Going to the movies can be a right pain in the neck, especially if you don’t like making decisions. Besides trying to decide what you’re actually going to watch, you need to decide on where you’re going to sit. And no matter how strategic you are on seat selection, be it in the middle, in the back or huddled into the wall you’re pretty guaranteed to have made the wrong decision. Whether it's the unwashed beast that continues to ferment in your general direction or the idiot who decides to do a structural test on the back of your seat with their size 19s, it’s all about decisions. But the most important decision is what you’re going to eat and how to combine it all into one big sugary and salty culinary delight. People will sit through the cinema burning to the ground as long as they can keep stuffing their mouth. So, with that in mind, we burned down a cinema…hang on. Let’s go again. With that in mind, we asked cinema goers and cinemas about just what sets fire to their taste buds. It’s all about the fire. Ahem.
Drive-in cinemas offer all the usual snacks and drinks, but as a number of people highlighted to us, they also offer some tasty hot food. Quite a number of cinemas, in Ireland at least, have stopped serving hot-dogs and the likes. Unless, it’s hot yellow goo on your nachos, hot food in the multiplex is either a let down or non-existent. However, Drive-In cinemas, in many cases, allow you to order Pizza from a preferred supplier and you’re pizza, wedges, fries and whatever else is delivered to your car. While you can put some pretty crazy combinations on pizza, I’m looking at the lunatics who think pineapple is a topping, it fails in significance to some of the crazier combinations the cinema going audience have come up with.
While a popcorn and coke are the basic requirement going to a cinema (Pepsi seems non-existent) it’s what goes into the popcorn that’s really interesting. A number of respondents, obviously battling a savoury addiction, told us that popcorn, peanuts AND crisps all mixed together was the only way to go. With the popcorn being used as a base, one insane combination that cropped up was chocolate and bacon mixed into the popcorn. Sadly, this doesn’t seem to be available in Ireland (cinema owners, get your act together) but Liane White chowed down on this epic combination in New Orleans. We’ve already booked our flights!
Other combinations involved popcorn, chocolate buttons and chilli nuts. Or how about popcorn and peanut M&Ms? We’d love to try all these combinations, but the one that went straight to the top of our list came from Linda Shanahan. We’re not quite sure how or why Linda discovered this, but either way, we’re bloody thankful. So, here we go. Hold onto your waistlines. Caramel ice-cream dipped into the popcorn. Can you image the salty, sweet, hot and cold all exploding in your mouth, in one big creamy taste orgasm? It might be a bit of a balancing act to get a spoon of ice-cream into a tub of popcorn, but it’s one we’re ready to practice at.
Popcorn though, isn’t for everybody, but the idea of a base snack is the same. Crisps (or chips as they’re known across the pond) are a popular alternative to the tub of kernel chaos, with either cheese and onion or sour cream flavours cropping up time and time again. Similar to the popcorn combinations, malteasers, chocolate buttons and even Yorkies make up the movie mash-up. However, Dave Molloy’s suggestion of eating plain almonds, salted by his own tears is something we’ll put on the back burner for a while.
The Gate Cinema chain explained that popcorn and some form of chocolate was the most popular combination, with the old faithful of malteasers coming out on top, closely followed by Minstrels. With cinema audiences attempting more combinations than Ryu from Streetfigher, it can be a pricey night out. However, most cinemas offer some form of combo deal, with the Gate Cinema offering 2 drinks, popcorn and a bag of sweets for €10.50.So now that you’re as starved as we are, let’s run down Ireland’s favourite cinema food combos
5 - Popcorn & Peanuts & Crisps
4 - Popcorn & M&Ms
3 - Hunky Dory Crisps (Cheese & Onion) & chocolate buttons
2 - Popcorn & Minstrels
1 - Popcorn & Malteasers
With combinations only being limited to what cinemas sell, you’re only restricted by your own imagination, or taste buds. No matter what combination you end up with though, you still have a problem that neither cinema owners or mankind has solved. We can put a man on the moon, cure diseases and go back in time in an old Delorean, yet we can NEVER make the food last longer than the adverts and trailers!
