height of uncool, flawlessly outdoing her with no effort at all.

  57. J.Gawain

    “Potato salad is the best salad.” Really?! When Taco salad is right there?

    1. oh no

      Seriously? In front of my salad(s)?

      1. J.Gawain

        I’m going to be honest, I’d never heard of this meme before today, during which I found it twice. If not for that, I would never had found out it was a meme to begin with. Life is strange sometimes.

  58. ValdVin

    Walky’s hot here, especially after panel one.

    Is that on purpose? Is this a conscious superpower which has fallen into the hands of someone whose responsibility will be tested?

    1. GeekyWarrior

      Dorothy was 100% right. He’s most attractive when he’s being goofy and fucking owning it.

      1. ValdVin

        Yep. As witnessed in the arc here: For the love of everything just relax and don’t look stressed out!

  59. John

    Jennifer needs to calm the fuck down.

    1. HoopsieDaisy

      Yeah, her vibe is definitely not breakfast-worthy. Yell at me at 10pm after we’re both tired or drunk. Don’t do it when I’m just waking up.

  60. thakoru

    Potato salad was already pushing it, but putting in on a burger is an affront to every god of every religion.

    1. timemonkey

      God is dead, there is only Potato Salad!

  61. Joy

    Jennifer looks cute in that jacket.

    The pseudo siblingship is strong in this scene

  62. Acher4

    Jennifer is going to kill someone by the end of this storyline…I just know it. 😛

    1. Alex

      I wonder who that somebody will be.

  63. Comic.phile

    Haha Dorothy is right. Walky is at his peak when he’s being smug about who he is. Love it.

    1. Wendy

      Agreed. He’s hilarious like this.

  64. pyrock_mania

    I feel like the running theme recently is “people change when you’re not looking.”

    Jennifer seems to think the only way you’re allowed to change is to totally re-invent yourself, so seeing Walky refuse to abandon who he was but still work to grow as a person grates on her assumptions, but it also comes as a shock. She’s spent the semester avoiding Walky as much as possible, and hasn’t seen him grow like we have, so she seems to think he’s the absolute trash-fire/goofball he was at the start of Freshman year, so any part of his personality he’s worked on and grown reads as fake from that perspective. Walky, ever the force of chaos (and operating on some mixed advice from Dorothy), is of course “yes, and”-ing the problem.

    Dorothy can’t accept that Joe has learned a LOT about women (often via some HARSH reality-checks) this semester and discovered a drive to be better. She has tried to distance herself from him after dumping Danny, seemingly able to avoid him except for Gender Studies (and that interview for the paper), and so hasn’t been privy to his growth. Of COURSE she’s going to look out for her friend and do everything she can to make it clear how “fake” his new growth is.

    There’s elements of this theme in a bunch of spots, but at the very least there’s a strong parallel between the two examples above so it will be interesting to see how Dorothy/Jennifer process this lesson (or avoid doing so).

    1. Joy

      It comes across somewhat as “woman irrationally believe that man can’t change for the better,” which is a really… Done… Plot line. Idk.

  65. Wendy

    GOOD VIBES, JENNIFER

  66. Net-Zero Joeyce Shipper (no engine, slowly following the current)

    The Ranma to her Akane Tendo. Beautiful.

  67. SDGlyph

    Glad I searched for the Farm Bloomington reference, ‘cos I was wondering if this comic had a dialogue change somewhere along the way – the word ‘Farm’ isn’t in the text at all, unless I’m being oblivious.

  68. Raja

    Jennifer. BREATHE

  69. Caro

    oh walky is going to destroy her. she’s going to get ousted from the group for being so irritable about him just trying to exist, and then he’s going to leave as soon as he gets his free breakfast. this is going to be great

    1. HoopsieDaisy

      Wait, who said breakfast was free?

  70. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

    To paraphrase:
    Jennifer: “Walky, try not to embarrass me!”
    Walky: (tries his best to match the dress code and order appropriate brunch food he would like to eat)
    Raidah, the person Jennifer wants to impress: “I want good vibes!”
    Jennifer: (does not have good vibes)

  71. Reincarnivorous

    Oh man, Waky has the BEST smug face!

  72. Quinn

    I haven’t read *all* the comments, but I haven’t seen anybody noticing two intersections that seem to be happening in this conversation, beyond “Walky/Jennifer is being a jerk”:

    First, Dorothy told him to lean into being himself. Walky is being 150% Walky because he respects her opinion and feels empowered by it. He’s got none of the usual “What if I mess this social interaction up?” energy because her advice got out in front of that narrative, and Lucy and Asher are boosting him up.

    Meanwhile, Jennifer is terrified all the time. Everything she says in this whole storyline is coming from a place of fear that she’ll lose her entire social support network for a third time. She doesn’t just want to impress Raidah, she’s scared that Walky will ruin this for her because she has this narrative in her head that everyone is just looking for a reason to get rid of her, just like Ruth and her high-school friends did. Her Managers are telling her how to behave in social situations, and people who don’t do it remind her of her Exiles. When that happens, our Managers get out and try to manage everyone else to make that sense of fear go away. Very likely, the next thing she’ll do is explode at everyone, so that her Distractor parts can take the attention away from Walky’s Exile behavior.

    None of these characters are real people (even if we’ve developed para-social relationships with them, folks), but this storyline seems to be a great example of Internal Family Systems in action. Walky leaning into what might be his true “self” is really threatening to Jennifer, who is living in a constant state of fear and letting her Managers run the show.

    1. Jodka

      Amazing insight! I hadn’t seen it from this angle.

  73. Liliet

    Billie, just… stop trying. Please.

  74. milu

    Topics that will invariably get several hundred comments on doa:
    * sex
    * religion
    * food

    It’s not called smarting of age, but it might have been called domming of age, damning of age or nom-ing of age.

    1. The Wellerman

      Well what did you expect? 666 comments doesn’t just happen ya know. XD

    2. Yotomoe

      I’d be into Domming of Age, personally.

      1. The Wellerman

        Welp, Willis said that if he had to, he’d eventually “reverse the ratio of porn comics to regular comics”, so it’s more likely to happen than you’d think.

    3. thejeff

      We just need to combine the food and sex and the comments will explode.

  75. Juanoku

    Oh Billie being annoyed is endlessly fun

  76. shoopdawhoop

    I’ve seen what Americans call breakfast, you can’t tell me a burger is any worse than that to have in the morning.

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