About

Why Did the Prisoner Choose the Bread Instead Of the Key? or Bread Tastes Better Than Key is a series of memes based on a comic showing a prisoner reaching for a loaf of bread just outside his cell with a stick instead of a key, which is lying next to the loaf of bread.

The image has been shared on social media, often as an image macro, encouraging people to share their theories to prove that they're "philosophers," since as early as 2020, typically as a form of engagement bait. As the image continued to appear online, it became the subject of memes, including edits in which two characters give drastically different theories on why the man chooses the bread. The image has inspired many philosophical theories about why he chose the bread over the key, including theories about picking immediate gratification over long-term freedom. It has also inspired many comedic theories, the most viral being that "bread tastes better than key."

Origin

It is unclear who drew the "Why Did the Prisoner Choose the Bread?" comic, though some examples of the image appear to show a watermark of "gP" or "yP" in the lower right corner.

On June 13th, 2020, the Facebook^[1] page Motivation Portal posted the image, which shows a prisoner reaching for a loaf of bread over a key sitting outside his cell, writing, "Why do many people choose bread over keys?" garnering around 900 reactions and 600 shares in five years. This is the earliest known example of the meme, although it is unlikely to be the first.

Spread

The image was reposted numerous times over the following years, often as a form of engagement bait that asks users to comment with their interpretations of the image.

On February 10th, 2021, a version of the image with the added caption, "IF YOU KEEP THEM BUSY WITH BASIC NEEDS… THEY WILL FORGET ABOUT THE FREEDOM THEY LOST," was posted to the /r/im14andthisisdeep^[2] subreddit, garnering over 500 upvotes in four years.

On December 23rd, TikToker^[3] @diamond_promo posted a video in which he overlays an image macro version of the meme over his face with the added caption, "Why did the prisoner choose the bread instead of the key? If you know the answer, you're a philosopher," garnering over 13.4 million views in four years.

On May 19th, 2023, Medium^[4] writer Melissa Mc posted an editorial about the image, garnering over 2,100 claps in two years.

On December 17th, 2024, TikToker^[5] @s1gmav1lh0 posted an edit in which they read two different responses left by commenters on an unknown repost of the meme, one giving a longform answer about the philosophy behind the image and the other writing, "Because bread tastes better than key," garnering over 767,000 views in five months.

On December 27th, the image was posted to the /r/im14andthisisdeep^[6] subreddit again, this time garnering over 11,000 upvotes in five months.

On January 3rd, 2025, TikToker^[7] @projectpubes posted a voiceover of the meme featuring characters from Project Sekai, garnering over 180,000 views in four months.

On May 22nd, X^[8] user @namesoun posted a Name Soundalike meme referencing the comic, garnering over 21,000 likes in under a day.

Various Examples

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Search Interest

External References