History Main / EatDirtCheap

* ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'' at one point in the manga, the protagonist is tasting some "Mochi Stones", which are edible stones with flavour and texture of mochi, while one of Teppei's full cours entries (Elg Crystals) imply that edible minerals are nothing new in the Torikoverse. [[spoiler: Eating the legendary food ANOTHER will allow the eater to sample, taste and obtain nourishment even from dirt and rocks.]]

** Later games add some other mineral-based meals for Gorons, usually as a part of sidequests: one game has you delivering a rock sirloin (a hunk of rock that resembles CartoonMeat) to a stranded Goron while another has you delivering a bowl of lava soup to a sick Biggoron. They also like to eat amber, even if it has fossilized bugs inside it.

* ''Series/DoctorWho''. In "It Takes You Away", the Doctor eats the local dirt and somehow deduces from this that the TARDIS has landed in northern Norway. She also deduces that, 25 miles away from their current location, there's an alpaca farm with a gift shop and bad TripAdvisor reviews. Her companions are used to [[DitzyGenius her bizarre behavior]] by now so take this in stride, but politely turn down the dirt when she offers it.

Compare with MetalMuncher, which also involves eating a substance that comes from the ground. Not to be confused with TastyGold, where someone bites down on a coin (without consuming it) to confirm that it's genuine.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': The Horta burrow through rock and ground by consuming it.

* Hortas from ''Franchise/StarTrek'' are silicon beings that live in the deep rocks of Janus VI, digesting rock for sustenance. Once communication was established between the Human mining colony and the native Horta population, productivity soared.

* In Season 2 of ''Series/TheGreat'', Catherine's pregnancy leads her to develop a craving for dirt. Being Empress, she has servants bring it to her in fancy trays, and chows down on it with silver spoons.

* In Season 2 ''Series/TheGreat'', Catherine's pregnancy leads her to develop a craving for dirt. Being Empress, she has servants bring it to her in fancy trays, and chows down on it with silver spoons.

** All metallic dragons like eating some types of gems, and (at least according to the 3.5 ''Draconomicon'') all true dragons can subsist off of stone and earth, although most prefer meat to dirt. Gold dragons, who refuse to harm any living creature, eat nothing but gems and jewels, and crystal dragons similarly prefer a diet of gemstones and ores over any other sort of food.

* In ''VideoGame/FossilFighters Frontier,'' there are Vivosaurs called Fossil Eaters who, well, eat fossils. They're otherwise normal Vivosaurs (normal [[WeirderThanUsual by Vivosaur standards]], anyway), but the fact that they eat fossils means that, in the areas where they appear, you'll have to defeat them before they eat the nearby rare fossils.

** Certain traveling Gorons in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' reveal that ore, gems and the like are unpleasant meals of choice. Amusingly enough, throwing one of those in your cooking pot will give you Rock-Hard Food; it restores one-quarter heart (equivalent to an uncooked acorn), and Link's eating animation shows him getting stopped mid-bite from the toughness of it.

* In ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion'', the Silicoids and custom Lithovore races subsist on rocks instead of organic crops, which frees the race from devoting population to farming. Lithovore races also lose access to farming-related technologies, but that's only an issue if the empire tries to assimilate food-eating aliens.

* Lithoid species in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' require minerals for population upkeep, just as organic species require food. Since minerals are also used for construction and upkeep almost everywhere else, this adds a bit of a wrinkle to resource management.

* Similar to the Cleopatra example above, Manny's bar in ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'' stocked a drink containing real gold flakes. "Only the best for my customers... my ''rich'' customers." You eventually have to drink some of it to set off a metal detector.

%%* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': The Horta.

* ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'': Upon collecting the Philosopher's Stone, Magnus wraps it in a glove, uses the Glutton's Fork (which allows the user to turn non-magical items edible), and eats the whole thing[[note]]Griffin's reaction to this is a passionate "[[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe What the]] ''[[PrecisionFStrike fuck?!]]"''[[/note]]. Problem being, the Philosopher's Stone is one of the most powerful magic objects in existence, and as a result, only the glove around it turns edible, meaning Magnus just swallowed a rock. RealityEnsues when Taako and Merle end up having to use some incredibly creative spell-combinations to get it out before it completely wrecks Magnus's digestive system.

* ''All'' humans, and most other animals, have a biological need to consume at least one type of naturally-occurring mineral: salt. More specifically, the sodium ions are absolutely vital for maintaining a healthy nervous system[[note]]For all the health risks of too much salt, not getting enough is ''even worse''.[[/note]].

* Hortas from ''Series/StarTrek'' are silicon beings that live in the deep rocks of Janus VI, digesting rock for sustenance. Once communication was established between the Human mining colony and the native Horta population, productivity soared.

** All metallic dragons like eating some types of gems, and (at least according to the 3.5 ''Draconomicon'') all true dragons can subsist off of stone and earth, although most prefer meat to dirt. Gold dragons, who refuse to harm any living creature, eat nothing but gems and jewels, and crystal dragons similarly prefer a diet of gemstones and ores over any other sort of food. Stone dragons also feed mainly on rocks, and consider gemstones to be rare delicacies, while mountain landwyrms subsist on diets of mountain rock spiced with the occasional giant or dire bear.

** Blue dragons can sustain themselves on mineral-rich sand as a last resource, which they strain through their teeth while burrowing beneath the desert when prey is particularly scarce.

** All metallic dragons like eating some types of gems, and (at least according to the 3.5 ''Draconomicon'') all true dragons can subsist off of stone and earth, although most prefer meat to dirt. Gold dragons, who refuse to harm any living creature, eat nothing but gems and jewels, and crystal dragons similarly prefer a diet of gemstones and ores over any other sort of food. Stone dragons also feed mainly on rocks, and consider gemstones to be rare delicacies.

** All metallic dragons like eating some types of gems, and (at least according to the 3.5 Draconomicon) all true dragons can subsist off of stone and earth, although most prefer meat to dirt. Gold dragons, who refuse to harm any living creature, eat nothing but gems and jewels. Stone dragons also feed mainly on rocks, and consider gemstones to be rare delicacies.

** All metallic dragons like eating some types of gems, and (at least according to the 3.5 Draconomicon) all true dragons can subsist off of stone and earth, although most prefer meat to dirt. Gold dragons, who refuse to harm any living creature, eat nothing but gems and jewels.