Meat

Meat is the food that replaces Mushrooms in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door during Bowser's special sidescrolling levels. Like the Mushrooms that make Mario grow up when he is in Small Mario form, meat makes Bowser bigger. Meat can be found by hitting certain ? Blocks. If Bowser takes a hit from an enemy, he will shrink down by one level. Getting enough pieces of meat in one level will make Bowser gigantic, allowing him to smash through everything in the level, similar to Mega Mario. Meat does not appear outside of Bowser's sidescrolling events in the same game.

Similar giant pieces of meat can be found floating in the Ghostly Galaxy's A Very Spooky Sprint level in Super Mario Galaxy.

In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, a type of enemy called the Tenderling resembles to a piece of meat that Mario and Luigi face inside Bowser's body. In Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Bowser uses meat to heal in two of the battles against him, and also uses meat outside of battle to grow larger and stronger (a probable reference to The Thousand Year Door).