Someone once said "I can tell a lot about the twins just from the way they eat here".
Food scenes are surprisingly common in Fragments, but you only notice them when you start looking for them. The tiny ARR arc has two dinner scenes. The very first ShB episode shows us these three at a relaxed tea party.
Exarch's cookies (that he technically traded Vivi for in episode 15) and Vivi munching on them without second thought because he accepted them from the hands of Feo Ul. That Feo Ul knows what's best for Vivi and will never harm him is somehow an unspoken rule between these two.
Vivi eats his food like no one sees him. Casually, openly, messily, perhaps even a bit obnoxiously, with no care for the potential external judgment. He's confident, he knows that his easygoing charm WILL attract some people, others don't matter. Your vibe attracts your tribe. The way he eats is HIM.
Unlike the cookies that got Feo Ul's "approval", the sandwich basket just sits there in the Pendants waiting for Vivi, and so he hesitates. There's the ominous pause as he flashes back to all the attempts that were made on his life via food/drink poisoning, and decides if the kindly wizard in a completely new world is worth trusting. Or if it's worth dying by his hand at least-
The way he eats the sandwich is infectuous and appetizing enough for Ardbert to get jealous, and then Vivi devours the entire basket on his behalf. This's nothing new for him, he tends to eat a lot after a battle.
Feo Ul's often depicted with food, and they always partake in it unabashedly.
I hope I'm not forgetting my own story, but I think Vivi doesn't eat anything in Il Mheg and Rak'tika. If I could allow the thought that he did accept some food from Feo Ul in Il Mheg and it's just not shown in the comic, the lack of food scenes in Rak'tika is deliberate. He even rejects Lucky's invitation for dinner.
Well, there's this I GUESS. At the very beginning of the arc, before shit hits the fan.
Vivi's depicted with drinks more often than food somehow. So far we've only seen him eat in the safety of the Crystarium (or back on the Source).
Amid the thematically foodless Rak'tika arc the "camera" starts flipping to the old men, and the very first time they interact on-screen ends up with this.
Emet being a picky, fussy, overly demanding eater in episode 81. Keep these descriptors in mind, I'm leading up to something in this post.
Food is almost never a central figure in Fragments, more of a subtle narrative device, a mood-setter. Eating and drinking happens casually while the characters are busy doing something else. Hence The Chocolate Episode stands out: yes, partly I made it just as a silly little fanservice, but it carries enough emotional weight on its own if you consider food as an indicator of humanity, connection and companionship, and letting oneself be alive.
But hold on, The Chocolate Episode, and Exarch's refusal to eat raisins (there's a whole separate analysis on it in my author notes), is a mere prelude to THIS. This breaks the established pattern of dining as something casual and lowkey.
Now I'm not claiming this as a universal truth, your mileage may vary yadda, but some people like to link the way you eat to the way you behave in bed. Yes, that's right, how you eat is how you fuck. Ashamed of it? Nervous and covering up? Thorough and methodic? Open and messy and embracing everything about it?
Here's a new fun angle to consider our main trio and episode 86 from :3c
