Why Do Zombies Eat Brains

Mar.W asks: Why are zombies always depicted liking to eat brains?

zombiesZombies have been a pop culture staple for decades, and in that time the concept of the dead coming back to life somehow to feast on the living has proliferated virtually every form of media that exists. One trait that is seemingly synonymous with zombies is their apparent need to feed on the brains of the living. But why is this idea so intrinsically linked with zombies and where did it come from?

(To be clear when we say that we’re going to talk about zombies, we’re referring to zombies as they’re understood by modern pop culture, not the zombies of Haitian and West African folklore, which are an entirely different entity altogether.)

With that out of the way, we initially thought that answering this question was going to be easy since modern media featuring zombies all have roots back to the exact same source, George A. Romero’s cinematic masterpiece, Night of the Living DeadWhile it’s true that zombies have been around in various forms before the release of Night of the Living Dead in 1968, Romero’s film is largely considered to have introduced the concept of the modern zombie to the world and almost all media involving them draws from his film in some way.

Although Romero is noted as the source for many of the common zombie tropes, shambolic movement and a hunger for human flesh being the most prominent, zombies don’t actually eat brains in any of the six “Of the Dead” series of films he directed. In fact, Romero himself has no idea where the brain-eating idea came from and in a 2010 interview with Vanity Fair, when asked about the link between zombies and brains, Romero very bluntly explained that: “Whenever I sign autographs, they always ask me, “Write ‘Eat Brains’!” I don’t understand what that means. I’ve never had a zombie eat a brain. But it’s become this landmark thing.”

Romero went on to explain that although his zombies do indeed eat human flesh, he’s never given much thought as to why they do this and even expressed amusement at the idea of a film exploring the idea of, as he put it, “Do they [zombies] shit?

The origins of the “zombies eating brains” trope didn’t actually appear in media until well after Romero’s film debuted in the 60’s, first being featured in the 1985 movie, Return of the Living Dead. While you could be forgiven for thinking Romero had a hand in making this film due to its title, it was actually released entirely independent of his input. You see, after the release of Night of the Living Dead in ’68, Romero and his co-writer, John Russo parted ways and reached the agreement that Russo would retain the rights to the “living dead” suffix whilst Romero agreed to use “of the dead” in any subsequent media he produced.

Though Russo had a hand in the creation of the original Night of the Living Dead, Return of the Living Dead isn’t considered to be linked to the official “of the dead” series. This is mainly due to the numerous discrepancies between the zombies in both men’s films. While the zombies in Romero’s films can be “killed” in a sense by destroying their brain, Russo’s zombies are effectively immortal, being shown to survive being decapitated and even burned to a crisp.

In regards to why the zombies feed on brains, the closest we’ve ever come to an official explanation is a quote from Return of the Living Dead’s writer and director, Dan O’Bannon, who suggested that the undead felt the need to feed on the brains of the recently living because it somehow made them feel better by easing their pain. Avid fans of the zombie genre have tried to expand on this reasoning by asserting that zombies eat brains and guts because of the high levels of serotonin they contain, something that is kind of alluded to but by no means confirmed in the film’s official commentary where the production designer for the film, William Stout, notes that the idea of eating brains somehow alleviating the zombie’s pain makes sense.

As for investing such time and effort in such zombie minutia, Romero, who we’re treating as the de facto authority on all things zombie, because he kind of is, has criticised people in the past for taking his work too seriously including Max Brooks, who you may recognise as the author of the best selling Zombie Survival GuideRomero has always maintained that the focus of his movies isn’t the zombies- it’s us, or rather our reaction to them and that the zombies and how they function isn’t important. An idea that is shared by the many creators of media inspired by his work.

For example, Robert Kirkman, the creator of the immensely popular Walking Dead series has stated that he will never reveal how the original zombie outbreak started or how the zombies infect through biting because it’s “unimportant” to the story. Likewise, in the film Shaun of the Dead, the cause of the zombie apocalypse the film revolves around and how exactly the zombies “work” is never revealed, only hinted at as a direct homage to Romero’s films where we’re similarly never told why or how zombies are able to exist.

As for why the idea of zombies eating brains has managed to become so widespread despite the fact it’s not a trait Romero’s zombie’s (and by extension almost all zombies in modern fiction) share, The Simpsons are believed to be the main culprit in the idea becoming popularised. The 1992 classic Treehouse of Horror segment Dial Z for Zombies, which itself was a spoof of Return of the Living Dead is one of the earliest pieces of media with the exception of Return of the Living Dead itself to feature brain eating zombies. To quote Matthew Belinkie of OverthinkingIt.com: “millions of kids saw this episode before they were old enough to see a real zombie film. I suspect that for a whole generation, this was the first zombie story we ever saw. And that, my friends, is why we think that zombies eat brains, even though most of us have never seen a movie where this is the case.”

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our new popular podcast, The BrainFood Show (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, Feed), as well as:

Bonus Facts:

  • Being a vegan and raw-foodist, Woody Harrelson did not actually eat any real Twinkies in the movie Zombieland.  Rather, the “Twinkies” he was shown eating were made from cornmeal and were vegan-safe. It should also be noted that Twinkies only have a shelf life of about 25 days, contrary to what many a film would have you believe.
  • It’s generally thought the reason the zombie genre exploded the way it did is because the original Night of the Living Dead movie was accidentally released into the public domain immediately following its release, allowing people to make and sell their own copies without paying anyone any royalties. This resulted in the film being released dozens of times by multiple publishers.
  • Despite the obvious inspirations The Walking Dead took from his work, Romero apparently doesn’t like the series, famously describing it as “a soap opera with a zombie occasionally”. He also feels similarly lukewarm about the World War Z movie.
  • Although it’s credited with kick-starting the zombie genre, the word “zombie” is never uttered in Night of the Living Dead once. According to Romero, this is because he didn’t think his creatures were zombies in the traditional voodoo sense.
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16 comments

  • This is close but it’s a swing and a miss. It’s true the answer lies in the 1985 film but it’s directly in the script. In the movie a partial zombie (torso to head) is captured, restrained and it has retained enough of it’s wit to respond to the human inquisitors. The zombie explains that being dead is painful and that brains relieve the pain and actually makes several comments about wanting to eat brains. So that’s that. No need to go to the Simpons years later.

    • Chris Jones, I remember that scene as well. I thought it explained the brain eating thing quite well.

      If folks think that we can only have one kind of zombie and only Romero can tell us what that is they are definitely overthinking it and taking it much to seriously.

      If I like I can have a zombie that only eats navel lint but has the nasty habit of killing humans to do it. Romero is free to disown me if he likes. In fact, I would encourage him to do so since a public feud would make people want to see my stuff and critique it!

  • Little-known piece of trivia: The very first zombie movie was commissioned/sponsored by a major European hat-making company, which (obviously) wanted its hats – lots of its hats – prominently displayed in its movie.

    The original screenplay (based upon a then-ten-year-old SF story) had the zombies going for some unknown blood factor found only in the spleen. The hatmaker wanted patrons to see their hats, so the food of choice became brains.

    😉

    • Somehow, I don’t think that associating your product with brain eating zombies is a wise marketing move. I think the proof is that nowadays no one wears a hat anymore as part of their business attire.

      Coincidence?
      I do not think so.

  • I enjoyed reading this and everything is explained with great detail and thought. Zombies still are and always will be the most disturbing and horrifying monster ever created by us. When I first saw Return of the living dead, tarman scared the crap out of me. His appearance and voice always yelling “BRAINS!” Was very creepy.

  • I would think a better question would be, why are zombies so popular.

    And the answer to this question; zombies have bad oral hygiene and brains are the easiest human bit to gum, with the texture of stiff custard.

    • I think zombies liberate our inner mass murderer and relieve us of the guilt.
      Do sociopaths watch zombie movies?

      • Nah, zombies are an allegory for the mindless masses of humanity, stripped of social mores.

        Imagine, you take a person, wipe all they know about civilization, then wait around until they get hungry. Pretty much describes how things have been at some points in human history when things get desperate or times get hard enough.

        It could also be a view on us as consumers. We eat and eat until something is destroyed (heard the same song on the radio until it made you sick?) and then move on to the next thing.

        Could also be “commies.” When you get down to the bottom of communism, those who have the means are forced to help those who dont. Sounds pleasant, if you don’t have means. Not so pleasant if you were an engineer or construction worker that was forced to build a house for a person who wants one without any recompense. That’s just a fancy way of calling the engineer a slave ,because individuality is long gone. Zombies lack individuality and produce nothing, which is another base trait of communism. (Unless the leaders use force to subdue the citizens, which is inevitable.)

        Or maybe, it’s just a kick ass story that means none of those things. Great movies can make you think, but they don’t have to. They can also just be fun, sad, or scary.

        9 month answer delay to the rescue!

  • RagnarDanneskjöld

    I think it generally agreed that zombies love brains but what I’ve always wondered is exactly how zombies get to the brain. The skull is quite a formidable container – even extremely adroit creatures have a hard time accessing the contents.

    Kindly do an article on this.

  • I have always held that zombies PREFER brains.

    Think of it like a nice, juicy steak: what’s your favorite cut of the cow? Some like T-bone steaks, others like New York strip steaks, still others prefer porterhouse or sirloin. All of them will gladly eat the aforementioned steaks, but they REALLY want their favorites.

    Simply put, I hold that zombies eat brains because brains are the most delectable part of the human. Zombies dine on human flesh, but prefer brains.