About

Anton Ego's "I Do Not X" is a copypasta caption meme format loosely based on a scene from the 2007 Pixar animated movie Ratatouille in which Anton Ego speaks about his relationship with food as a top critic. In memes, the altered version of Anton's monologue is altered to make various references.

Origin

On June 29th, 2007, animated Pixar film Ratatouille premiered.^[1] In one scene of the film, cutthroat food critic Anton Ego introduces himself to the main character Alfredo Linguini. After Linguini takes a jab at the critic, saying that he looks thin for someone who likes food, Ego responds by saying that he doesn't just like food but loves it, and doesn't even swallow it if he doesn't. On December 10th, 2008, YouTube^[2] user zelbinion69 uploaded the scene to the platform (shown below; 1:56 mark)

- And you're thin for someone who likes food!
- I don't "like" food, I love it! If I don't love it, I don't swallow.

Starting in 2018, the scene saw use as I Don't Like X, I Love It! phrasal format.

On January 20th, 2024, X^[3] user @shitpostsenpai1 posted a still image of Ego towering over Linguini from the scene, captioned with a humorous and significantly altered version of Ego's dialogue, turned into a joke about slang terms edging and gooning. The post (shown below) received over 230 reposts and 840 likes in one year.

Spread

On January 23rd, 2024, Tumblr^[4] user captain-price-unofficially posted a screenshot of @shitpostsenpai1's post to the platform. The post garnered over 19,000 reblogs and 28,000 likes in one year. On August 9th, 2024, X^[5] user @armpitj0b made another repost that received over 12,000 reposts and 135,000 likes in five months.

Following the August 2024 repost, several users voice acted the meme. For example, on August 10th, 2024, X^[6] user @BluebriarArts posted a voiced version that received over 11,000 reposts and 94,000 likes in five months (shown below).

I have (slightly shamefully) voice acted it https://t.co/uoSKExYccZ pic.twitter.com/k9VGqfCnFU

— ⨂ JOLLY hazel ΘΔ (@BluebriarArts) August 11, 2024

Apart from reposts and redraws, the format did not see further spread until December 26th, 2024, when X^[7] user @Signs0fRoses posted version of the copypasta about posting on X / Twitter. The post (shown below) received over 21,000 reposts and 127,000 likes in four days.

Following the post, the caption format achieved viral popularity on X / Twitter, with users altering the copypasta to make various references.

Related Memes

I Don't Like X, I Love It!

I Don't Like X, I Love It! is an exploitable meme taken from the 2007 Pixar film Ratatouille. The template involves the meme creator following the phrasal template "I don't like X, I love it," replacing the noun to read what the character Anton Ego doesn't "like" but rather "loves." It first saw usage as a meme in 2019 on Reddit, spreading to other platforms over the following years. It's primarily used by fandoms to demonstrate their love of various IPs.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References