The Great Foodening is a major event on Foodcourtia. It happens every twenty (Foodcourtia) years and lasts the same amount of years. However, this time may be different elsewhere, as there is a "time warp thing" involved, according to Sizz-Lorr.
The Foodening is run by the Foodcourtia employees who get paid (save for Zim). All employees working on Foodcourtia are stuck on the planet for the entire duration of the Foodening. Because of all the customers swarming to the snacking planet, the gravity is so dense that nobody can leave.
The Foodening is first mentioned in "The Frycook What Came from All That Space" as Sizz-Lorr explains that he was stuck helpless and having to do the work alone on Foodcourtia during the Foodening without Zim to help him. The Fry Lord also has to spend an additional Foodening alone when Zim escapes yet again.
The term "Foodening" was also used as a common noun in the unfinished episode "Return of Keef", implying that "Foodening" is a common word in the Irken language that is defined as a gathering of people coming together to eat, like a feast.
Trivia[]
- Sizz-Lorr claims there's a "time warp thing" involved when the Foodening occurs, which Jhonen Vasquez has said was simply a result of "lazy writing".
- Despite The Great Foodening lasting twenty years, its unknown how many days there are in a Foodcourtian year.
- Sizz-Lorr said that because the gravity was so powerful no one could leave Foodcourtia, however Zim managed to escape the planet using a stolen Snacky Cab vessel and the gravity didn’t seem to be an issue, so either Sizz-Lorr was not well informed on the matter or this is was one of the cases where Zim manages to do the impossible.