Why does AI think grocery lists are funny?

AI-generated text relies way too heavily on food references.

Has anyone else noticed that AI-generated text—especially when it’s trying to be funny—relies way too heavily on food references?

Like... constantly.

Toasters. Granola. Pickles. Avocados with abandonment issues. It’s like every punchline got catered.

At first, I thought it was just a coincidence. But after working with different models (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Copilot) and running a bunch of stand-up comedy prompts, it became clear:

Food is the fallback punchline of the AI comedy machine.

Why? Well, I think it boils down to three things:

Food tokens are everywhere in training data — wellness blogs, lifestyle posts, social media captions. High-frequency = high-probability.

They’re specific, weird, and safe — “a single artisanal pickle” is just the right level of quirky.

They don’t trigger content filters — unlike jokes about sex, race, violence, or public figures, food is inoffensive. Totally alignment-friendly.

So the AI avoids edgy content... and gives us brunch jokes instead.

I’ve dubbed this phenomenon: Toaster Syndrome.

Anyway, I wrote a full breakdown here if anyone's curious:

Here’s how to spot AI generated comedy. It always uses food and kitchen appliances as punchlines.

I’d love to know:

Have you noticed this in AI content?

What’s the weirdest food reference you’ve seen show up in output?

Anyone want to help me build a Grocery List Bingo Card for AI punchlines?

🍞 Drop your best examples below.