Why ‘Blue Bloods’ Star Bridget Moynahan Changed What She Ate During Those Dinner Scenes

Blue Bloods star Bridget Moynahan recently revealed what she used to eat during the show’s famous dinner scenes, and why she changed to eating something else.

Normally, actors do not actually eat during food scenes because of how long they can take and how easily you can get full. According to Cheat Sheet, the cast of Blue Bloods really do eat during the the dinner scenes to help make the environment feel more realistic.

“I think the first couple of seasons I didn’t eat anything and then I moved into mashed potatoes, which was really bad. So for a few years there, I was eating too many mashed potatoes for four hours,” Moynahan admitted. “I mean I just made bad choices for those couple years,” she added, then confessing, “Now I’ve moved to the cucumbers.”

The dinner scenes on Blue Bloods have become a beloved staple of the series, and Moynahan has some thoughts on why she thinks viewers love them so much.

“With the older generation it kind of brings back the memories of when they used to do that,” she explained in a past interview. “And the younger generation is kind of yearning for that so it’s hitting everyone I think.”

Her co-star Tom Selleck also spoke about the dinner scenes in the past, saying, “Dinner scenes are long; they can be boring [to film] because you repeat the same dialogue and eat the same food — which gets pretty gamy — for eight hours.”

“But not only are the characters catching up with each other, but I’m catching up with my friends,” he added. “Sometimes the director can’t get our attention between takes because we’re screwing around. We can get pretty silly by the end.”

Blue Bloods property master Jim Lillis opened up about the logistics of doing a dinner scene explaining, “All the actors eat to varying degrees.”

“Some are good at faking it,” he continued. “They are very good at making it look like they’re really enjoying a hearty dinner.”