History Main / MessOnAPlate

->''"The challenger's ugly food has shown us that even hideous things can be sweet on the inside." [begins to cry]''
-->-- '''Morbo''', ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''

* The stew served at the cafeteria that provides lunch to Winston Smith and his coworkers in ''Literature/{{1984}}''. It's pinkish-gray with a metallic odor and has cubes of spongy fake meat floating in it. A spill of the stuff on a tabletop is described as "a filthy liquid mess that had the appearance of vomit."

* Not even bothering to pretend to be anything other than this trope, the famous Garbage Plate of Rochester, NY, consists of two carbs (originally home fries and macaroni salad, though substituting home fries for french fries and/or macaroni salad for potato salad is generally considered acceptable) along with a meat (hot dogs, burger patties or sloppy joe filling) which is then slathered with ketchup and mustard, topped with onions and optionally served with a side of baked beans. The fact that it tastes delicious, especially when hungover, does nothing to hide the fact that it loks like something someone already ate.

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.

** By civilian standards, modern soldiers have it hard. Soldiers and sailors of before would be green with envy to get an MRE. The standard for soldiers as late as the American Civil War could be hard tack, which was preserved dry biscuits known for breaking teeth. Hard tack made in the American Civil War is ''still edible.'' On ships, hard tack was often eaten in the dark so you would not see what insects and weevils might be in it. Civil War soldiers would beat it with their rifle butts to make it soft enough to mix with water to make it edible - edible, not palatable. [[https://breaddad.com/hardtack-recipe/ You can make it yourself]], if so inclined. Make sure your dentist is on speed-dial.

* ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel'': One issue shows Joe candidates going through TrainingFromHell. This includes their meals, which are described by ChefOfIron Roadblock as "mystery meat on a shingle"[[note]]A {{Bowdlerization}} of real-life army slang expression "shit on a shingle"[[/note]]. One of the candidates muses "How do they get it so gray?"

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'': When Ran (or [[DubNameChange Rachel]]) tried to bake a lemon pie for the first time ever in volume 18, it turned up looking messy and burnt. But everyone says it tastes good.

* ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel'': One issue shows Joe candidates going through TrainingFromHell. This includes their meals, which are described by ChefOfIron Roadblock as "mystery meat on a shingle". One of the candidates muses "How do they get it so gray?"

A common saying among chefs is that "you first eat with your eyes." Cooks who produce this food apparently expect everyone eating to be blind.

* Commercial baby foods can look very unappealing to parents feeding their babies, driving some of them to ditch the jars of goop altogether and mush up fresh foods for Junior.

* Just about anyone who’s ever done a hospital stay will state that hospital food falls under this trope more often than not.

* 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 and a remotely competent chef can make some very tasty and satifying meals that fill the house with wonderful cooking smells.

* The Dubious Food from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild.''

* "Nutraloaf" is an American prison food commonly served to inmates with serious discipline/behavior problems. It consists of several different foods (meat, bread/grain, apples, eggs, vegetables, beans, etc.) mixed together and baked into a meatloaf-like shape. The result is a large, orange loaf which inmates eat it off a paper plate instead of a tray, without utensils, and tastes like absolutely ''nothing''. It is so universally reviled that inmates in several states have filed lawsuits to stop its use, arguing that it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. A generous application of Tabasco sauce helps, allegedly.

* "Nutraloaf" is an American prison food commonly served to inmates with serious discipline/behavior problems. It consists of several different foods (meat, bread/grain, apples, eggs, vegetables, beans, etc.) mixed together and baked into a meatloaf-like shape. Inmates eat it off a paper plate instead of a tray, without utensils. It is so universally reviled that inmates in several states have filed lawsuits to stop its use, arguing that it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. A generous application of Tabasco sauce helps, allegedly.

* ''Manga/DailyLifeWithMonsterGirl'': Everything [[LethalChef Miia]] cooks looks like this. It's inevitably a groteque purple color with a foul miasma coming from it, usually with visible fish skeletons, charred bits of meat, and disgusting looking globs of something floating in it. Eating it inevitably makes the person who tries it sick (except for [[SlimeGirl Suu]], who's an ExtremeOmnivore and can actually handle it). When Rin, the daughter of Rachnera's previous host family, is tricked into eating some she says that it "smells like bug spray and death."

* Asuna's first cake from the first anime adaptation of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima''. The second came out looking much better. Appropriate, as she's an {{Expy}} of the above.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

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