In most Kirby games, Kirby recovers health by eating Food. There are various different food items seen throughout the series and they differ in how much they recover as well as any secondary effects or power-ups they give. Food can often be found on the ground, dropped by defeated enemies, found in Chests, or created by utilizing the Copy AbilitiesCook, Refrigerator, Artist, and Magic.
Most food items are used to heal Kirby. Most of these healthy snacks resemble real-world foods and restore a little bit of Kirby's health. The amount of health restored can vary depending on the game and type of food, i.e. meat restores three health bars in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror. The Maxim Tomato restores Kirby's entire health bar and resembles a tomato with an "M" on it. Regular tomatoes appear in Kirby Super Star as one of the basic food items. The Reviving Tomato introduced in Kirby: Triple Deluxe completely heals Kirby when used, and can even revive him if his health bar depletes fully.
There are special food items, that although do not heal Kirby, serve as power-ups:
The Invincibility Candy is a special kind of candy that grants Kirby temporary invincibility to plow through enemies with. It can't protect Kirby from falls, however.
The Jumbo Candy, like the Invincibility Candy, makes Kirby invincible, but enlarges him as well. It also gives him the ability to demolish anything in his path including metal blocks and enemies that usually cannot be defeated. (Kirby Mass Attack only)
In all other non-platformers, collecting food adds to the total score.
Important Instances
Kirby: Squeak Squad’s plot centers around Kirby's Strawberry Shortcake, which is stolen by the Squeaks, causing Kirby to set out to get it back. The chest with his cake eventually finds its way into Meta Knight's hands. When Meta Knight is defeated, Daroach steals the chest and opens it thinking it still contains the shortcake. However, instead of the cake, Dark Nebula is released and takes possession of Daroach, who is turned into Dark Daroach. After beating him and Dark Nebula, the Squeak Squad gives back the shortcake to Kirby as an apology for the trouble they caused.
Kirby Mass Attack is another game in which food plays an important role. If the Kirbys defeat an enemy or destroy a block, they will get fruit, which will increase the fruit meter. The more fruit obtained, the higher the meter will be, which will give the player a higher chance of gaining ten Kirbys.
These food items will restore your health when you eat them. There are 28 different types of food, and the nutritional value and yumminess quotient differs slightly with each type. Party Balls tend to hold the largest amount of food items. You may be vulnerable when gorging yourself, but you do need to eat to survive. ”
Treats that decrease your damage. The nutritional value of each food, and how much damage it heals, is carefully measured. What's better for you, sushi or a donut? Party Balls contain a lot of food, so if you eat it all yourself, you can really lower your damage. There may be times when you laugh and walk away from food, and times when you watch someone else eating and cry.”
Pick up food and eat it to restore health. There are 28 kinds of food in all, including bread, which heals 10 damage, roast chicken which heals 15, and so on. The fancier the food, the more damage it will heal. Keep and eye out for Party Balls-they may drop a whole buffet for you to nom.”
Unless you summoned Ashley, eating food while within her dark field will cause damage instead of healing it. It's Pit's worst nightmare!”
— Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
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Press the attack button while you're prone to eat a food item that's fallen nearby.”
— Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
Trivia
Some food items in Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra are exclusive to the Japanese version, and are replaced by other foods in the international releases. The picture to the right shows the foods in the Japanese version on the top row and the corresponding foods in the international versions are in the bottom row.
According to Daroach, the bananas that grow in Volcano Valley are the sweetest in the universe. The Oohroo from Green Grounds become advanced technologically and build a spaceship in order to obtain them.
Food has been used frequently as a naming convention in the series since Kirby's Adventure. Despite this, it was not until 17 years later that Kirby visited a location made entirely of food: Sweets Park in Kirby's Epic Yarn.