Kids shows aren't known for their attention to detail, nor do they normally care about continuity errors or plot holes, and even though they've gotten better over the years show creators were terrible about these things in the 1980s.
So many 80s kids shows left giant plot holes unexplained that we can discuss all the disconnects until the cows come home, and speaking of cows- was Barth's Burgery on You Can't Do That On Television actually serving beef?
Whatever Barth was serving up made the kids sick on a weekly basis, so you'd think they would have stopped eating there, but I guess they were sick of slime.
And speaking of sick- Gargamel chased the Smurfs because he wanted to eat them, and even though it was never fully explained it seems like Smurfs must be pretty tasty if Gargamel was willing to go to so great lengths for a Smurf Sandwich.
80s Kids looking for a regular meal could pay a visit to Punky's Place, where a teenage Punky Brewster fulfilled her dream of running a restaurant and sold sammiches and such instead of going to school.
So why would a kids show let their main character play hooky? Because any show that features a dog wedding as their final episode clearly had no idea what kind of message they were trying to send to kids!
See 19 Giant Plot Holes '80s Kids Shows Left Unanswered at BuzzFeed
One fan theory holds that the Smurfs' bodies contain large amounts of the psychadelic drug psilocybin as a result of their prolonged residence in mushrooms. Gargamel wants to eat the Smurfs in order to get high.
It is only in his more lucid moments that Gargamel remembers that Smurfs are more valuable for turning into gold.