History Main / EvenTheRatsWontTouchIt

* In a morbid offshoot of this trope, some diseases (for instance, a historic plague in Athens) are sufficiently unpleasant that vultures won't eat the victims.

'''Agnès:''' And then [[UpToEleven the cat left it for a crow]].

* In a non-animal example, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode with the sugar ban saw the police burning every bit of candy in Springfield. When they throw the Butterfingers bars into the fire, [[TakeThat they get thrown right back out.]] It's a popular misconception that the show lost their sponsor for that joke. Rather, it's the other way around: the contract was already over, and the show wanted to do a retaliatory TakeThat.

* In a non-animal example, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode with the sugar ban saw the police burning every bit of candy in Springfield. When they throw the Butterfingers bars into the fire, [[TakeThat they get thrown right back out.]] This actually got the show in trouble, as the company that made Butterfingers was one of their major sponsors (And had several Simpsons-themed commercials) - up until they aired that episode.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Clarence}}'' episode "Jeff Wins", a flashback to one of Jeff's cooking contest freak-outs shows him tossing his entry to the pigs, who then throw it back.

* While at Momma Lucy's, David, from ''Film/{{Mr and Mrs Smith|1941}}'', is concerned [[MakesSenseInContext that the cat won't eat the soup they're eating]].

* ''Film/TheStoneTape''. The [[HauntedHouse strange noises in castle]] are said to be rats, but one character notes that there are still cans of spam left over from the war that would have been chewed open if that were the case.

Often the product of a LethalChef, and usually in the form of MysteryMeat. Compare EvenBeggarsWontChooseIt for the non-food variant, as well as EvenEvilHasStandards and EvenTheDogIsAshamed. See also TooSpicyForYogSothoth, when an EldritchAbomination turns down a meal of the hero. For other dystopia-like looks at food, see FutureFoodIsArtificial and PovertyFood. Subtrope of EveryoneHasStandards. Sometimes inverted by having ''only'' a rat or whatever like it; see OnlyOneFindsItFun for that.

* On ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Joey made a revolting sandwich. He tosses some outside the car to distract a dog. Rachel points out that the dog licks himself; yet refuses to eat the sandwich.

** There's also a scene in Fuuka's Social Link, where she tries to give some of her food to stray cat. It runs away.

[[folder:Urban Legends]]
* An urban legend states that flies won't touch margarine because it's "one molecule away from plastic." (Also a case of ArtisticLicenseChemistry -- chemical structure is almost as important to a compound's physical properties as its composition. Two molecules might contain exactly the same atoms but be arranged in a different way and consequently have wildly different behavior (melting/boiling point, density, toxicity...). The statement that "margarine is (chemically similar to) plastic" is effectively meaningless.) Cracked.com once pointed out that the logic behind this claim is like saying that a ''farm'' is a bad thing because it's one letter away from a ''fart''.
* An old urban legend had it that a starving coyote wouldn't eat a dead Mexican, because the residue of a lifetime of chili peppers would burn the creature's mouth. This is utter biological nonsense, but gullible gringo tourists were regularly fooled by this equivalent of "free-range haggis" or "[[YowiesAndBunyipsAndDropBearsOhMy drop bears]]." A variation that says that vultures won't touch a dead Mexican makes even less sense: peppers don't burn birds in the first place.[[labelnote:Scientific aside]]Capsaicin, the active ingredient in hot peppers, does not affect birds. Peppers probably evolved from a plant that contained low levels of capsaicin as an antifungal agent, but plants with ever-higher quantities of capsaicin also survived being eaten by mammals, which (unlike birds) have molars that destroy the fragile pepper seeds, and (again unlike birds) can taste the capsaicin and be disgusted by it.[[/labelnote]]
[[/folder]]

** Another version: Garfield says he looked into Jon's closet and saw that two hundred moths committed suicide.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In the [[UsefulNotes/WeAreNotTheWehrmacht German military]], it used to be said that the potato bags delivered to the army kitchens were marked with "Nur für Schweinemast oder Bundeswehr", translated: "Only suitable for pig feeding or Federal Army".
* During the days of WoodenShipsAndIronMen, also known as the Golden Age of Sail, rations largely consisted of salt beef, which was bad enough, but loads better than its companion, the nearly indestructible and unspoilable hardtack, made from flour and water. Not only was it about as appetizing as chewing on tree bark, it was also a favorite target for weevils, which infested hardtack stock so often it became a RunningGag. There's stories about sailors eating their hardtack in the dark so they didnt have to look at the pests infesting their meagre food, or dropping the biscuits in their morning coffee which not only drowned the weevil larva but also softened the hardtack.

** In a non-food example, when Bart and Milhouse are put in charge of Comic Book Guy's shop while he's unable to work, Milhouse ends up buying several boxes of a comic named "Byclops" about a superpowered nerd with glasses. It's a huge flop and Bart complains that not even the birds want them for their nests. On cue, an angered bird flies inside with an issue of the comic, tears it to shreds and flies away.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Clarence}}'' episode, "Jeff Wins" a flashback to one of Jeff's cooking contest freak-outs shows him tossing his entry to the pigs, who then throw it back.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' episode "Lily Pad Thai" we see the chef of the local GreasySpoon, Stumpy, serves putrid slop so disgusting that a opossum-like creature that crawls up on the table eats a mouthful and immediately horks it back up (and this is followed by a shot of a frog skeleton holding a spoon [[LethalChef with a bowl of slop in front of it]]).

* In the 1925 silent film ''Film/TheBattleshipPotemkin'', the soldiers revolt over being served maggot-infested meat and declare, "Even a dog won't eat this!"

* A recurring joke in Franchise/ArchieComics. In one oneshot, a bear steals a picnic basket from the girls. It takes a bite, spits it out, and brings the basket back while pinching its nose, causing Veronica to cry, "Worse news, girls- the bear's bringing it back!"