Food Theory: What Disney Is HIDING About The Grey Stuff! (Beauty and the Beast)

To be honest, I've never given the question of which fictional food would I like to try much thought however since MatPat asked the question off the top of my head I'd like to try a Krabby Patty from Spongebob, anything from Ratatouille & the invisible food from Robin Williams version of Peter Pan.

I imagine Matpat sitting at the dinner table, taking a bite of his food, savoring the flavor, chuckling, and then muttering “It’s theory time” under his breath.

Matpat one of the few people who can use
“Going to Disney world for lore” as a business expense

Honestly I think the problem with your honey is that yours is store bought and super processed. I've removed honey straight from the frames with my friends, and that stuff is DELICIOUS. Like, it's not over-sweet, it's not bland, it almost gives you a buzz of energy from the taste alone. THAT is the honey that fantasy gushes over.

Why do I imagine disney world has Matpats face on record and are told to either keep an eye on him or keep him out

I actually knew about goose liver pate already because my Mom's French and I've seen a depiction of the force-feeding process in a French comic book once. And I actually thought towards the beginning of the video that the grey stuff was probably pate. It's kinda cool to already know what Mat Pat's talking about for once

Speaking of every thing in Harry Potter looking delicious , you should try the Garry potter recipe for pumpkin pasties . They’re warm and flaky and covered in sugar and melted butter and are just the best. I’ve made them many times for family

In the Spanish version of the song, when they mention the gray stuff they sing "pruebe el hígado de pato" which translates to "try the duck liber". Having it confirmed by the theorists is just chef's kiss.

I'd definitely try some of the foods from Avatar if I could. Moon peaches , komodo rhino jerky, flaming fire flakes, possum chicken, and I'd obviously wash it all down with some of Iroh's tea.

I remember watching Alice in Wonderland and always wondered about the blue dessert she ate to shrink and grow. Is it a cookie or cake or macaroon? Idk but it looked delicious 😂

I was able to realize my dream to try Turkish delight when my boss brought back some from Turkey. Though it was tasty, I do not think it would compel me to betray family (Lion Witch and the Wardrobe)

There’s a youtuber called binging with babish who makes foods from shows and games and he actually made both of the sandwiches you said you wanted to try. He always makes the recipe as similar as possible to the source material and he makes it a second time with his own spin on the recipe to make it better.

I would like to try the hot chocolate from the Polar express. Since i was a little kid i always wondered how the hot chocolate from the Polar express would taste. I mean the conductor and the chefs and even the waiters sing how good the hot chocolate tastes. Oh and the hot chocolate even comes out of a wacky machine that shoots the hot chocolate directly into the cups. So i would like to try the hot chocolate from the Polar express if i could. Not to mention that the Polar express is one of my favorite movies around Christmas time (besides Charlie and the chocolate factory) 🍫😋

I would love a theory on how Gaston's egg intake affects his health AND the village's economy. Because the woman is like, "I need six eggs" and the reply being "that's too expensive".

I knew exactly what the "Grey stuff" was all the way back in 1991 (8 years old) because I was a big fan of Rankin Bass' "Wind in the Willows" in which Mr. Road set off on his road trip with virtually no food stuffs, and Rat & Moley sing about all the foods they DON'T have, in the song, "We don't have any Pate de foie gras" (sung by Roddy McDowall & Eddie Bracken) it's pretty cute.

I love how matpat takes the most ridiculous things and makes a theory out of them

I’ve always wanted to try the stuff tiana makes from princess and the frog, the things getting served to the dad/mayor guy(I haven’t watched this movie in WAY too long😭😔) but also like anything in ratatouille, anything in beauty and the beast, honestly most Disney foods look absolutely delicious, I’m too indecisive for this💀💀

Love Food Theory, Binging with Babish has actually done the ultmeatum before and apparently it's really good yet greasy. I would love to try a Krusty Burger just to see how low quality Krusty Burger is. Or "La bombe", a giant eclair also from The Simpsons
Also as soon as i realized that the grey stuff was savory then i knew it was a pâté.

Can we appreciate how Matpat always makes intros and songs in his own words, its so awesome😊and hilarious😂

My thoughts before watching the video:
I know Disney World has "the Grey Stuff" as basically a chocolate mousse type of dessert, but I always thought it was just Foie Gras. (pronounced Fwa Gra) I thought the original line was "try the foie gras, it's delicious!" and either actor had trouble saying foie gras, or that the name wouldn't read well with kids and so it got changed to "gray stuff" instead.
Foie Gras, by the way, is ground up poultry liver, typically duck or goose, spread on crackers.
Now to see what MatPat thinks...

I knew it lol. I’ve been telling people the grey stuff is meant to be Foie Gras forever for these exact reasons. It’s the only thing that makes sense in the time/place and context of the song. Lmao excellent video

Mat's inner theatre nerd really shines anytime he sings 😆

I would love to see some of the foods from food wars 😍
And maybe a chowder themed video/theory? 🤔

I think you are mistaken about the contents of the Grey Stuff. I agree that a savory platter of hors d'oeuvres would not have the sweet "Grey Stuff" that they serve in the Disney parks, but meat pates are actually much more brown than the Stuff shown in the movie--also they were generally much firmer (BTW--there were also meat pastes made by pounding boiled meat--particularly tongue or kidney--with butter to make a mash--see Amelia Simmons" American Cookery--so Belle could have been eating something that did not cause quite so much suffering). However, another common tidbit was fruit or fruit juice mixed with soft cheese, herbs and salt. I propose that the Grey Stuff was actually a cottage or cream cheese mixed with bilberry juice. Bilberries are a European relative of blueberries (which are native to North America) and were quite common before the tastier and prettier (IMHO) blueberry was imported. On exposure to air, bilberry juice turns very grey, and a whipped cream cheese would have just the texture of the stuff Belle scoops up with her finger. For what it's worth...

Food theory idea : Can food critics actually recognize the difference in quality between ingredients if they’re not told which is which or if they’re told a generic ingredient is a fancy one
Edit : Ma! I’m famous! 😂

I wanted to point out that in the Italian translation of the movie, when Lumiere pulls out the Grey stuff he says "provi il pollo", wich means... "try the CHICKEN". So we already had a hint on what the Grey stuff truly was.

Dude the soup from ratatouille looked so good. I know you know binging with babish 😂 he’s done a video on what it is and it’s pretty interesting. He interpreted the grey stuff as chicken liver mousse. As it was era appropriate and just made sense 😂 He makes my childhood dreams of wanting to eat all the food from movies, shows and games a reality 😂

Ive never really given it much thought but I guess I've always subconsciously wanted to try the food in Harry Potter⚡ cause it just looks SO stunning and delicious😋

As fictional food goes, I always wanted to try Pumpkin Juice and Butterbeer from hp, or lots of stuff from Star Wars (colored milk, alien meat/broth). Some versions of these things are available in the respective parks but I've never had the chance to go and try the park versions 😭

9:30. Candlesticks can't drink champagne. So, whether or not they still had champagne after their transformation comes down to whether or not the Beast drinks champagne.

I'm surprised Matpat hasn't collabed with Binging with Babish yet, considering he's literally made all of the foods Matpat has wanted to try

If we’re not just talking about Disney movies, then I’ve actually always wanted to try doing that thing from the phantom tollbooth movie where you recite the food you want and you actually get it, it just seemed so fun lol
Also yes there is a phantom tollbooth movie, and for a movie made in 1970, it was surprisingly good

I already knew this...but it was fun to see all the historical info Mat had to dig through to discover it was "paté de pato" all along xD

Bro, you dig so deep into things and moments in movies most people would purposefully miss! You're amazing, and keep up the awesome work!

We cooked a lot of unusual things during my French class food unit, including (chicken) liver pâté! We capped the unit with a visit to an actual French restaurant a few cities over to try fancy, well done versions of some of the foods we actually wanted to try. And yeah, we spent time learning that duck was way more common of a food choice in France than it might of been for us, regionally.
I had also sort of assumed the grey stuff was a meat product because of the other items it was plated with! Theorist minds think alike!

I remember my mom saying it was a type of pate when I asked her if she knew what it was. Honestly it makes the most sense to me as well given the other options on the dish as well.

Food theory: in the Beauty and the beast we hear a villager say “I need six eggs, that’s too expensive.” Could Gaston’s egg eating habit be artificially inflating the cost of eggs?

The lemonade from that one Fairly Odd Parents episode always looked so good

After a few minutes into the video, it took me some time to take a wild guess that it's Foie Grois. My guess became reaffirmed when you mention pre-revolutionary France and became stronger when the video went on, as I remembered looking up documentaries about foie grois. (and it's contreversies) An iconic quote often associated was king Louis the XIV who said it was "a dish fit for kings" (citation needed)
Man I'm lonely

i remember reading somewhere a while ago that historically in areas where chocolate was a rare and luxerious imported good, it was considered more of an aphrodisiac than a casual snack or dessert lol
maybe a better wedding gift than you would think

Film+food theory hybrid. I love it and I’ll be hungry for more. Also my favorite cartoon food is a kelp cake.

im ALWAYS thinking about what fictional foods i wanna try next. Im working on a splatoon themed cookbook atm and im almost up to 90 recipes. Ive written full on paragraphs of lore about what each culture in the world of splatoon would eat. (for example squids like tangy fruity flavors, while octos are more into spices, based on in universe details like the art book page for the Kelp Dome map and the backstory behind why Octavio carries wasabi sticks)
"what if fictional food was real" is basically like my entire personality rn
*currently the food i wanna try most is the drink baggies from Crab N Go

Matpat, if you’re disappointed by honey, I highly recommend looking around at some locally produced “raw” honey. I literally eat mine out of the jar like Pooh. Helps my allergies, too.
Most of the supermarket stuff is cut with either rice syrup or corn syrup, and I can hardly eat that anymore. I live in Utah, and I buy from Hollow Tree Honey. They also ship around the country, but obviously it’s more environmentally friendly to source locally.

Your videos NEVER disappoint.

Having lived in Hanoi and as a result consuming liver pate almost on the daily (it's really good in banh mi), I had my suspicions about the grey stuff. Nice to know what MatPat's talking about for once!

I would love to try Pinkie Pie's desserts from Sugar Cube Corner from MLP. They always look so good, especially the rainbow pie with with 73 ingredients in it.

The cupcakes from barbie life in the dreamhouse 😍 they always looked so good and the way they eat them is so satisfying

I've always wanted to know what the gray stuff taste like!

Recipe for grey stuff:
Ingredients:
12 chocolate sandwich cookies
1 (3.4 ounce) box instant vanilla pudding
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 (8 ounce) tub frozen whipped topping, thawed
Steps:
1. In blender or food processor, crush chocolate sandwich cookies into a fine crumble, Set aside
2. In a large bowl, add instant pudding powder and milk. Whisk together and let chill in refrigerator 10 minutes.
3. Stir in cookie crumbs and whipped topping with a spoon, being careful not to over-mix.
4. Enjoy!
I got this from The Unofficial Disney Parks Cookbook I tried this recipe and it tasted exactly like it I recommend

I'll be honest with you, the grey stuff as a dessert looks more accurate than the foie gras.
I thought its secret ingredient could be ash and cinder.

I know it's been memed a lot lately, but I would love to try any of the food from Studio Ghibli movies. Especially from Spirited Away.

I'd love to try all the dishes from Ratatouille and most of the food from Ghibli movies, also pumpkin juice from Harry Potter, just to see whether or not it's sweet or spicy, since they always mentioned it in the books as the one thing that everyone at Hogwarts drinks, though butterbeer is next in line from that. I once ate a piece of an oak leaf because I thought it looked like a tree star from The Land Before Time, but it was terrible and I regretted it and was forever disappointed by it lol

Watching this right after doing backstage work for a Beauty and the Beast musical feels like a fever dream

I have always wanted to try all the food from Beauty and the Beast and the Willy wonka candy room 😋

I always assumed it was liver Pâté which turns grey after some exposure to air. Back in those times they didn't have valid ways to keep the food fresh and looking pink. This would not effect the taste much or make you sick, and the result would be delicious grey stuff.

I’d like to eat a season one Krabby Patty. Specifically season one, those ones just look so good.

im a bit late to this but...
from game theory and film theory to food theory, now our childhoods are truly never safe from all three fronts, thanks MatPat

I've always thought the item was far more likely to be duxelles, a finely chopped mixture of mushrooms with their stems and sometimes shallots. sauteed in butter and often served in pies or on crackers. It's delectable, and I'd highly suggest trying it out. The recipe dates back to the mid-17th century (there is a Wikipedia article that covers the basics but the filling itself harkens back to the mushroom pasties of the 14th century, as shared in Le Ménagier de Paris (The Goodman of Paris), originally printed in 1393 and framed as a man's instructions to his new wife.

Thank you MatPat! This needs to be spread.

As a french, I just love your pronuncation. Just... incredible. Very funny.

Respect to Matpat for acknowledging that the live action remake of Beauty and the Beast is just a horrible figment of our imaginations

Funfact: In my country the grey stuff (for the sake of rhyming) was translated as in their words 'salt in honey', so I went with that. In my case it was 2010 when Beauty and the Beast was translated in my native language so I always thought this is what grey stuff actually is.

I love how matpat came up with a theory from one line of a song.

Always wanted to try the grey stuff, The Winnie the Pooh honey and the krabby patty 😊

I have no idea why, but I always wanted to try the cakes Cinderella's step sisters threw at each other in Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time. But only after they destroyed them.

Also here’s my theory about what the gray stuff is to me it looks a lot like caviar (Fish eggs ) Personally I’ve never tried caviar but I imagine it’s delicious maybe a little salty but that just depends on if you have a pallet for seafood like I do

Personally, I thought it was some sort of pâté (literally "paste"; made from a mixture of blended meats and seasonings). It's savory, gooey, usually served on crackers or bread, and is an unappetizing grey or grey-ish pink color. It's also frequently served as hors d'oeuvres, like how the song suggests, and, while usually associated with France, can be found in most European cuisines in some form, dating back to at least the middle ages. Mousse is, in fact, just finer-ground paste (it literally translates to "foam"), though it was invented in 18th century France. However, pâté and savory mousse are considerably more rare in America, and probably wouldn't go over as well with the guests at the theme park.

I would 100% want to try Ponyo's ramen, the one with the eggs, spring onions, ham, etc. or that one scene from Spirited Away where No Face eats a bunch of food

the fictional food I've always wanted to try is the food from all the restaurant commercials. I just want that perfect burger I see in all the ads instead of the disappointing food they actually give you.

When honey is on warm food, it actually looks a lot like the honey in the “Winnie the Pooh” cartoons. I should know, because I’ve had honey walnut shrimp at Panda Express and I’ve seen the honey on the shrimp look like the honey in the “Winnie the Pooh” cartoons.

I've always wanted to eat that rainbow mystery cream the they ate in Peter Pan with Robin Williams in it.

I've always wanted to try Tubby custard. It looks so good. 😎

Honestly, everything from Ghibli movies just looks amazing, especially the feast from spirited away. If only I could make that kind of food.

I always wanted to try a krabby patty pizza. They made a whole, catchy song about it and its my favourite episode.

I always wanted the chocolate bars and confections from the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory books, and the Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster from Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy! I thought the grey stuff was pate?

Personally I want to try Soylent Red. We know Green is [spoilers], but what's red made out of? It's the more desirable variety, so presumably something more palatable.
Also, you have to love a remake that says "You know what Beauty and the Beast was always lacking? THE BUBONIC PLAGUE!"

Gray stuff has a recipe in Disney Dreamlight Valley that matches the “cookies & cream” version: cocoa beans, sugarcane, and any daily item.

hilarious how ridiculously educational this theory became good stuff indeed!

When mat pat asked:”what fictional food did you always wanted to try?”what came to mind is Toriel’s butter scouts cinnamon pie and the cake from portal.

I really wanted to try the burrito from Sherk because of how crunchy it looked 😻

In the game Dreamlight Valley which came out early access a few weeks ago, you can cook and the recipe for the grey stuff is "chocolate, vanilla and any kind of dairy/eggs/cheese" 😁

Tbh, there has never been a food from any TV media I wanted to try. I will say, however, that the Krusty Krab pizza does look delicious, as does the "Grey stuff". Also, side-note, I once made burgers in a cooking class, and I made mine EXACTLY like a Krabby Patty. And when I say exactly, I mean exactly as Spongebob says it: bun, patty, lettuce, cheese, onions, tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, pickles, and top bun together in that order!

Haven’t recently thought of what fictional foods I’d like to try honestly. Probably the foods from Harry Potter, Avatar the Last Airbender, I have a D&D cookbook that I haven’t made anything out of yet, Hot Chocolate with Cinnamon from Once Upon A Time is top tier best hot chocolate, I think it’d be awesome to get a Kingdom Hearts or Breath of the Wild cookbook, I’ve been to Universal Orlando and tried a bunch of different foods, pretty interested to see how the NintendoLand food goes over, I think that’s all?
I’m a vegetarian/pescatarian or whatever they call non beef eaters so the options are kind of sparse now. Can’t digest beef or pork anymore so that’s out of the running completely, I do have several food allergies or sensitivities so gotta be careful of those, and really all comes down to texture and flavor for me. Something might look bad but taste great or look great but taste terrible. Just gotta go with whatever my taste buds are wanting that day.

I've always wanted to try the cake from Matilda...and of course the imaginary feast from Hook!

I love how Matpat's sandwich choices are things that have been done by Binging with Babish. Time for a collab

I have always wanted to try the Bangarang? (I think that’s what they called it) from Hook. I remember when I was a kid, my gran took rainbow sherbet/jello/some kind of whipped cream (I think), she made it really fluffy and pretty on a wooden bowl/plate. She said It was the same thing lol

My first thought at the beginning of the episode was that it was some kind of liver patte. I've had duck liver patte and it was pretty good. Not sure if its the same process inorder to make the "official version", or if it could be made without torturing the animal.

I'd like to try the screaming cake from Hotel Transylvania, the dinner at Little Mermaid 1 & the stuff Morgana eats at TLM2

anything in One Piece that Sanji made literally looks amazing. I wanna try all the food on Whole cake island too, expecially big mom's wedding cake.

Not sure if I remember correctly, but in both movies the grey stuff was turned into pudding (I think in the old movie they made it brown and in the new movie they litterally animated something resembling pudding and straight out said pudding)... and now I know why!XD

I just want to point out that the gray stuff in the movie is more of a paste. So it's not just foie gras, it's specifically Pate de foie gras (Goose Liver Paste). I just thought I'd make that distinction.
If I had to pick a food that I would love to try irl, I would probably go with either the cider from the book Fantastic Mr Fox or any of the candies from the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory such as Wonka's Whipple scrumptious fudgemallow delight, chocolate milk from chocolate cows, square sweets that look round, or caramels that remove cavities among thousands of others. Don't even get me started on Wonka-Vite from Charlie and The Great Glass Elevator.

For an imaginary food, I'd like to try the elven bread from Fellowship of the Ring, lembas, and experience its filling effect.

Okay, 3 things pop into mind. Krabby Patty from SpongeBob, Cake n' bacon from Fairly Oddparents and the last one which is probably not all too exciting, the classic Homer Simpson doughnut with pink frosting and sprinkles (or Jimmies if you're one of those).

I always wanted to try the 3 dishes from I Spy Spooky Mansion for the Wii. Fly Stew, Shrinking Soup and Glowing Gruel. As long as the effects wear off. Also, Ironically, the ingredients are kinda wacky. For Fly Stew, there’s Dried Bat Wings, a Ground up Paper Airplane and Raven Feathers (Which is probably for added flavor). For Shrinking Soup, there’s 11 Tiny (Hopefully not poisonous) Toadstools, Tiny Snail Tails, Aged Baby Corn, 50 year Old Milk, A spider Cupcake, and Wormpaste ( or Worms. Either way for added protein). And for Glowing Gruel : There’s Glow-in-the-dark Eyeballs (for added flavor), Ground up Moon Dust, Fireflies (for protein) and Light Cream. I am willing to try it, despite the weird ingredients that are in the recipe

Great Video MatPat! I would love to see video's on the ultimeatum and Jake's sandwich!

When I was a wee lad, I asked my mother what the grey stuff was, she told me is was foie gras. She listed similar logic to what you used in your video, and I found it pretty plausible. I had "known" it to be foie gras for so long that I was really confused when I saw this video, I had forgotten that it wasn't a stated fact. Finally, when my family and I went to Disney world some time ago, we were incredibly dissapointed that the grey stuff wasn't foie gras.

I remember asking my parents what the grey stuff was and they told me it was pate, which I later learned was probably foie gras.

I always knew that the gray stuff wasn’t a sweet but more of an appetizer considering what was served on the tray I also thought it would be salt

I always thought the pizza from the teenage mutant ninja turtle cartoon looked super good, whenever my mom would order delivery I would try to make the cheese stretch out just like the show

it's not really fictional, but ever since the crab legs scene in Ouran Highschool Host Club I've always wanted to try it, but I also wouldn't mind trying some stuff from the candy room