History Main / IfItTastesBadItMustBeGoodForYou

* In RealLife safety conscious doctors and pharmacists sometimes ''design'' medicine to taste bad so that children won't take too much of it. Those of you who remember your mothers trying to get you to take that cherry “flavored” cough syrup may remover the awful smell that came with it, never mind the taste was nothing like cherry once you did take that swig.

* In RealLife safety conscious doctors and pharmacists sometimes ''design'' medicine to taste bad so that children won't take too much of it.

* In Episode 2 of ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', Naofumi gives Raphtalia medicine to cure her illness, and she hates the taste. This makes Naofumi cite this trope.

** Andy has been known to give out Almond Soys and veggie bars for Halloween too. In one such strip, after the kids found them scarier than any costume Roger thought up, she grumbled, "I don't know why I want everyone to live longer, they'd just keep mocking me.)

Well, if it tastes bad, it ''must'' be good for you! There is some TruthInTelevision here, as many people portray health food as being healthy, but tasting extremely terrible. In fact, there is some health food that ''is'' considered tasty,[[note]]Even lots of it depending who you ask[[/note]] but if the production of produced health foods won’t take that into account or whole health foods have not-so-tasteful qualities this makes them taste rather... unpalatable. [[note]]Note that these foods usually do not taste bad ''because'' they are health foods or have added vitamins: Vitamins in and of itself do not have a taste on their own, including a bad taste.[[/note]] Plain but not so healthy food could be seen as mouthwatering in comparison. There's also the matter of preparation; since some vegetables that are ''very'' good for you taste absolutely ''terrible'' to some people if you prepare them in a certain way. (Carrots, for example, are known for absorbing flavor when they are cooked with something.)

Well, if it tastes bad, it ''must'' be good for you! There is some TruthInTelevision here, as many people portray health food as being healthy, but tasting extremely terrible. In fact, there is some health food that ''is'' considered tasty,[[note]]Even lots of it depending who you ask[[/note]] but if the production of produced health foods won’t take that into account or whole health foods have not-so-tasteful qualities this makes them taste rather... unpalatable. [[note]]Note that this foods usually do not taste bad ''because'' they are health foods or have added vitamins: Vitamins in and of itself do not have a taste on their own, including a bad taste.[[/note]] Plain but not so healthy food could be seen as mouthwatering in comparison. There's also the matter of preparation; since some vegetables that are ''very'' good for you taste absolutely ''terrible'' to some people if you prepare them in a certain way. (Carrots, for example, are known for absorbing flavor when they are cooked with something.)

* [[Series/BillNyeTheScienceGuy Bill Nye]] was once explaining medicinal properties of various plants. Taking a bite of lemon, as his face scrunched up he said "It's got to be good for you..."
* ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' had some fun with this trope from time to time, including one moment where Clair got Cliff to try rice cakes:

* Another episode of ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' had Denise preparing vegetarian natural-foods dishes for her stepdaughter's birthday party while Cliff stood there making snarky remarks.

** Subverted on ''Series/IronChef US: Battle Broccoli'', when the challenger was a vegetarian who swore up and down that healthy food could be tasty... but in practice, used so much butter ''her kitchen ran out of it'' during the contest.

* Averted in the ''Series/TodaysSpecial'' episode "Fruit", which discusses how fruit not only tastes good but is very good for you. [[ZigZaggingTrope Except for not-so-sweet fruits like lemons]].

* A lot of online recipes have complaints in the comments sections where people make "healthy" substitutions, such as skim/non-dairy milk, whole wheat flour or sugar substitutes, without understanding how the ingredients combine and the recipe doesn't turn out.

This goes hand in hand with AWeightyAesop, formerly named "If It Tastes Good, It Must Be Bad For You". See also MiseryBuildsCharacter and DisgustingVegetarianFood.

** In an interesting case of AccidentallyAccurate, hydrogen sulphide actually plays an essential role as a gasotransmitter and is involved in myriad different biological processes. Research shows that it has the potential to treat many things, including Alzheimer's, heart attacks, cancer, and [[TheLoinsSleepTonight erectile dysfunction]], making it a straight example, although its benefits are completely different to those claimed of kala namak. However, H[[subscript:2]]S-based treatment would likely involve the use of a donor molecule rather than requiring patients to breathe in the gas itself, [[DefiedTrope partially due to this trope]]. At higher concentrations the trope becomes {{inverted}}, H[[subscript:2]]S is [[DeadlyGas highly toxic]], with a lethal dose which is comparable to that of hydrogen cyanide.

* Averted in the ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' DLC "Assault on Dragon Keep", where the Vault Hunters from the first game discover that Tiny Tina has eaten nothing but crumpets for years, so they hold her down and force feed her a salad. She is horrified by the mere sight of it ("Why is it green? That's not natural!"), and even more horrified to find out that she actually liked it... because only adults like salad.

** One gags involved Peter Griffin trying out Totel (a brand of cereal that's marketed as both tasty and nutritious). He likes it at first, but when Lois mentions that "it's also good for him", it immediately ruins it for him and he pushes it off the table like a ManChild.

-->'''Abbott:''' You should really go on a diet. You know what a diet is, don't you?
-->'''Costello:''' Sure, that's where you can eat all you want of everything you don't like.

-->'''Mick Dundee:''' ''[a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goanna goanna]] is sizzling over a fire. Sue looks ill]'' How do you like your goanna? Medium? Well done?
-->'''Sue Charlton:''' You don't really expect me to eat that?!
-->'''Mick:''' Yeah, it's great. Yeah, try some of these yams, try the grubs and the sugar ants. Just bite the end off, they're really sweet. Black fellas love 'em.
-->'''Sue:''' ''[tentatively tries a large beetle]'' What about you, aren't you having any?
-->'''Mick:''' Me? ''[[[HypocriticalHumor Mick starts working on a tin with his knife]]]'' Well, you can live on it, but it tastes like shit.

--> '''Clair''': Zero salt, zero sugar, zero cholesterol.
--> '''Cliff''': Zero taste.
* Another episode of ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' had Denise preparing vegetarian natural-foods dishes for her stepdaughter's birthday party while Cliff stood there making snarky remarks.

--> '''Bill''': Health foods are alright when you're not hungry but I'm famished!

--> '''Homer''': Uh, I tried the broccoli again.
--> '''St Peter''': *sighs* You have 12 hours to complete your task.

--> Eating greens is a special treat. It makes long ears and great big feet. But it sure is ''awful stuff to eat.'' (I made that last part up myself).

--> '''Villain''': Haha, we know you not like rice cake!

--> '''Hunk:''' Ugh, it smells disgusting!\\

* "Beat Your Greens" from ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', where not eating vegetables turns out to be a ''good'' thing, as they've been contaminated by mind-control spores as a front to an alien invasion of sentient broccoli. In the end, the children of Townsville fend them off by eating the broccoli soldiers, and after the aliens retreat, wind up craving more.

* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop''. Peg puts Pete on a diet medication that comes in the form of a granola bar. Pete, understandably, fears that they`ll taste bad; however, they taste so good he eats a week`s supply in one sitting. Peg informs him they're supposed to be taken with three square meals a day (not exceeding three), and unless they`re taken properly they might as well be the candy it tastes like.

* Medicines in the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' novels bounce back and forth between averting this trope and playing it straight. The normal remedy for overstraining one's psychic abilities tastes absolutely horrible. Most Healers will provide a "chaser" with no medical properties but which will clear the taste out of a patient's mouth; one character who needs the potion because he just invoked WhatAnIdiot gets the potion but ''not'' the palate-cleanser. On the other hand, when Karal is flattened by overstrain he's assured that potions for stomach ulcers are deliberately made to be tasty (it's the only way to get people who need them to take them).

Well, if it tastes bad, it ''must'' be good for you! There is some TruthInTelevision here, as many people portray health food as being healthy, but tasting extremely terrible. In fact, there is some health food that ''is'' considered tasty, but if the production of produced health foods won’t take that into account or whole health foods have not-so-tasteful qualities this makes them taste rather... unpalatable. [[note]]Note that this foods usually do not taste bad because they are health foods or have added vitamins because vitamins in itself do not have a taste on their own.[[/note]] Plain but not so healthy food could be seen as mouthwatering in comparison. There's also the matter of preparation; since some vegetables that are ''very'' good for you taste absolutely ''terrible'' to some people if you prepare them in a certain way. (Carrots, for example, are known for absorbing flavor when they are cooked with something.)

Well, if it tastes bad, it ''must'' be good for you! There is some TruthInTelevision here, as many people portray health food as being healthy, but tasting extremely terrible. In fact, there is some health food that ''is'' considered tasty, but many health foods are heavily fortified with vitamins to make them even healthier. This also makes them taste rather... unpalatable as some of those nutrients (such as B vitamins) can taste bad because they are in higher amounts than normal and there is ''no'' covering up the flavor. Ironically, it's the highly-processed, vitamin-fortified "health foods" that tend to cost the most, taste the worst, and have the most potential to actually injure you. Plain plant- or animal-based food is mouthwatering in comparison. There's also the matter of preparation; since some vegetables that are ''very'' good for you taste absolutely ''terrible'' to some people if you prepare them in a certain way. (Carrots, for example, are known for absorbing flavor when they are cooked with something.)

* In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheDiabolicalBox'', when concocting a type of tea that's good for colds, Luke complains that it's a little too bitter for him. Layton explains to him that that that's how you know it works, quoting a Japanese proverb about how good medicine is bitter to the taste.
* In the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' series, OriginalGeneration character Kusuha Mizuha is known to concoct health drinks that can even bring the manliest of men to their knees. However, once they recover from their near-death experience, they seem to be much more energetic and ready than they were beforehand.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', a series of sidequests requires Jesse to expunge a supernatural mold that's festering parts of The Oldest House [[ParasiteZombie as well as some of its human agents]], and at one point, Jesse is given a pill designed to make her immune to it. Its most immediate effect is causing her to smell an awful stench coming from the mold, [[JustifiedTrope which is entirely the point]]; said mold naturally smells and tastes delicious in order to tempt people into eating it and becoming infested, so making it smell terrible to Jesse makes her not want to eat it (in practical gameplay terms, this allows Jesse to explore areas where [[BeefGate the mold is so potent that she would previously take damage just by being near it]]).

* The novel ''Literature/LiverCookies'' has the two protagonists decide, if everything that's unhealthy is tasty, and everything healthy is disgusting, why not put the two together and make food that tastes like junk food but has the nutritional value of healthy food? Their first invention is, of course, [[TitleDrop liver cookies]]. They call it Healthy Junk ([=HJ=] for short, figuring that everyone will think it's the founders initials).

* The novel LiverCookies has the two protagonists decide, if everything that's unhealthy is tasty, and everything healthy is disgusting, why not put the two together and make food that tastes like junk food but has the nutritional value of healthy food? Their first invention is, of course, [[TitleDrop liver cookies]]. They call it Healthy Junk ([=HJ=] for short, figuring that everyone will think it's the founders initials).

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' had a scenario in which Hank Hill had eaten way too much meat and as a result was constipated. In order to help cure his embarrassing symptom, his wife tried to get him to eat more veggies and tofu. He expressed his utter dislike for tofu and, in fact, was offered a tofu ''substitute'' called "Fauxfu". When Hank asked the store owner straight out if he has ''anything'' that tastes good, he thinks about it for a moment and says no.
** Another episode had Peggy decide the family would eat healthy, after a few days she decides only Bobby will eat healthy food due to the fact that a lot of it tastes horrible to them. It ends up being subverted later as Bobby has gotten used to the food and can't stand eating a regular candy bar due to it being too sweet ([[TruthInTelevision if you cut sugar to a minimum in your diet this can actually happen]]). He proceeds to realize that the wheatgrass juice he's been drinking now tastes better.

* This is averted with a great many poisons which are both very bitter and very deadly; this is part of why we're hardwired to despise bitter-tasting things.

[[folder: Comic Strips]]

* Too many things to name portray very healthy foods such as broccoli as being scorned by children, even some ''adults'' severely dislike broccoli. Brussels sprouts, liver and spinach are other common targets.