Polly wanna pizza

His ungrateful little bastihd behavior continues. See, Ziggy bought an enormous pallet of crackers on the pretense that they'd be right suitable for, y'know, a parrot. These crackers are priced to move and Ziggy's not going to eat that kind of avian crap.

And he's clearly not the target market See, Ziggy likes blue things. He was willing to tolerate that parrot and his infernal brown stand, but this may be the last straw that allows him to acknowledge that he has long stood on the far side of the edge he fell over when Mother died.

He's somebody's disowned half-brother

". . . How about a nice slice of Adriano?" He doesn't work there; he just goes around soliciting the diners.

Don't buy the Judge Parker Crunchies, kids!

Actually, Ziggy's eating "Trail Mix", the only snack food fully licensed and endorsed by outdoorsman/animal-loving ranger Mark Trail. Maybe a look at the ad will give some proper context:

Bad things happen when you only have MS Paint available.

The deli experience

The fact that a beak is made of very firm bone and incapable of distinct vocalization means that even a super-intelligent bird (with a highly-developed birdbrain to match) would be completely unable to beg in even the slightest capacity. This leads to a fair bit of frustration and occasional miscommunication - the bird meant to ask for some of that sweet, sweet meat.

This bird wants to ask you for your lunch.

Glop-Tarts (There's probably a better pun out there)

Ziggy usually handles slapstick pretty well. But shouldn't that thing be, y'know, warm? I can barely hold a Pop-Tart when it comes out of the toaster, and Ziggy's covered in its molten gore. His lack of screaming and eye-clawing indicates to me that the thing must have "popped" while cold, which I feel points toward botulism. I'm aware that botulism is usually associated with canned goods, but the alternative is weeks of blister-faced Ziggy and nobody wants that.

Ziggy is one of the only features in newspaper comics with the cajones to refer to products and corporations by name. Suing Ziggy would be like knee-capping Fred Rogers.

Fill the world with surprise and horror

Ziggy was menaced by an unusually-aggressive lobster the last time he came here. The restaurant always dumps their secret breeding projects off on their most timid, introverted customers, like the time Woody Allen came in and was served a live puppy that could shoot its quills. After awhile you start wondering by Ziggy bothers to tie that napkin except as protection.

Voodoo Chili

Possible alternate punchlines, accounting for the body language in the panel:

"Excuse me, sir, the man in the booth near the window would like to buy you a drink."

"Your check just bounced halfway to Mexico."

"A group of gentlemen from the NSA would like to speak to you."

"Smashing green polo, sir. Allow me to escort you to the water closet to change into something tasteful."

Lobster House of 1000 Corpses

It's eat-or-be-eaten, Ziggy! Go on - bludgeon that poor crustacean to death with your now-empty water glass! Why, aren't you hungry?

I love the way that Ziggy drops a storyline only to tune into its horrifying conclusion several days later. I've never seen a lobster so menacing - poor blighter probably has a scorpion grandfather somewhere along that ultra-aggressive family tree.

Soup de Damned

Ziggy learns firsthand the plight of much of the third world and beyond - the basic human "search" for sustenance - a search that ends only in futility for a large portion of the human race. Granted, a posh diner seems an ironic place to learn this message, but I think the ironic juxtaposition serves to underline the basic point.

After all, how long will it be before glorious apocalypse reduces even the wealthy to mere scavengers, unaided by their servant proxies who no longer see any benefit in outmoded currency, and the bygone sewers rise with a plague of roaches, themselves only 2% removed genetically from the lobster that's getting away in this strip? This feature's never more than a couple of steps removed from Armageddon.