History Main / MessOnAPlate

* The eyeball soup in ''IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom''.
* In the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' parody ''Film/GalaxyQuest'', the Thermians attempt to replicate food from the actors' supposed home world. Doctor Lazarus' dish is a bowl of clear liquid filled with live beetles.

* In an episode of the classic paramedics drama ''{{Emergency}}'', the heroes save the life of a celebrity chef, who rewards them with an autographed copy of his latest book. When they later try to put together a dinner for the rest of the crew at their station using the book, they swiftly realize that they did ''something'' wrong and that dinner is ruined. They dump everything they were cooking into a single pot in order to hide the evidence. Just as they're taking it out back to dump it, the fire crew comes back and assumes dinner is ready. Despite having an odd gray color and the consistency of paper mache paste, the "stew" is universally deemed fantastically delicious by the other fire fighters, and the crew expects it to be made again in the future.

* In ''Dream Girl'', one DreamSequence has a throwaway reference (in the context of fine dining) to "oysters Rockefeller, which Ford Madox Ford, who was a great epicure, describes as swimming in a kind of green scum."

* Molly in ''MoonOverSoho'' whenever she tries to cook anything that isn't [[VictorianLondon High Victorian]], on one occasion producing what is described as rubbery vulcanised mass that looks like one of those novelty vomit mats sold in Joke Shops (it was supposed to be lightly poached eggs in hollandaise sauce).

** On that note, casseroles of most any kind are a staple in large households. They're rarely pretty, but are usually the quickest and cheapest way to get everyone fed.

[[quoteright:348:[[CalvinAndHobbes http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MessOnAPlate_3809.gif]]]]

* In the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' parody, ''Film/GalaxyQuest'', the Thermians attempt to replicate food from the actors' supposed home world. Doctor Lazarus' dish is a bowl of clear liquid filled with live beetles.

* ''SchlockMercenary'' has a restaurant chain that serves '[[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-08-08 smutto]]', a combination of corn smut (basically mold), and natto (fermented soybeans). It's so vile that even Schlock (who'll eat pretty much anything) hesitates before eating it.
--> '''Schlock''': "And you just automatically give it to people who say 'number two'."

* Bender's final presentation in the ''{{Futurama}}'' episode "The 30% Iron Chef."

Keep in mind, of course, that this is completely distinct from a LethalChef or a CordonBleughChef - in fact, while food such as this is a frequent indicator of one of those two tropes, it's increasingly common to have overlap with ImpossiblyDeliciousFood (though most people will expect it to [[TastesLikeFeet Taste Like Feet]]. It can overlap with AlienLunch in appearances.

Keep in mind, of course, that this is completely distinct from a LethalChef or a CordonBleughChef - in fact, while food such as this is a frequent indicator of one of those two tropes, it's increasingly common to have overlap with ImpossiblyDeliciousFood. It can overlap with AlienLunch in appearances.

* The Cook from the ''ComicBooks/{{Sturmtruppen}}'' will often serve this. It was once exagerrated when the mess came alive as a BlobMonster in a parody of Frankenstein.

* ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'' occasionally has food that is unappetizing to behold. The dish Spoo comes to mind.

It could take several forms - maybe it's collapsed into an indistinct brown or grey glop in a bowl. It would be a misshapen mound that vaguely looks like a cake. Random tentacles and [[EyesDoNotBelongThere eyes]] could be mixed in. If it's a cake, expect the decorations to be something out of the wildest imagination of a NightmareFetishist (whether or not the cook is actually one).

* In ''{{Accepted}}'', Glen creates a recipe he calls "Wads" that look like a well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin wad]] of melted chocolaty goo. The others recoil at first, but once they get brave enough to taste them they rave that it's the greatest thing they've ever eaten.

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* In the ''Star Trek'' parody, ''GalaxyQuest'', the Thermians attempt to replicate food from the actors' supposed home world. Doctor Lazarus' dish is a bowl of clear liquid filled with live beetles.

-->'''Morbo, {{Futurama}}'''

* ''StarTrek'' occasionally has food that is unappetizing to behold. The Klingon dish Gahkt comes to mind, though Klingons are ProudWarriorRaceGuys and it may be meant as showing how tough they are that they eat things that look frightening to most sentients.
* ''BabylonFive'' occasionally has food that is unappetizing to behold. The dish Spoo comes to mind.

* The Hawaiian islanders have a dish called "poi", which is made from the root of the taro plant. It is purple, and has the consistency (and taste!) of Elmer's glue.

[[quoteright:348:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MessOnAPlate_3809.gif]]

* {{Axis Powers Hetalia}}: [[LethalChef England's]] food is mostly portrayed as an indeterminable black mess. Sometimes it even gets [[{{Pixellation}} pixeled out]] to emphasize this.

Keep in mind, of course, that this is completely distinct from a LethalChef or a CordonBleughChef - in fact, while food such as this is a frequent indicator of one of those two tropes, it's increasingly common for food to look terrible but taste just fine. (On a related note, food that ''looks'' perfectly fine should not be assumed to ''taste'' good.) Can overlap with AlienLunch.