Food melanoidins were isolated from bread crust, coffee, and tomato sauce and their composition was investigated by thermal degradation. Among the generated volatiles, important food flavor compounds were detected: in particular furans, carbonyl compounds, 1,3-dioxolanes, pyrroles, pyrazines, pyridines, thiophenes, and phenols. The results indicated that the isolated melanoidin fractions mainly consisted of compounds formed from carbohydrates and their degradation products. Besides proteins, other food constituents were incorporated in the melanoidin structure as well, such as lipid oxidation products in tomato melanoidins and phenolic compounds in coffee melanoidins. A comparison of the thermal generation of volatiles between these food-derived melanoidins and model melanoidins prepared from a single carbonyl compound and an amino acid showed that the degradation pattern of food melanoidins is quite different from that obtained from a glucose-glycine model system.