History Main / AlienLunch

->''"I'd just like them to kill my food before I eat it. Is that too much to ask?"''

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': Anne is TrappedInAnotherWorld populated by various anthropomorphic amphibians, whose diet naturally consists mostly of bugs and cooked dishes that contain bugs. It takes her about a month to get used to it (though she still draws the line at eating live ones).

* ''Webcomic/{{Outsider}}'': Inverted. Most of the Loroi with Alex are shocked when they learn that humans drink milk from animals. It's mentioned that one of the three main Loroi worlds is limited to meat, eggs, and hides due to its mostly-ocean climate, while another has an artificial, limited biosphere mostly composed of a handful of hyper-efficient crop species and no equivalents to large livestock. The third a very diverse biosphere and thus a much more varied cuisine, but Loroi outside said world generally think their food is [[ForeignQueasine really gross]].

* ''[[Literature/Retief The Yillian Way]]'': Subverted. A human diplomat negotiating a peace settlement is fully prepared to eat the disgusting slop served up to him, but his aide realizes it's a SecretTestOfCharacter. [[FlippingTheTable He knocks over the table]], marches up to where the big shots are eating and insists on being served good human food. As the alien society is based on alpha male domination, he successfully asserts his authority in their eyes.

* ''Literature/TheYillianWay'': Subverted. A human diplomat negotiating a peace settlement is fully prepared to eat the disgusting slop served up to him, but his aide realizes it's a SecretTestOfCharacter. [[FlippingTheTable He knocks over the table]], marches up to where the big shots are eating and insists on being served good human food. As the alien society is based on alpha male domination, he successfully asserts his authority in their eyes.

* ''Literature/SectorGeneral'': The cafeteria in the titular giant hospital station serves all the innumerable oxygen-breathing species. One is strongly advised to keep one's eyes on one's own plate.

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': There are lizard like things with blue flesh on Hope's End that are palatable raw for humans, khunds and several of the other species who've had members interred on the hellish planet but the human characters do no care for them much and are mostly eating them out of necessity and desperation.

* ''Webcomic/{{Outsider}}'': Most of the Loroi with Alex are shocked when they learn that humans drink milk from animals. It's mentioned that one of the three main Loroi worlds is limited to meat, eggs, and hides due to its mostly-ocean climate, while another has a limited biosphere and no equivalents to large livestock. The third a very diverse biosphere and thus a much more varied cuisine, but Loroi outside said world generally think their food is [[ForeignQueasine really gross]].

* The titular character of ''WesternAnimation/MuzzyInGondoland'' is an alien whose favorite food is ''clocks''. During the story he also eats parking meters, a typewriter and prison bars.

** Calvin's dad once had to tell him he was eating toxic waste and it would give him mutant powers before Calvin ate. This upset and disgusted Calvin's mom.

* ''Series/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'':

** ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' had a variation where Todd hosted a meeting with the team about negotiating an alliance behind the backs of the other Wraith. Upon entering the room, Sheppard immediately commented on the fruit bowl Todd added to the table in order to make the talks more comfortable for the humans (since the Wraith digestion system goes dormant after puberty). Todd responds that he hopes they prove to be [[IAmAHumanitarian as delicious as the farmers who grew them]]. Cue everyone [[YourNormalIsOurTaboo looking away in disgust]]. While the Wraith cannot metabolize food or drink, this doesn't stop some of them from enjoying the sensations of eating and drinking.

* ''VideoGame/{{Hiveswap}}'' reveals that lowbloods tend to eat various insects and worms. Said bugs are the default pizza/[[CallARabbitASmeerp flavor disc]] topping for the lower castes; those higher up on the [[FantasticCasteSystem hemospectrum]] are granted the ability to order normal toppings, such as pepperoni.

** ''VideoGame/XComUFODefense'': The aliens eat a nutrient-rich soup made from dissolved body parts extracted from cattle and humans. What's more, you can sell it on the market.

** ''VideoGame/XCOMChimeraSquad'' goes further to imply the differences between the various alien races, with Sectoids and Mutons in particular being singled out as not being able to consume human food. Commercials that play over the base radio include advertisements for BIG CRUNCH, which Sectoids [[NoodleIncident should never, ever eat.]] Another advertisement is for [[ArtificialMeat NotDogs]], which are edible by all species, but [[RattlingOffLegal come with a long list of warnings]] for non-human species.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'', Sam Starfall's StarfishAlien species are scavengers, so he's vocally appreciative of thoroughly aged food. This includes diner leavings that [[EvenTheRatsWontTouchIt are deadly to cockroaches]] and [[ItCameFromTheFridge fridge leftovers]] that nauseate even a professional parasitologist. While he's tolerant of human-standard food, he thinks it's a shame that it gets eaten before it can have a few months to ''really'' develop its flavour.

* ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'' is a manga about cooking dungeon monsters into meals, so this reaction occurs to almost everyone who gets offered a serving of TeamChef Senshi's latest dish: mandrake and basilisk egg omelette, grilled kelpie, dryad fruit potage, and more. But since Senshi is a SupremeChef who's spent most of his life inside the dungeon honing his cooking skills and foraging for the best ingredients, anyone who actually tries a bite invariably finds it delicious. This also gets discussed a little: some of the ingredients he uses, such as dried slime and treasure bugs, are considered perfectly normal delicacies in other parts of the world, and one character tentatively trying bicorn brain doria warms up to it after comparing its taste to milt, weirding out another character that she'd happily eat fish testicles but hesitate about brains.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-261 SCP-261]] is a vending machine that primarily dispenses these. Items have included inhaled gaseous energy drinks, a windowed box of [[StarfishAliens furry one-eyed three-pawed creatures]] with a BigRedButton that [[LetsMeetTheMeat microwaves them to death]], canned meals "eaten" by listening to the scream that is emitted when the can is opened, and a package of Gummy Bear-like snacks shaped like hands with extended middle fingers and containing lethal doses of cyanide ([[BerserkButton this one dispensed when a counterfeit Japanese coin was inserted]]). It's also not above dispensing food items that are not at all fit for human consumption, including a container of citrus-flavored something that exploded on contact with oxygen, a live frag grenade, and a canister of hydrogen cyanide gas. The alien-ness of the food 261 dispenses is directly proportional to the number of times it's been used in a 24-hour period, as well as the time that has passed since its last use; the more it's used, the weirder and more potentially dangerous the things it spits out, which is why the Foundation established a limit of ten uses per day.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-261 SCP-261]] is a vending machine that primarily dispenses these. Items have included inhaled gaseous energy drinks, canned meals "eaten" by listening to the scream that is emitted when the can is opened, and a package of Gummy Bear-like snacks shaped like hands with extended middle fingers and containing lethal doses of cyanide ([[BerserkButton this one dispensed when a counterfeit Japanese coin was inserted]]). It's also not above dispensing food items that are not at all fit for human consumption, including a container of citrus-flavored something that exploded on contact with oxygen and a canister of hydrogen cyanide gas. The alien-ness of the food 261 dispenses is directly proportional to the number of times it's been used in a 24-hour period, as well as the time that has passed since its last use; the more it's used, the weirder and more potentially dangerous the things it spits out, which is why the Foundation established a limit of ten uses per day.

* ''Literature/RodAlbrightAlienAdventures'': Rod is briefly disgusted when told that the aliens he's working with raise worms for food. One of the [[CantArgueWithElves aliens haughtily replies]] that his species doesn't believe in eating creatures as intelligent as the ones ''humans'' raise for food.

** Or Zoidberg bringing crab legs to a party. As Hermes is eating one, Zoidberg mentions that "I made them myself". Hermes realizes the possible meanings of that and looks disgusted.

* ''LightNovel/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'': Since the titular character is an alien whose race helped inspire the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, her grocery list includes items like shantak bird eggs, black goat of the woods (a.k.a. Shub-Niggurath) meat or her famous "BLT" sandwich [[spoiler:(Byakhee-Lloigor-Tsathoggua)]]). As a result, her LoveInterest Mahiro actually refuses to eat any of her food unless he's absolutely positive it was made with only Earthly ingredients (no, Pterodactyl doesn't count), showing that he's actively trying to [[AvertedTrope avert]] IAteWhat. The issue isn't Nyarko's cooking skills, either; other human characters enjoy her meals, and so has Mahiro on the few occasions when he gave them a shot. However, after she served him a ''bento'' and refused to identify the meat involved, he started "boycotting" her dishes. (Though he might have a valid complaint with the "BLT" -- at least one of the items involved is a sentient being, meaning that even if it doesn't quite qualify as [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalism]] it's still extremely {{Squick}}y.) The same holds true for the takoyaki made by their friend Luhy Distone; Mahiro's friends and family love it, but every time he starts to take a bite, he sees the little SuperDeformed Cthulhu on the shop's sign and loses his appetite. Technically speaking, Luhy's cooking might not even be am example of this trope since Mahiro only ''assumes'' it's made with alien ingredients.