In a flashback we see Riddle presented a birthday cake from a low-sugar recipe made with nuts and lecithin-rich soy flour to improve (his) cerebral function,” possibly made by his mother herself.
In Riddle’s dream of Book 7 Riddle’s mother makes chiffon cake and butter cookies, with the others of the group describing the cake as “kinda on the hard side” and “oddly dry,” while the cookies are “mealy” and not sweet.
Trey whispers, “This is made with soy flour and okara powder. Whatever sweetener this is isn’t white sugar, either. And it’s way below what a recipe would call for.”
Ortho suggests, “This might be a representation of what kind of sweets the mother from Riddle’s memories would make.”
In the flashback Riddle asks for a strawberry tart for his birthday, instead, which his mother rejects for being “monstrously unhealthy. I might as well feed you poison! Even just a single slice would exceed your recommended daily intake of sugar.”
Cater says that “Riddle’s diet at home was strictly managed down to the GRAM,” which we see in the flashback where his mother explains, “dinner tonight will be a tuna sauté rich in DHA and omega-3 fatty acids. Now that you’re eight, your caloric intake should be 600 kilocalories per meal, so don’t eat more than 100 grams of it.”
When offered the chance to try a strawberry tart child-Riddle at first refuses, but then concedes to Trey’s encouragement. When his mother discovers what he has done she forbids him from ever spending time with Trey and Chenya again, saying, “Clearly, you’re not able to handle the freedom of independent study. I need to keep a closer eye on you.”
Riddle explains that, having lost his favorite part of the day due to rule-breaking, he vowed to never do it again, though it is revealed at the end of the story that he actually wanted to eat the chestnut tart that Ace had brought him, regardless of the rules. In Riddle’s dream he is not only allowed to eat tarts from Trey’s family’s patisserie but eats practically an entire tart himself every year on his birthday, as well as slices of tart twice a week.
He also presents his guests with cups of tea that include “five sugar cubes and lots of milk and honey!”
In Trey’s dream, Riddle not strictly adhering to recommended daily nutritional allowances or nutritional guidelines and saying, “Mother can’t watch over me here. Why should I care one whit about recommended allowances” is a significant factor in Trey realizing he is dreaming.
When scolding Idia for eating “packaged snacks and cup noodles” Riddle says, “none of those foods provide your body with useful nutrients. The human body requires specific nutrients, which you should consume in carefully measured quantities to avoid excesses or deficiencies.” Jamil responds, “That’s just extreme in a different way.”
When asked what he normally eats Riddle says, “I order the cafeteria’s blue plate specials. They have professionally crafted nutritional balance which fits my criteria. On days when we have tea parties, I calculate a day’s worth of nutritional requirements and tailor some buffet offerings to fulfill them.” He says he “recently had a particularly delicious meat pie.”
After learning about the manner in which Halloween is celebrated in Epel’s hometown, with “about forty or so relatives and people from the neighborhood” gathering together eating from a “giant platter of food,” Riddle responds, “So there was no set single serving size? But then how would you know how much is polite to eat?” Invited to visit one day Riddle silently reflects, “I would have no idea how to conduct myself at a party like that.”
Cater says that Riddle generally frowns on eating too much at Heartslabyul’s tea parties “since it could spoil (their) dinner.”
During the Halloween party at NRC Floyd comments on Riddle not eating “more than a couple’a nibbles,” but Riddle retorts, “I’ll have you know I consume my recommended caloric intake every day, without any excess or deficiency!”
When Silver mentions seeing a cake Riddle responds, “Cake, you say…? Ah, ahem! I’m already full, so l’ll have to pass,” but Floyd ultimately drags him to the buffet.
Riddle has a voice lines of, “The Queen of Hearts’ Rules state that you may eat whatever you like and speak freely on your birthday. Isn’t that grand?”
During the first NBC event Riddle seems shocked by Sally’s suggestion of eating snakes, spiders, bats, rats, and frogs, saying, “It’s unsanitary,” but he later eats Sally’s cooking made to taste like strawberry tarts under the effects of Trey’s unique magic.
Trey quietly reflects, “…but I only changed the flavor, not any of the actual ingredients. Ah, well. Look at the way they’re smiling. Why spoil the moment?”
When asked if there are any foods he hates Riddle says, “I prefer not to eat overly seasoned foods that seem unhealthy.”
During Glorious Masquerade Riddle eats “a fresh-baked baguette sandwich with ham and cheese-so much cheese, in fact, it’s spilling out the sides” and seems to like it, and he has a voice line of, “I tried fast food for the first time recently. The flavor is one thing, but there’s something to be said for the service speed and price.”
During the Eternity Float vignette Riddle eats gelato on buns and meringue cookies with the group.
In Trey’s dream Book 7 he says, “Riddle’s so different from how he used to be. He eats whatever he likes and has as much of it as he wants. It makes me truly happy,” and, “Riddle’s changed a lot now that he’s spent time away from home…Now he eats anything he likes, in whatever volume he wants…it makes me feel good to see him eating up, and growing into the person he is now.”
When we meet the Riddle of Trey’s dream he is much larger than Riddle of reality, saying that Idia must be jealous that he is the taller of two, now, and, “Trey made it all possible by feeding me three whole loaded bacon quiches every day.”
Riddle will often mention Trey’s cooking, saying, “Trey develops new food recipes in the Science Club. If you’re lucky, he might let you taste test them.”
He also has an Eternity Float voice line of, “Lemons are one of Ultramarine City’s local fruits. I wonder how many Trey would need to make me a lemon tart…”
We see Trey present a lemon tart to Riddle during Tsumsted, saying, “I imagine this has been a stressful situation.”
Riddle tries a crostata for the first time during the Eternity Float event and says, “I wonder if Trey would make this for me if I asked.”
Trey presents Riddle with a grape cake during another Tsumsted event, comments on the “intricately made Halloween treats” that Trey can make during the first NBC event, and Trey references making too much cake for Riddle in a vignette.
It is possible that Riddle was even more displeased with Ace stealing from the refrigerator of Heartslabyul in Book 1 than he might have been otherwise because the food that Ace chose to take was a strawberry tart made by Trey. The resulting Unbirthday Party fallout is a direct result of Trey telling Ace, “Riddle wants a chestnut tart.”
At the end of Book 7 Trey and Cater both praise Riddle for his efforts in protecting Idia from Malleus and Trey says, “Once we’re back at Heartslabyul, I’ll bake you all a cake to celebrate.”
Cater says, “Riddle always looks forward to having the first slice of a tart,” and upon hearing that they will be going to Riddle’s dream Trey decides to bring a whole strawberry tart with him, “just to be on the safe side.”
Trey panics when they arrive at Riddle’s house (“I knew it was bad idea! I’ll get rid of it right now!”), but Riddle reacts strongly to Grim’s wanting to eat it for himself (“Don’t you DARE eat it without my permission!”). Trey is surprised when Riddle announces to his dream-Mother that Trey has brought the tart (“Is it safe to tell her that?!”), and relieved when she approves, saying, “My heart was about to leap out of my chest! I was ready for his mom to start shrieking in outrage…”
In a deeper level of Riddle’s dream, Riddle offers to spare Trey from punishment if he promises to “keep making tarts as (his) loyal retainer.”
Riddle has a voiceline of, “If I master the Culinary Crucible, will I be able to make a perfect strawberry tart one day?”
In a vignette Trey has Jade bring him a strawberry tart from a “highly renowned patisserie” in exchange for a favor and Rook is surprised, saying, “I was wondering if a strawberry tart made with your love might make Riddle happier,” but Trey responds, “even if Riddle considers himself a discerning critic of all things cake, his palate isn’t all that refined.”
When he presents the store-bought tart to Riddle, however, Trey says, “I can only hope it suits your palate, Riddle.” Riddle accepts it with, “Well, I HAVE had my fair share of strawberry tarts. But considering all the trouble you went to to get this one, I’ll make certain to savor it.” Trey responds, “You honor me.”
When asked where he would go if he could use flight magic to go anywhere, Riddle explains that he would go to a farm in the Queendom of Roses that he once went to on an elementary school trip where his classmates were able to eat ice cream but he did not, as his mother always forbade it.
Riddle explains that, after he enrolled at NRC, the farm opened a cafe that offers “hugely popular confections made with fluffy whipped cream…The cream tart looked especially bewitching. I’ve had my heart set on it for some time.”
Vil says, “So you’d go to that farm and back in one day, with your mother none the wiser, is that it? Hah, how splendid!,” and Riddle responds, “That’s not…! Actually, I must admit, you are quite right about that.”
In order to thank Riddle for his help in another vignette, Cater makes a reservation for them at a pancake cafe.
Epel has a voice line of, “Riddle and I were just getting excited talking about all the candy we have to stock up on for Halloween.”
Riddle says, “The smell of antiseptic solution soothes me. It’s second only to the aroma of a freshly baked cake,” and he also has a voice line about how dressing up reminds him of attending parties with his parents where “The cakes always looked so appetizing…”, and he seems similarly intrigued by a cake during Halloween.
When Lilia announces a game during the Stitch event that includes a “fabulous Floyd-made fruit parfait” for the winner Riddle responds, “If there’s a parfait—*cough*—if there’s special training involved, then I won’t give this anything less than my best.”
Trey says, “I’m just glad to see Riddle light up the way he does when he gets to partake of sweets,” and Cater agrees, saying, “Riddle’s mood always skyrockets when he gets one of your tarts. Your baking skillz are mad crazy. I can only imagine how many times they’ve saved the rest of us this past year…”
Grim has a voice line about talking with Riddle about the desserts in the cafeteria, while Rook says, “While he had been dining so elegantly, Roi des Roses’ eyes lit up the moment that sweets were brought out…it was truly an endearing sight.”
Twisted Wonderland Reference Note 