History Main / EnemyEatsYourLunch

Compare FilchingFoodForFun (when it's done in secret for fun and excitement or out of petty revenge), RobbingTheDead (when a character takes food from someone they have killed[[note]]While Enemy Eats Your Lunch is about establishing dominance, Robbing the Dead shows the character's cavalier or pragmatic attitude to death.[[/note]]) and VillainousFaceHold (another way of asserting dominance by invading personal space).

Compare to FilchingFoodForFun when it's done in secret for fun and excitement or out of petty revenge. Compare to RobbingTheDead when a character takes food from someone they have killed. While Enemy Eats Your Lunch is about establishing dominance, Robbing the Dead shows the character's cavalier or pragmatic attitude to death. Compare VillainousFaceHold, another way of asserting dominance by invading personal space.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'':

* Justified in ''Manga/GoodLuckGirl''. In order to gain an advantage in a swimming contest, Momiji eats half of a magic meal that transforms the user into either a fish or a mermaid, depending on how much was eaten. Since she only ate half of it, Ichiko eats the other half to transform herself into a mermaid as well.

* MultiplayerOnlineBattleArena games has this trope ever constantly. The one that benefits from the buffs by jungle creeps are the ones that deliver the killing blow (or in the case of ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm'', the one who stays at the mercenary area after subduing them the longest), therefore junglers usually had to be aware of enemies trying to invade their jungle and stealing their lunch. Especially common in early game where the jungler tried to get a head start to get a lot of experience when they're severely underleveled, they have to exhaust their resources in a significant number, and all it takes is for one enemy to act in the right time and all of their hard work rendered futile... and [[KickThemWhileTheyreDown the enemy with advantage can go ahead and kill them too while they're at it.]] The stake is bigger when fighting BonusBoss, because an enemy team can use this as an advantage to wipe out your team and then kill the BonusBoss for their own benefit, putting yours in a disadvantage (or simply snatch the massive benefits from a much more hard-earned team effort of your team for themselves). ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}'''s famous e-sport scene, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ElXGllTpp0 Six Million Dollar Echo Slam]]", is an example of this trope at work. This tactic often has nicknames depending on the game, such as "creepjacking/Roshjacking" in ''DOTA'', or "buff/dragon/Baron/Herald theft" in ''LOL''. Could overlap with RobbingTheDead, but technically speaking, killing the enemy is not necessary but rather landing the killing blow and/or snatching the relevant reward away.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'': In the intro, Winston gets the call to action and rushes off, leaving the burger he was about to eat, which Slimer gobbles up.

* Parodied to hell and back with ''Manga/CromarteHighSchool.'' Takashi drops his pencil, and Yutaka picks it up and eats it to assert dominance. Takashi cannot beleive what just happened. Yutaka then eats ''all of Takashi's pencils at once!''

* In ''[[Literature/{{Burke}} Blossom]]'', Burke advises the nephew of a friend how to survive in prison, as well as paying the prison BigBad to protect him. When someone tries intimidating the kid during lunch and the BigBad steps in to stop it, the kid deliberately grabs the cake off the man's plate and eats it.

* In the official music video for Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "Party in the CIA," a CIA agent shoots a South American dictator who happens to show up next to him at a bar; the spy then takes the dictator's drink with him when he leaves.

* At one point in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'', pirate protagonist Edward Kenway conquers a fort where one of his enemies, Governor Torres, is visiting. Kenway walks in on Torres having some tea. As Kenway makes it clear that he's going to rob Torres and could do far worse, he pours himself a cup of tea (though the scene ends before he drinks it).

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* From ''[[WebVideo/DeathNoteTheAbridgedSeries1KidsEntertainment Death Note: The Abridged Series (1KidsEntertainment)]]'':
-->'''Light:''' Is that MY coffee?\\
'''L:''' Not anymore, it's not. It evaporated.
* In ''Fanfic/{{Interstitium}}'', Grunt [[SenseFreak falls in love with the whole concept of flavor]] and becomes a BigEater, wanting to taste ''everything''. During their first mission, he tells Garrus he doesn't have any problem with him, but ''will'' unless he hands over his rations. Garrus incredulously points out that it's dextro-formulated and will just make Grunt sick, but hands it over anyway to avoid a fight. (Then laughs to himself when he ''does'' wind up sick.)
* In the ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'' doujin ''[=JoJo=]'s Bizarre Married Life'' (made by Creator/{{CLAMP}}), DIO uses The World to eat the Stardust Crusaders' breakfast.
* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. When Captain Janeway surrenders to the Caretaker, his Hirogen mercenaries show their contempt by [[InsigniaRipOffRitual tearing off her rank insignia]] and looting the contents of her kitbag, including a thermos holding the last coffee in 70,000 light years which the Hirogen Alpha guzzles down on the spot. This becomes a BrickJoke when Chakotay mentions having to rescue the Caretaker from a [[GRatedDrug berserk Hirogen Alpha]].
* The ''Manga/DeathNote'' fic ''Fanfic/{{Seigikan}}'' opens with one ineffable genius mind game between Light and L where Light steals and takes a bite out of one of L's strawberries and then L steals the half-eaten strawberry back and eats it.
* This is a fan-made video -- though the author was asked to create it by the authors of ''Series/{{House}}'' themselves. [[http://www.melanie-d.com/wilsonfood.html "Wilson Food"]] has clips of Wilson eating and House stealing his food accompanied by song "Let's Twist" by Chubby Checker. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=9KpvnJnI5HQ Back-up link to youtube upload called "House and Wilson & food".]]
[[/folder]]

!!Examples

--> '''Light:''' Is that MY coffee?\\

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
* In ''Film/TwoFastTwoFurious'', agent Markham thinks Brian and Roman are running from their undercover operation to make a break for freedom, instead of that they're doing an audition for the crime lord they're tracking, and nearly blows their cover. When tempers get heated afterward, Roman begins stalking around and decides to vent his frustration by swiping Markham's lunch right in front of him.
-->'''Markham''': Hey! That's mine!\\
'''Roman''': ''[angrily]'' So?!\\
''[cut to everyone going over the operation while [[FunnyBackgroundEvent Roman silently eats in the background]]]''
* In ''Film/TheAccountant'', Living Robotics's [=CFO=], Chilton, heads downstairs for a midnight snack, only to find [[ProfessionalKiller Braxton]] in his kitchen, having his lemon meringue pie, along with a glass of milk. After serving Chilton another slice, Braxton gives the completely cowed man two options for how he can be killed: an "accidental" insulin overdose, or a faked home invasion that will also have to include Chilton's sleeping wife.
* In the Disney Channel Original Movie ''Brink'', the main characters find this happening to them all the time. They get revenge, though - they stuff a sandwich full of worms, and when the big bad eats it, he gets a nice mouthful of the little wigglers. Revenge is a dish best served...[[{{Metaphorgotten}} with worms]].
* Inverted in ''Film/{{Congo}}'', when Captain Wanta demands the protagonists have some coffee and cake, then makes it clear who's top dog by ordering Creator/TimCurry to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fbGbPwKbQA STOP EATING MY SESAME CAKE!]]
* In ''[[Film/TheMightyDucks D3: The Mighty Ducks]]'', the JerkJock varsity players repeatedly steal the Ducks' lunches--until Charlie, Fulton, and Russ exact some payback with a decoy lunch bag filled with horse crap.
* When ComicBook/TheJoker crashes Bruce Wayne's party in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', he helps himself to a shrimp kebab and then grabs a glass of champagne from a guest, tossing most of it out and drinking the rest with great gusto before replacing it on a stack of wine flutes.
* In ''Film/TheGentlemen'', Ray arrives home to find Fletcher waiting for him, and casually drinking his 150 year old scotch. Later during their very strange interaction, Fletcher asks Ray to cook a steak for him.
* A variation is done halfway through the ''Film/DeathNoteSeries''. L goes to meet Light with the same kind of potato chip bag Light had used earlier to hide a piece of his [[ArtifactOfDoom Death Note]]. He then eats out of it in front of him as a way of letting him know he's a suspect.
* ''Film/{{Detention}}'':
** [[HormoneAddledTeenager Sander Sanderson’s]] first moments onscreen have him stealing [[BreadEggsMilkSquick pop, candy, and urinal cake]] from other people, having mistaken the final item for candy, only to wash his mistake down with the stolen pop.
** {{Downplayed|Trope}} and {{Defied|Trope}} when [[TheSlacker Clapton Davis]] attempts to help himself to [[DeanBitterman Principal Karl Verge's]] Skittle jar, but, seeing the gesture as blatant disrespect on the part of his least favourite student, the latter denies Clapton access.
* ''Film/TheDevilAndDanielWebster'': After taunting Jabez Stone for attempting to break their contract, Scratch flees from the approaching Ma Stone; taking a bunch of Stone's carrots with him.
* ''Film/DumbAndDumber'': The main characters get [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHXrfajDn9s pulled over by a cop]] who thinks they've been drunk driving and decides to intimidate them by making them give him one of their beer bottles. Unfortunately for him, the bottle they gave him was just used as a JarPotty.
-->'''Lloyd:''' Tic-tac, sir?
* ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'': Angel Eyes invites himself to his victim's lunch table and pretends to have a friendly conversation while eating his food, then kills the man and his family after getting the information he needs.
* Near the beginning of ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'', Nazi colonel Landa invites himself into Lapadite's home to "share" a drink of milk and a smoke, and casually chat about his "Jew hunting". His power in occupied France makes their own home a prison, as he casually eats while intimidating the host family, before eventually having his troops surrounding the place shoot anywhere any Jewish people may be hiding.
* In ''Film/JurassicWorld'', Hoskins reaches across Lowery's workspace and takes his soda and remarks "The fox is in the henhouse!" as the ''I. Rex'' rampages. Lowery looks annoyed but doesn't (or can't) do anything about it.
* In ''Film/KellysHeroes'', the American general scoffs at his German counterpart, boasting that he's operating out of his opponent's former headquarters, eating his dinner, drinking his Scotch, and even has one of his counterpart's women around the place.
* ''Film/{{Life 1999}}'': An enormous inmate asks the pair, "You gon' eat yo' cornbread!?" in a way that makes it clear that no, they certainly aren't going to be eating their cornbread.
* An example from ''Film/{{Machete}}'': [[spoiler:after capturing the priest]], Booth helps himself to sacramental wine and sarcastically remarks that "God's blood tastes like Merlot".
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' Colonel Phillips brings an imprisoned [[HerrDoktor Arnim Zola]] a relatively fancy steak meal whilst trying to get him to release information on the Red Skull's plans. After Zola reveals that he is a vegetarian (possibly as an excuse because he suspects it's poisoned), Phillips, not wanting to waste a prime cut, proceeds to eat Zola's lunch, and only ''then'' threatens him with Captain America.
** In ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'', Talos infiltrates the Rambeau household, and after announcing his presence to Carol, Maria, and Fury, he helps himself to a soft drink in a red and white striped cup, taking a sip from the straw. This is an ActorAllusion to Creator/SamuelLJackson, who plays Fury here and whose character in ''Film/PulpFiction'' does the same with another character's soda. [[spoiler:Thankfully, Talos turns out to be a good guy.]]
** In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', after being repeatedly denied a fruit by her captors claiming it wasn't ripe, Nebula breaks out, sides with the Ravagers to capture the Guardians, and in a power move, proceeds to take a bite out of the fruit she was denied earlier. Then comedically spits it out because the Guardians weren't kidding when they told her it wasn't ripe.
** In ''Film/BlackWidow2021'', the two guards in the mail room in the Russian prison mockingly eat a cake one of Alexei's fans had sent him when Alexei comes to collect his mail: even telling him to tell his fans to use more butter next time. They soon regret this.
* In ''Film/MenInBlackII'', Serleena interrogates the pizza parlor owner [[spoiler:actually the alien protecting Laura, the Light of Zartha]] for the location of the Light of Zartha. When he remains DefiantToTheEnd, she kills him. Then she takes a pizza to go.
* Played with in ''Film/MurderOnTheOrientExpress2017''. Ratchett, whom Poirot has already pegged as a nasty individual, sits down at Poirot's table and tries to make small talk as a preliminary to hiring him as a bodyguard. Poirot, who's shown earlier to have a love of good food, only agrees if he can share his desert.
* In ''Film/LeProfessionnel'', French RogueAgent Josselin Beaumont (Creator/JeanPaulBelmondo) soaks a croissant in the coffee of DirtyCop Farges in a bar the morning after the torture of Beaumont's wife by Farges and his boss Rosen, then punches him several times. Upon leaving, Beaumont tells the bartender/baker that the croissant is "for [his] friend" (Farges).
* The most defining example is probably the one in ''Film/PulpFiction'': When Jules and Vincent bust into the preppies' hideout, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnb_3ibUp38 Jules asks Brett]] -- in a way that really isn't asking at all--if he can sample his burger. Jules also offers Vincent a bite of Brett's burger, and just tosses it back on the table before he "requests" a sip of his Sprite, and drinks the whole thing while glaring defiantly at Brett the whole time. Even the way he asks "What's in this?" for the drink is done with a MenacingHandShot, and he intentionally makes his voice deeper while asking, to amp up the threat.
* Happens in Hitchcock's film adaptation of ''Literature/{{Rebecca}}''. During his {{blackmail}} attempt, SmugSnake Jack Favell helps himself to a chicken leg from his opponents' picnic basket.
* Variation in ''Film/Robocop1987'': During tense negotiations with a rival gang leader [[BigBad Clarence Boddicker]] dips his fingers in his wine glass, pretty much to show he can get away with it.
* Happens in ''Film/RomyAndMichelesHighSchoolReunion'', after Christie covers Michele's back with magnets and takes Romy's burger. Funnily enough, the titular girls don't realise this is a power play at first.
* Discussed in ''Film/ThereWillBeBlood'', where Daniel Plainview famously uses the analogy of using a long straw to drink someone else's milkshake as an analogy for how he rendered his bitter rival's land worthless by drilling all the oil out of it from his own property.
* ''Film/TitForTat'': Creator/LaurelAndHardy steal and eat a marshmallow from their neighbor's grocery store every time they went inside to inflict some sort of revenge on him in their EscalatingWar. HilarityEnsues when the marshmallows get spiked with alum.
* ''Film/UnderTenFlags''. Admiral Russell mentions that the German commerce raider they are hunting has stolen supplies from a British outpost and so the crew are now gorging themselves on Royal Navy rations. The man he's talking to expresses his sympathy...for the Germans.
* In ''Film/{{Yellowbeard}}'', the eponymous pirate has a habit of snatching food off people he is passing and eating it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheAmericans'': In the pilot, after a child predator makes crude remarks about his daughter, Phillip catches the guy barbecuing in his backyard. Phillip beats his ass, threatens to kill him if he catches it happening again, and then walks away with a hot dog off of his grill.
* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'':
** Amy takes the last danish for her coffee break. Gina takes it from her and starts eating it. Lampshaded. They are discussing characters from Terry's book for his children that are kind of based on them. Character based on Gina is a stone-cold bitch, while Amy's character is a pushover.
--->'''Gina:''' Is that how people see us?\\
'''Amy:''' Well, you did just steal that danish out of my hand and start eating it. And I let you. And apologized.
** Terry's intimidating brother-in-law who unfairly treats him like a wimp takes the sandwich that Terry prepared for himself and casually starts eating it.
%% * ''Series/BurnNotice'': One of Michael Westen's signature acts.
* In a ''Series/ChappellesShow'' sketch, Creator/WayneBrady acts like a violent psychopath and reduces Creator/DaveChappelle to tears. ''Then'' he takes Dave's food after they grab some from a drive thru.
* ''Series/ChiefOfStaff'': Inverted with Kim Hyeon-soo, the corrupt chairman of corrupt Bugang Electronics. Kim is eating lunch when Tae-joon confronts him, saying that Kim could face a fine of 100,000-200,000 won ($10K-20K) if he doesn't show up for the hearing in the assembly. Kim sniffs that he spends more than that on liquor, then gets up from his half-eaten lunch and says "You can eat the rest if you didn't eat."
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': PlayedForLaughs early in season 3 where Dex decides to play a prank by taking a bite out of a burger being delivered to Fisk from room service just to see how Fisk will react. [[spoiler:He just cuts off the bitten piece and eats the rest of the burger with a spork.]]
-->'''Dex:''' If I'm being honest that's not the way I thought this was gonna go.\\
'''Lim:''' [[spoiler:Who eats a burger with a spork?]]
* ''Series/DiffrentStrokes'': The two-parter "Crime Story" has two teenage bullies stealing the lunches and money of both Arnold and Dudley. They are not depicted as being harmless or goofy; they back up their words with physical force. The bullies even beat up Willis, who intervenes for Arnold and Dudley, so badly that he has to be hospitalized!
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E3TheSeaDevils The Sea Devils]]", the Third Doctor duels with the Master with swords. During the fight, he proceeds to steal the Master's sandwich and eat it in front of him.
-->'''The Doctor:''' I always find ''(grabs the sandwich)'' that violent exercise makes me hungry. Don't you agree? ''(takes a bite)''
* On ''Series/{{ER}}'', our first introduction to antagonist Kerry Weaver is when she eats several of Mark Greene's French fries (he was interviewing her over lunch). Although she does ask for them rather than taking them outright, she does proceed to be a thoroughly irritating thorn in his and practically everyone else's side for the next ''12 years''.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** In "[[Recap/GameOfThronesS2E9Blackwater Blackwater]]", Bronn and some gold cloaks and Lannister soldiers are drinking, singing and whoring in a tavern, expecting Stannis' siege. Then Sandor Clegane the Hound, King Joffrey's intimidating guard, enters with a guy, and he motions to two guys to get out from their table. They don't even blink an eye and go. One of them tries to take his mug of ale with him, but the Hound calmly takes it from his hands, sits and starts drinking. Pure alpha dog.
** The Hound, a former personal bodyguard to King, now wandering in Riverlands, calmly chugs down Polliver's mug of ale and demands one of his chickens when Polliver started getting confrontational. BarBrawl ensues. With swords. Shortly before the Hound slaughters Polliver and three or four of his men.
--->'''Polliver:''' You don't seem to understand the situation.\\
'''Hound:''' I understand that if any more words come pouring out your cunt mouth, I'm going to have to eat ''every fucking chicken in this room''.\\
'''Polliver:''' You lived your life for the king. You’re going to die for some chickens?\\
'''Hound:''' Someone is.
* From the mini-series ''Series/HoratioHornblower'':
** In "The Even Chance", Jack Simpson is a twisted bully who torments his fellow midshipmen. He steals Horatio's mutton and drinks from his mug in his very first scene.
--->'''Horatio:''' What do you mean by helping yourself to my vittles, sir?\\
'''Jack Simpson:''' I should have thought my intention was quite obvious.
** In "Mutiny", a jerk of a sailor Randall tries to take Styles' mug from the table, but Styles demands he put it back, which he eventually does because of gunner Hobbs who just entered the room.
* In ''Series/{{House}}'', House steals Wilson's food repeatedly and sometimes eats it right in front of Wilson to tick him off. It's [[PlayedForLaughs played for laughs]] as they are friends who bicker all the time. This is along with bigger versions of the same thing, such as getting him to lend him money and not repaying it. Eventually he admits that he does it as a way of quantitatively testing their friendship. Wilson plays games with him as well, for instance he began randomly switching between an extremely health-conscious diet and pure junk, leaving conflicting hints that he was going on a diet. This quickly drove House up the wall since he could never figure out ''why'' Wilson was doing it (House would eat his food either way). Eventually he realized Wilson was jerking him around just to fuck with him. There is also the time when Wilson's complaining about this served to trigger House's EurekaMoment. Turns out the patient had an intestine parasite that was eating the medicine and generally messing up the tests.
* ''Series/ICarly'':
** [[AssholeVictim Lewbert]] had his steak stolen by a trick-or-treating kid in "iScream on Halloween" who didn't get any candy. He angrily shrieks and throws vegetables at that kid.
** At the Groovy Smoothie, Carly had her fries eaten right in front of her eyes by the school bully Jocelyn in "iMake Sam Girlier".
* Parodied in ''Series/{{Justified}}''. Dickie Bennett, looking to build his reputation after being cut off by his mother, steals food as part of an attempt to intimidate Boyd. As it happens, Boyd and his henchmen were just discussing who they can target to establish themselves as being back in the criminal game. Dickie's pathetic attempts are seen by Boyd as good fortune, and he can't stop laughing when Dickie tries.
* ''Franchise/KamenRider'':
** ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'': Asakura, a fugitive murderer, breaks into the flat of Kitaoka, a lawyer who refused to represent him in court, and ate his seafood right in front of him, shells and all. It did the job of disgusting and horrifying Kitaoka (and his BattleButler Gorou, who’d prepared the dish) as if Asakura was not [[TheDreaded scary]] enough already.
** ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' plays it as a FunnyBackgroundEvent. When Parado "negotiated" with the staff of CR, Graphite found the cake prepared for Hiiro by his father and ate it. Simply 'see cake, eat cake'. It went mostly without opposition as Hiiro was not even there and everyone else was paying attention to Parado.
** PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'', where Sougo’s biggest issue with [[Series/KamenRiderDecade Kadoya Tsukasa]] is that the latter ate his dinner while he was out, rather than the fact that Tsukasa is playing PsychoForHire towards the BigBad and has outright said he intends to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy this world]].
** Also an inversion - ''enemy makes your lunch''. [[Series/KamenRiderDecade Daiki]] wanted to one-up Tsukasa, so he made everyone a breakfast. Which they [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodSandwich barely touched]] because 1) they [[DelayedReaction finally]] realized who he was, 2) he had already left before they could confront him, and 3) the whole thing was a distraction to steal all of the Ridewatches.
* ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'': While Goren and Eames are questioning a doctor at a dinner party, Goren helps himself to the doctor's steak.
* In one episode of ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', [[SixthRanger Tara]] walked up to a guy whose invitation to an auction they needed and [[RefugeInAudacity started eating his sandwich]]. With a little help from [[BigGuy Eliot's]] DeathGlare, she intimidated him so badly he gave her the invitation. Without either Tara or Eliot saying a word.
* In episode 4 of ''Series/Lupin2021'', Assane announces his presence at a man's table by taking a bite of his bread and jam, then dipping it into his coffee.
* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': Exploited. Malcolm goes around the house scraping every disgusting bit of filth he can find onto a sandwich, knowing that Reese will steal it from him and eat it.
* In ''Series/MaxAndPaddysRoadToNowhere'', Pepe, a CampGay black inmate at the prison Max and Paddy are staying in [[spoiler:after they hijacked a school bus carrying Max's son]], tries to intimidate a prisoner who's behind on "[[LoanShark collection day]]" by scooping out a handful of sponge cake that the prisoner's daughter made for him. Max and Paddy successfully intimidate him into withdrawing by [[ImprovisedWeapon hitting him with a steel tray]], but he takes revenge later on by reporting them to his boyfriend, [[ScaryBlackMan Raymond the Bastard.]]
* ''Series/TheNewAvengers'': The Avengers help themselves to the Unicorn's champagne while holding him prisoner in his apartment in "The Lion and the Unicorn".
* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'':
** Michael, Pam and Ryan have returned from the Michael Scott Paper Company, and the others are jealous that they are getting special treatment. They have a secret meeting in the warehouse, saying it was their lunch break. Michael then proceeds to take their real lunches out of the fridge and eat them in front of the others with Pam and Ryan.
** Exploited by Dwight in a previous episode. When the top salesman of the branch chooses to side with Charles Miner and Dunder Mifflin in the DM-MSPC war, he goes to sabotage the MSPC, faking deciding to go meet up with Michael at lunch at a restaurant and betting on him deciding to bring his pre-ordered lunch with him as takeout. Once Michael realizes Dwight has turned on them, he tries to eat Dwight's lunch out of spite, only to realize to his disgusted that Dwight tricked him into eating the worst dish the restaurant has.
* In an episode of ''Series/OnceUponATime'' Emma gives a prisoner a bottle of water and a Pop-Tart for dinner - a Pop-Tart which she has taken a bite of. When he complains, she merely says "I've had my shots."
* ''Series/{{Oz}}''. Inmates eat other inmates' food so they can intimidate, usually leading to PrisonRape and other much worse things.
* Early in ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'', Ziggy and Dillon have landed themselves in jail. Many of the inmates already hate Ziggy, and in the prison lunchroom one intimidates him by bragging that he's such a big shot, he gets a special dessert of lime Jell-O just for him. While this is going on, Dillon is in the lunch line getting his food... including, very deliberately, the lime Jell-O. A fight ensues - which Dillon decisively ''wins'', which catches the attention of the Rangers.
* In ''{{Series/Ratched}}'', Nurse Bucket does this with Mildred's peach that she brought for lunch, clearly trying to establish dominance. But Mildred still gets the last laugh when Bucket ends up vomiting it up during a lobotomy demonstration.
* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIIIOnlyTheGood Only the Good]]", Cat steals French fries from a fellow inmate in the hopes that he will be hospitalized for his troubles. Instead, it backfires hilariously and the inmate swears to become Cat's bitch.
* In ''Series/{{Riget}}'', Dr. Krogshøj pulls this on Dr. Helmer by drinking (what he thinks is) his cup of coffee. [[spoiler:It backfires spectacularly as it turns out that it was actually a poisoned cup of coffee that Dr. Helmer was trying to dispose of.]]
* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' parodied the famous scene in ''Film/ThereWillBeBlood'' by having Daniel Plainview host a Food Network show in which he visited malt shops and literally drank people's milkshakes.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': One episode has a moment where Turk casually sticks his finger in Carla's brother's drink as he walks past.
* In ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' season 3 episode ''[[Recap/SherlockS03E03HisLastVow His Last Wow]]'', Magnussen considers himself untouchable due to the leverage he has over his enemies, and allows himself to engage in offensive behaviour whenever possible. One of these (not the worst one by far) include stirring the pasta in Sherlock's plate and eating an olive from his plate, then wash his fingers in his glass of water.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. The episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS5E10Counterpoint Counterpoint]]" opens with Devore Imperium soldiers boarding ''Voyager'' to search it for the umpteenth time. Our introduction to the episode antagonist, Inspector Kashyk, has the smug commander summoning Captain Janeway to her own Ready Room where he's sitting in her captain's chair (itself a severe violation of etiquette), ordering his underling to [[YourFavourite make them some coffee]] using her own replicator.
* Awesomely parodied by ''Series/{{Stella|US}}'', which includes a scene where Michael attempts to psych out his enemy by eating his ice cream cone in an intimidating fashion. Macho posturing and eating ice cream cones do not go well together.
* ''Series/TheTick2016'': The Terror does this to establish his EvilIsPetty credentials. While blinding and murdering a superhero team he sees a boy sitting horror-struck at a table nearby, walks up and taunts him with his helplessness, then steals his ice cream, drinks it one gulp, and just walks off.
* In the ''[[Series/Zoey101 Zoey 101]]'' season 1 episode "Disc Golf", [[Creator/ThomasFWilson Coach Phelps]] angrily snatches Michael's bag of potato chips and [[JerkassHasAPoint berates the boy for eating in his gym class]], only for Phelps to [[HypocriticalHumor start munching on the chips himself]].
[[/folder]]

* In one ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' strip Linus is asking, "Who took my group of grapes?" Lucy corrects him that it's called a "bunch" of grapes...as she eats his grapes right in front of him. Then she tosses the emptied grape tendril at him as she leaves.

* The chancellor in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' invokes this trope at Crono's trial to get him to ''look'' like a villain, saying that Crono stole a guy's lunch at the Millenial Fair (which, to be fair, most players have him do on at least their first playthrough).

* MultiplayerOnlineBattleArena games has this trope ever constantly. The one that benefits from the buffs by jungle creeps are the ones that deliver the killing blow (or in the case of ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm'', the one who stays at the mercenary area after subduing them the longest), therefore junglers usually had to be aware of enemies trying to invade their jungle and stealing their lunch. Especially common in early game where the jungler tried to get a head start to get a lot of experience when they're severely underleveled, they have to exhaust their resources in a significant number, and all it takes is for one enemy to act in the right time and all of their hard work rendered futile... and [[KickThemWhileTheyreDown the enemy with advantage can go ahead and kill them too while they're at it.]] The stake is bigger when fighting BonusBoss, because an enemy team can use this as an advantage to wipe out your team and then kill the BonusBoss for their own benefit, putting yours in a disadvantage (or simply snatch the massive benefits from a much more hard-earned team effort of your team for themselves). ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}'''s famous e-sport scene, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ElXGllTpp0 Six Million Dollar Echo Slam]]", is an example of this trope at work. This tactic often has nicknames depending on the game, such as "creepjacking/Roshjacking" in ''DOTA'', or "buff/dragon/Baron/Herald theft" in ''LOL''. Could overlap with RobbingTheDead, but technically speaking, killing the enemy is not necessary but rather landing the killing blow and/or snatching the relevant reward away.

* At one point in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'', pirate protagonist Edward Kenway conquers a fort where one of his enemies, Governor Torres, is visiting. Kenway walks in on Torres having some tea. As Kenway makes it clear that he's going to rob Torres and could do far worse, he pours himself a cup of tea (though the scene ends before he drinks it).
* Due Frabellum eats Mii Koryuji's [[TrademarkFavoriteFood flan]] at one point in ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone''. Mii doesn't take kindly to that.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Critters", Farmer Brown sends a talking goat into the police station to deliver an ultimatum to Commissioner Gordon, and it [[DonutMessWithACop eats Harvey Bullock's donut]] on the way in. (Bullock is ''very'' angry at first, but ''then'' he finds out that the goat [[YouCanTalk can talk]] and the rather serious nature of the threat, and forgets about it.)
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Lemon of Troy": After people from Shelbyville steal a Springfield lemon tree, one of them gloats to Homer by biting into a ''raw lemon'' and desperately pretends he didn't regret his decision as his face curdles and his eyes water.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'', [[ArchEnemy Gorrath]] has Coop separated from his robot on his ship and bound in heavy shackles, and what does he do first? He holds a [[TrademarkFavoriteFood Philly cheese steak]] in front of his face and takes a big bite of it right in front of him. Even more hilariously, he's clearly disgusted by the taste, but swallows it anyway with a stilted "Mmm!" just to spite [[BigEater Coop]]. [[LostFoodGrievance He is not amused.]]
-->[[TranquilFury "I will remember this, when I'm back in my 'bot."]]
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': In "Sidetracked", Perry the Platypus meets Dr. Doofenshmirtz in the dining car of a train running along the US/Canadian border, and Doofenshmirtz announces he's got Perry trapped... by social convention, as the heroic Perry wouldn't want to cause a scene in a fancy restaurant. Perry's temporary partner Lyla Lolaberry solves this problem by sneaking bites of Doofenshmirtz's fries, getting him angry enough to make a scene and break the "trap".
* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Jake Suit", Jake, in control of Finn's body for a day, forces Finn to make his favorite food, meatloaf. Finn is ready to chow down, but Jake ends up eating every piece that Finn sticks in his mouth. Finn is taken aback by this, but doesn't let this slow him down.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RapunzelsTangledAdventure'', [[spoiler:Cassandra]] crashes Eugene's birthday party and helps herself to a slice of cake before making her demands.
* The ''WesternAnimation/RandomCartoons'' short "6 Monsters" has a scene where Gaillard offers to help Cathy with her math, but only as an excuse to devour her lunch in front of her.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1364659673089087400
%% Please do not replace or remove the image without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:300:[[Film/PulpFiction https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/enemy_eats_your_lunch.jpg]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:300:"[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnb_3ibUp38 Mmmm!]] This ''is'' a tasty burger!... Do you mind if I have some of your ''tasty'' beverage to wash it down?"]]-]

->''"The best tasting food is stolen from the mouths of the enemy."''
-->-- '''Griff''', ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', "War Forage"

%% Quote chosen in the General Page Quote Discussion thread. Please do not replace or remove without further discussion there.

* In the introduction of [[EvilTwin Dark Gary]] on ''Advertising/NintendoWeek'', he nukes and eats Allison's lunch shamelessly. [[CrossesTheLineTwice Using a microwave that he had to unplug Gary's TV mid-game to use.]]

%% * Parodied to the hilt with the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHFySGxccKc pencil scene]] from ''Anime/CromartieHighSchool''.
%% Weblinks are not examples.

%%%
%%% This example could use more context -- why did they want to intimidate her/him?
%%%
* In ''Manga/DeathNote'' there is L's (cat)fight with Misa. "You can call me whatever you like but I'm still taking your cake."
* ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'': Mugen digs in uninvited to the lunch of some Yakuza thugs. When the predictable response follows, their boss is so impressed by his badassery he invites him for dinner.
* In ''Anime/SailorMoon Stars'', when Sailor Aluminium Siren and Sailor Lead Crow attack a TV show host who arrived to Usagi's house under the guise of a pizza delivery guy, [[BigEater Siren's]] first action is... to eat one of the pizzas, much to Lead Crow's exasperation.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Jirobo delays delivering a finishing blow to Choji long enough to take and eat Chouji's last bag of chips in front of him. This is less for psychological warfare reasons (since they're already fighting to the death) and more just to be a dick, although he does claim to be hungry from burning chakra in the fight. Also, this slams down ''hard'' on one of Chouji's {{Berserk Button}}s and is promptly followed by Jirobo's death.

* While not outright an enemy [[TokenEvilTeammate at that point]], Haizaki from ''Manga/KurokosBasketball'' is shown in a flashback stealing main character Kuroko's food at the table the latter's sharing with the other Generation of Miracles' players. He even makes a point of saying he eats other people's food just because it tastes better (as opposed to Aomine, who asserts he only does that when he's actually hungry). Kuroko doesn't mind the food stealing, but it's still clearly used as a way to remind the readers how much of a jerk Haizaki is.
* In ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'', Koro-sensei tends to overreact when the food he brings back from overseas winds up lost or stolen. In his introductory chapter, Karma baits Koro-sensei into a trap by stealing the gelato he bought from Italy and eating it in front of him during a quiz.

[[folder:Comic Book]]

* The ''Manga/DeathNote'' fic ''Fanfic/{{Seigikan}}'' opens with one ineffable genius mind game between Light and L where Light steals and takes a bite out of one of L's strawberries and then L steals the half-eaten strawberry back and eats it.
* From ''[[WebVideo/DeathNoteTheAbridgedSeries1KidsEntertainment Death Note: The Abridged Series (1KidsEntertainment)]]'':
--> '''Light:''' Is that MY coffee?\\
'''L:''' Not anymore, it's not. It evaporated.
* In the ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'' doujin ''[=JoJo=]'s Bizarre Married Life'' (made by Creator/{{CLAMP}}), DIO uses The World to eat the Stardust Crusaders' breakfast.
* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. When Captain Janeway surrenders to the Caretaker, his Hirogen mercenaries show their contempt by [[InsigniaRipOffRitual tearing off her rank insignia]] and looting the contents of her kitbag, including a thermos holding the last coffee in 70,000 light years which the Hirogen Alpha guzzles down on the spot. This becomes a BrickJoke when Chakotay mentions having to rescue the Caretaker from a [[GRatedDrug berserk Hirogen Alpha]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', this is the strategy that Master Shifu eventually hits on as the best way to motivate BigEater Po. He gives Po a bowl of dumplings and deftly snatches them away from him before he can eat them. Cue a TrainingMontage of the two [[ForkFencing Chopstick Fencing]] over dumplings.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm'', [[spoiler:the unnamed hitman who would become the Joker]] nonchalantly picks up an apple dropped by Andrea Beaumont [[spoiler:right before a horrified Andrea discovers that he murdered her father.]] The way he casually starts munching on it as she screams is chilling.

* The most defining example is probably the one in ''Film/PulpFiction'': When Jules and Vincent bust into the preppies' hideout, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnb_3ibUp38 Jules asks Brett]] -- in a way that really isn't asking at all--if he can sample his burger. Jules also offers Vincent a bite of Brett's burger, and just tosses it back on the table before he "requests" a sip of his Sprite, and drinks the whole thing while glaring defiantly at Brett the whole time. Even the way he asks "What's in this?" for the drink is done with a MenacingHandShot, and he intentionally makes his voice deeper while asking, to amp up the threat.
* Still by Creator/QuentinTarantino, there's ''Film/InglouriousBasterds''. Near the beginning, Nazi colonel Landa invites himself into Lapadite's home to "share" a drink of milk and a smoke, and casually chat about his "Jew hunting". His power in occupied France makes their own home a prison, as he casually eats while intimidating the host family, before eventually having his troops surrounding the place shoot anywhere any Jewish people may be hiding.

* In ''Film/LeProfessionnel'', French RogueAgent Josselin Beaumont (Creator/JeanPaulBelmondo) soaks a croissant in the coffee of DirtyCop Farges in a bar the morning after the torture of Beaumont's wife by Farges and his boss Rosen, then punches him several times. Upon leaving, Beaumont tells the bartender/baker that the croissant is "for [his] friend" (Farges).

* ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'': Angel Eyes invites himself to his victim's lunch table and pretends to have a friendly conversation while eating his food, then kills the man and his family after getting the information he needs.
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' Colonel Phillips brings an imprisoned [[HerrDoktor Arnim Zola]] a relatively fancy steak meal whilst trying to get him to release information on the Red Skull's plans. After Zola reveals that he is a vegetarian (possibly as an excuse because he suspects it's poisoned), Phillips, not wanting to waste a prime cut, proceeds to eat Zola's lunch, and only ''then'' threatens him with Captain America.
** In ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'', Talos infiltrates the Rambeau household, and after announcing his presence to Carol, Maria, and Fury, he helps himself to a soft drink in a red and white striped cup, taking a sip from the straw. This is an ActorAllusion to Creator/SamuelLJackson, who plays Fury here and whose character in ''Film/PulpFiction'' does the same with another character's soda. [[spoiler:Thankfully, Talos turns out to be a good guy.]]
** In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', after being repeatedly denied a fruit by her captors claiming it wasn't ripe, Nebula breaks out, sides with the Ravagers to capture the Guardians, and in a power move, proceeds to take a bite out of the fruit she was denied earlier. Then comedically spits it out because the Guardians weren't kidding when they told her it wasn't ripe.
* ''Film/{{Detention}}'':
** [[HormoneAddledTeenager Sander Sanderson’s]] first moments onscreen have him stealing [[BreadEggsMilkSquick pop, candy, and urinal cake]] from other people, having mistaken the final item for candy, only to wash his mistake down with the stolen pop.
** {{Downplayed|Trope}} and {{Defied|Trope}} when [[TheSlacker Clapton Davis]] attempts to help himself to [[DeanBitterman Principal Karl Verge's]] Skittle jar, but, seeing the gesture as blatant disrespect on the part of his least favourite student, the latter denies Clapton access.

* An example from ''Film/{{Machete}}'': [[spoiler:after capturing the priest]], Booth helps himself to sacramental wine and sarcastically remarks that "God's blood tastes like Merlot".
* Happens in ''Film/RomyAndMichelesHighSchoolReunion'', after Christie covers Michele's back with magnets and takes Romy's burger. Funnily enough, the titular girls don't realise this is a power play at first.
* In ''Film/MenInBlackII'', Serleena interrogates the pizza parlor owner [[spoiler:actually the alien protecting Laura, the Light of Zartha]] for the location of the Light of Zartha. When he remains DefiantToTheEnd, she kills him. Then she takes a pizza to go.
* Inverted in ''Film/{{Congo}}'', when Captain Wanta demands the protagonists have some coffee and cake, then makes it clear who's top dog by ordering Creator/TimCurry to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fbGbPwKbQA STOP EATING MY SESAME CAKE!]]

--> '''Lloyd:''' Tic-tac, sir?
* Discussed in ''Film/ThereWillBeBlood'', where Daniel Plainview famously uses the analogy of using a long straw to drink someone else's milkshake as an analogy for how he rendered his bitter rival's land worthless by drilling all the oil out of it from his own property.
* In ''[[Film/TheMightyDucks D3: The Mighty Ducks]]'', the JerkJock varsity players repeatedly steal the Ducks' lunches--until Charlie, Fulton, and Russ exact some payback with a decoy lunch bag filled with horse crap.

* In ''Film/JurassicWorld'', Hoskins reaches across Lowery's workspace and takes his soda and remarks "The fox is in the henhouse!" as the ''I. Rex'' rampages. Lowery looks annoyed but doesn't (or can't) do anything about it.
* Variation in ''Film/Robocop1987'': During tense negotiations with a rival gang leader [[BigBad Clarence Boddicker]] dips his fingers in his wine glass, pretty much to show he can get away with it.
* ''Film/TitForTat'': Creator/LaurelAndHardy steal and eat a marshmallow from their neighbor's grocery store every time they went inside to inflict some sort of revenge on him in their EscalatingWar. HilarityEnsues when the marshmallows get spiked with alum.

* Played with in ''Film/MurderOnTheOrientExpress2017''. Ratchett, whom Poirot has already pegged as a nasty individual, sits down at Poirot's table and tries to make small talk as a preliminary to hiring him as a bodyguard. Poirot, who's shown earlier to have a love of good food, only agrees if he can share his desert.

* In ''Film/TheAccountant'', Living Robotics's [=CFO=], Chilton, heads downstairs for a midnight snack, only to find [[ProfessionalKiller Braxton]] in his kitchen, having his lemon meringue pie, along with a glass of milk. After serving Chilton another slice, Braxton gives the completely cowed man two options for how he can be killed: an "accidental" insulin overdose, or a faked home invasion that will also have to include Chilton's sleeping wife.
* ''Film/TheDevilAndDanielWebster'': After taunting Jabez Stone for attempting to break their contract, Scratch flees from the approaching Ma Stone; taking a bunch of Stone's carrots with him.
* In ''Film/TheGentlemen'', Ray arrives home to find Fletcher waiting for him, and casually drinking his 150 year old scotch. Later during their very strange interaction, Fletcher asks Ray to cook a steak for him.

* A variation is done halfway through the ''Film/DeathNoteSeries''. L goes to meet Light with the same kind of potato chip bag Light had used earlier to hide a piece of his [[ArtifactOfDoom Death Note]]. He then eats out of it in front of him as a way of letting him know he's a suspect.
* In ''Film/BlackWidow2021'', the two guards in the mail room in the Russian prison mockingly eat a cake one of Alexei's fans had sent him when Alexei comes to collect his mail: even telling him to tell his fans to use more butter next time. They soon regret this.
* ''Film/UnderTenFlags''. Admiral Russell mentions that the German commerce raider they are hunting has stolen supplies from a British outpost and so the crew are now gorging themselves on Royal Navy rations. The man he's talking to expresses his sympathy...for the Germans.

* In Myth/GreekMythology, the [[HarpingOnAboutHarpies harpies]] were sent to plague King Phineus of Thrace for revealing the secrets of the gods--whenever he would try to eat, they would swoop down and snatch his food away, spoiling any remnants to make them inedible. Eventually two sons of the wind god Boreas chased them away, and the goddess Iris promised that they would leave Phineus alone from now on.
* At least one tale involving the [[{{Tanuki}} Bakedanuki]] has him taking the form of a guest invited to a wedding or some other banquet in order to gorge on all the avaible food, leaving nothing to the others.

* In ''Literature/{{Unique}}'', Clauss makes his opinion of werewolf culture very plain by commenting "this is our tradition" and then stealing Gunther's food and eating it with his hands.

* In ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' series, one of the first affronts committed to Hornblower as a midshipman by the senior-most midshipman was his tendency to help himself to pieces of the other midshipman's food -- right off of their plates. The antipathy between them eventually reaches the point where Horatio challenges the other man to a duel.
* In ''[[Literature/{{Burke}} Blossom]]'', Burke advises the nephew of a friend how to survive in prison, as well as paying the prison BigBad to protect him. When someone tries intimidating the kid during lunch and the BigBad steps in to stop it, the kid deliberately grabs the cake off the man's plate and eats it.
* ''Literature/MassEffectDeception'' has Cerberus assassin Kai Leng ''eating a bowl of [[spoiler:Anderson]]'s cereal'' when he sneaks into his apartment to bug it. It also cemented his status as [[EvilIsPetty a really petty guy]].
* Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse: In the book ''Verdigris'', when chatting with Verdigris at a Chinese restaurant, the Master absconds with both his lunch and the monster's. And for the final insult, he sticks the monster with the bill.
* ''Literature/TheArtOfWarSunTzu'' encourages robbing the enemy of their supplies, as it feeds your army while depriving the enemy of theirs. In the past food storage and transportation was much more labor-intensive with a lot more loss and a much higher opportunity cost. You would expend a lot of food getting a small amount of food from your lands to where your army is. Thus, the adage says that 1 bag of rice from the enemy is worth 20 from your home nation - because getting 1 bag to you in the field will cost you the other 19.

* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIIIOnlyTheGood Only the Good]]", Cat steals French fries from a fellow inmate in the hopes that he will be hospitalized for his troubles. Instead, it backfires hilariously and the inmate swears to become Cat's bitch.
* In ''Series/{{House}}'', House steals Wilson's food repeatedly and sometimes eats it right in front of Wilson to tick him off. It's [[PlayedForLaughs played for laughs]] as they are friends who bicker all the time. This is along with bigger versions of the same thing, such as getting him to lend him money and not repaying it. Eventually he admits that he does it as a way of quantitatively testing their friendship. Wilson plays games with him as well, for instance he began randomly switching between an extremely health-conscious diet and pure junk, leaving conflicting hints that he was going on a diet. This quickly drove House up the wall since he could never figure out ''why'' Wilson was doing it (House would eat his food either way). Eventually he realized Wilson was jerking him around just to fuck with him. There is also the time when Wilson's complaining about this served to trigger House's EurekaMoment. Turns out the patient had an intestine parasite that was eating the medicine and generally messing up the tests.
* Awesomely parodied by ''Series/{{Stella|US}}'', which includes a scene where Michael attempts to psych out his enemy by eating his ice cream cone in an intimidating fashion. Macho posturing and eating ice cream cones do not go well together.
%% * ''Series/BurnNotice'': One of Michael Westen's signature acts.
* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' parodied the famous scene in ''Film/ThereWillBeBlood'' by having Daniel Plainview host a Food Network show in which he visited malt shops and literally drank people's milkshakes.
* In a ''Series/ChappellesShow'' sketch, Creator/WayneBrady acts like a violent psychopath and reduces Creator/DaveChappelle to tears. ''Then'' he takes Dave's food after they grab some from a drive thru.
%% * Happens frequently on Klingon vessels in the various ''Franchise/StarTrek'' series.
%%
%% ZCE are not allowed.
%%
* ''Series/{{Oz}}''. Inmates eat other inmates' food so they can intimidate, usually leading to PrisonRape and other much worse things.
* In one episode of ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', [[SixthRanger Tara]] walked up to a guy whose invitation to an auction they needed and [[RefugeInAudacity started eating his sandwich]]. With a little help from [[BigGuy Eliot's]] DeathGlare, she intimidated him so badly he gave her the invitation. Without either Tara or Eliot saying a word.
* On ''Series/{{ER}}'', our first introduction to antagonist Kerry Weaver is when she eats several of Mark Greene's French fries (he was interviewing her over lunch). Although she does ask for them rather than taking them outright, she does proceed to be a thoroughly irritating thorn in his and practically everyone else's side for the next ''12 years''.

-->'''The Doctor:''' I always find (''grabs the sandwich'') that violent exercise makes me hungry. Don't you agree? (''takes a bite'')
* ''Series/TheAmericans'': In the pilot, after a child predator makes crude remarks about his daughter, Phillip catches the guy barbecuing in his backyard. Phillip beats his ass, threatens to kill him if he catches it happening again, and then walks away with a hot dog off of his grill.
* Parodied in ''Series/{{Justified}}''. Dickie Bennett, looking to build his reputation after being cut off by his mother, steals food as part of an attempt to intimidate Boyd. As it happens, Boyd and his henchmen were just discussing who they can target to establish themselves as being back in the criminal game. Dickie's pathetic attempts are seen by Boyd as good fortune, and he can't stop laughing when Dickie tries.
* From the mini-series ''Series/HoratioHornblower'':
** In "The Even Chance", Jack Simpson is a twisted bully who torments his fellow midshipmen. He steals Horatio's mutton and drinks from his mug in his very first scene.
---> '''Horatio:''' What do you mean by helping yourself to my vittles, sir?\\
'''Jack Simpson:''' I should have thought my intention was quite obvious.
** In "Mutiny", a jerk of a sailor Randall tries to take Styles' mug from the table, but Styles demands he put it back, which he eventually does because of gunner Hobbs who just entered the room.
* In ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', Michael, Pam and Ryan have returned from the Michael Scott Paper Company, and the others are jealous that they are getting special treatment. They have a secret meeting in the warehouse, saying it was their lunch break. Michael then proceeds to take their real lunches out of the fridge and eat them in front of the others with Pam and Ryan.
** Exploited by Dwight in a previous episode. When the top salesman of the branch chooses to side with Charles Miner and Dunder Mifflin in the DM-MSPC war, he goes to sabotage the MSPC, faking deciding to go meet up with Michael at lunch at a restaurant and betting on him deciding to bring his pre-ordered lunch with him as takeout. Once Michael realizes Dwight has turned on them, he tries to eat Dwight's lunch out of spite, only to realize to his disgusted that Dwight tricked him into eating the worst dish the restaurant has.

---> '''Polliver:''' You don't seem to understand the situation.
---> '''Hound:''' I understand that if any more words come pouring out your cunt mouth, I'm going to have to eat ''every fucking chicken in this room''.
---> '''Polliver:''' You lived your life for the king. You’re going to die for some chickens?
---> '''Hound:''' Someone is.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. The episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS5E10Counterpoint Counterpoint]]" opens with Devore Imperium soldiers boarding ''Voyager'' to search it for the umpteenth time. Our introduction to the episode antagonist, Inspector Kashyk, has the smug commander summoning Captain Janeway to her own Ready Room where he's sitting in her captain's chair (itself a severe violation of etiquette), ordering his underling to [[YourFavourite make them some coffee]] using her own replicator.
* Early in ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'', Ziggy and Dillon have landed themselves in jail. Many of the inmates already hate Ziggy, and in the prison lunchroom one intimidates him by bragging that he's such a big shot, he gets a special dessert of lime Jell-O just for him. While this is going on, Dillon is in the lunch line getting his food... including, very deliberately, the lime Jell-O. A fight ensues - which Dillon decisively ''wins'', which catches the attention of the Rangers.

* ''Series/DiffrentStrokes'': The two-parter "Crime Story" has two teenage bullies stealing the lunches and money of both Arnold and Dudley. They are not depicted as being harmless or goofy; they back up their words with physical force. The bullies even beat up Willis, who intervenes for Arnold and Dudley, so badly that he has to be hospitalized!
* ''Series/TheNewAvengers'': The Avengers help themselves to the Unicorn's champagne while holding him prisoner in his apartment in "The Lion and the Unicorn".

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': PlayedForLaughs early in season 3 where Dex decides to play a prank by taking a bite out of a burger being delivered to Fisk from room service just to see how Fisk will react. [[spoiler:He just cuts off the bitten piece and eats the rest of the burger with a spork.]]
-->'''Dex:''' If I'm being honest that's not the way I thought this was gonna go.\\
'''Lim:''' [[spoiler:Who eats a burger with a spork?]]
* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'':
** Amy takes the last danish for her coffee break. Gina takes it from her and starts eating it. Lampshaded. They are discussing characters from Terry's book for his children that are kind of based on them. Character based on Gina is a stone-cold bitch, while Amy's character is a pushover.
--->'''Gina:''' Is that how people see us?\\
'''Amy:''' Well, you did just steal that danish out of my hand and start eating it. And I let you. And apologized.
** Terry's intimidating brother-in-law who unfairly treats him like a wimp takes the sandwich that Terry prepared for himself and casually starts eating it.
* ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'': Asakura, a fugitive murderer, breaks into the flat of Kitaoka, a lawyer who refused to represent him in court, and ate his seafood right in front of him, shells and all. It did the job of disgusting and horrifying Kitaoka (and his BattleButler Gorou, who’d prepared the dish) as if Asakura was not [[TheDreaded scary]] enough already.
* ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' plays it as a FunnyBackgroundEvent. When Parado "negotiated" with the staff of CR, Graphite found the cake prepared for Hiiro by his father and ate it. Simply 'see cake, eat cake'. It went mostly without opposition as Hiiro was not even there and everyone else was paying attention to Parado.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'', where Sougo’s biggest issue with [[Series/KamenRiderDecade Kadoya Tsukasa]] is that the latter ate his dinner while he was out, rather than the fact that Tsukasa is playing PsychoForHire towards the BigBad and has outright said he intends to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy this world]].
** Also an inversion - ''enemy makes your lunch''. [[Series/KamenRiderDecade Daiki]] wanted to one-up Tsukasa, so he made everyone a breakfast. Which they [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodSandwich barely touched]] because 1) they [[DelayedReaction finally]] realized who he was, 2) he had already left before they could confront him, and 3) the whole thing was a distraction to steal all of the Ridewatches.

* In ''Series/MaxAndPaddysRoadToNowhere'', Pepe, a CampGay black inmate at the prison Max and Paddy are staying in [[spoiler:after they hijacked a school bus carrying Max's son]], tries to intimidate a prisoner who's behind on "[[LoanShark collection day]]" by scooping out a handful of sponge cake that the prisoner's daughter made for him. Max and Paddy successfully intimidate him into withdrawing by [[ImprovisedWeapon hitting him with a steel tray]], but he takes revenge later on by reporting them to his boyfriend, [[ScaryBlackMan Raymond the Bastard.]]
* In ''{{Series/Ratched}}'', Nurse Bucket does this with Mildred's peach that she brought for lunch, clearly trying to establish dominance. But Mildred still gets the last laugh when Bucket ends up vomiting it up during a lobotomy demonstration.
* In ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' season 3 episode ''[[Recap/SherlockS03E03HisLastVow His Last Wow]]'', Magnussen considers himself untouchable due to the leverage he has over his enemies, and allows himself to engage in offensive behaviour whenever possible. One of these (not the worst one by far) include stirring the pasta in Sherlock's plate and eating an olive from his plate, then wash his fingers in his glass of water.
* In episode 4 of ''Series/Lupin2021'', Assane announces his presence at a man's table by taking a bite of his bread and jam, then dipping it into his coffee.
* In an episode of ''Series/OnceUponATime'' Emma gives a prisoner a bottle of water and a Pop-Tart for dinner - a Pop-Tart which she has taken a bite of. When he complains, she merely says "I've had my shots."
* In ''Series/{{Riget}}'', Dr. Krogshøj pulls this on Dr. Helmer by drinking (what he thinks is) his cup of coffee. [[spoiler:It backfires spectacularly as it turns out that it was actually a poisoned cup of coffee that Dr. Helmer was trying to dispose of.]]

** In [[https://twitter.com/natgeowild/status/913810632192827394 this video]], a honey badger steals a puff adder's lunch and eats it right in front of it, then ''[[UpToEleven eats the snake]]'' for good measure.

[[folder:Films - Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
* The most defining example is probably the one in ''Film/PulpFiction'': When Jules and Vincent bust into the preppies' hideout, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnb_3ibUp38 Jules asks Brett]]--in a way that really isn't asking at all--if he can sample his burger. Jules also offers Vincent a bite of Brett's burger, and just tosses it back on the table before he "requests" a sip of his Sprite, and drinks the whole thing while glaring defiantly at Brett the whole time. Even the way he asks "What's in this?" for the drink is done with a MenacingHandShot, and he intentionally makes his voice deeper while asking, to amp up the threat.

* In ''Series/{{Riget}}'', Dr. Krogshøj pulls this on Dr. Helmer by drinking (what he thinks is) his cup of coffee. [[spoilers:It backfires spectacularly as it turns out that it was actually a poisoned cup of coffee that Dr. Helmer was trying to dispose of.]]

-->'''Dex:''' If I'm being honest that's not the way I thought this was gonna go.
-->'''Lim:''' [[spoiler:Who eats a burger with a spork?]]

-->In my kitchen my stove was a-blazin' hot.
-->Coffee was a-boilin' in the pot.
-->The grease had melted in the pan.
-->Had a hunk a-meat right in my hand.
-->From outer space there sat a man
-->On the hot stove with the pots and pans.
-->"Say that's hot" I began to shout.
-->He drank a-hot coffee right from the spout.
-->He ate the raw meat right from my hand.
-->Drank the hot grease from the frying pan.
-->Looked at me said "You better run.
-->"And don't be here when the mornin' comes."

* Subverted in ''Webcomic/JoeVsElanSchool''. Joe's childhood bully Darren snatches away a beer that Joe had stolen from a neighborhood party, in order to mock him. Joe, who has been throughly changed and hardened by all the traumatic events he went through his time in the titular BoardingSchoolOfHorrors, calmly warns that Darren if his mouth as much as touches the beer, he is going to punch him in the face (so calmly, in fact, that Joe, in his narration, admits to being kind of disturbed and scared at how easy and casually threatening violence against another person came to him in that moment). Darren laughs it off and then goes to take a sip, but Joe makes good of his threat immediately decks him.

* Subverted in ''Webcomic/JoeVsElanSchool''. Joe's childhood bully Darren snatches away a beer that Joe had stolen from a neighborhood party, in order to mock him. Joe calmly warns Darren not to take a sip, but Darren laughs it off; when Darren goes to take a sip, Joe decks him.

[[caption-width-right:300:"Mmmm! [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnb_3ibUp38 This]] ''is'' a tasty burger!... Do you mind if I have some of your ''tasty'' beverage to wash it down?"]]

%%% Quote chosen in the General Page Quote Discussion. Please seek consensus before swapping the quote.

Take their food. [[KickTheDog It's a step beyond just invading personal space, and it shows who the alpha dog is]]. Unless it is really called for, it comes across as very insulting and a way to make the offensive party appear unlikable. Frequently the victim is too stunned by the [[RefugeInAudacity audacity]] of such a move to protest.

* ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'': Mugen digs in uninvited to the lunch of some Yakuza thugs. When the predictable reponse follows their boss is so impressed by his badassery he invites him for dinner.

* Manga/RanmaOneHalf has Picolet Chardin II whose family turns this into their ''martial arts style''.

--> '''Light:''' Is that MY coffee?
--> '''L:''' Not anymore, it's not. It evaporated.

* The most defining example is probably the one in ''Film/PulpFiction'': When Jules and Vincent bust into the preppies' hideout, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnb_3ibUp38 Jules asks Brett]]--in a way that really isn't asking at all--if he can sample his burger. Jules also offers Vincent a bite of Brett's burger, and just tosses it back on the table before he "requests" a sip of his Sprite, and drinks the whole thing while glaring defiantly at Brett the whole time. Even the way he asks "What's in this?" for the drink is done with a MenacingHandShot, and he intentionally makes his voice deeper while asking, to amp up threat.

-->'''Markham''': Hey! That's mine!
-->'''Roman''': ''[angrily]'' So?!
-->''[cut to everyone going over the operation while [[FunnyBackgroundEvent Roman silently eats in the background]]]''

* ''Literature/MassEffectDeception'' has Cerberus assassin Kai Leng ''eating a bowl of [[spoiler:Anderson]]'s cereal'' when he sneaks into his apartment to bug it. Needless to say, readers quickly [[MemeticMutation immortalized]] Leng's [[EvilIsPetty petty]] actions into the FanNickname, "cereal killer". It also cemented his status as [[EvilIsPetty a really petty guy]].