History Main / MysteryMeat

** ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' has a quest ''named'' "Mystery Meat", in which you expose a trader running a crooked meat-canning operation, [[spoiler:whose secret ingredient is ghoul flesh]].

* ''Series/GoodEats'': Used in the episode, "Oh, my! Meat pie!" Alton's ancestor repeatedly asks [[SweeneyTodd Mrs. Lovett]] what's in [[TheSecretOfLongPorkPies her pies]]...and she replies that she doesn't recall, but reassures him that it was fresh at the time. At the end, Scotland Yard comes by her pie shop to investigate several "mysterious" disappearances in the area, and she runs off to America with Alton's ancestor.

%%* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8361323/1/Exit-Materia Exit Materia]]'':%%Quotes aren't context.
%%-->'''Zach:''' I wouldn't do that if I were you, Spiky! You never know what's in the Mysterious Wednesday Stew, 'coz, you know, Kunsel says the Science Department gives the failed experiments to the cooks every Tuesday evening and that's why we get Mysterious Wednesday Stew, and I'm not sure I don't believe him, 'coz, yeah it's crazy absurd, but Kunsel always knows everything and besides, there was this time Genesis and Angeal came here to eat on a Wednesday for some reason or other and Genesis was suspicious of his food and thought it was moving and Angeal told him to stop being a drama queen but then the food ''did'' move, and Genesis kind of has the best reflexes ever and he stabbed it with a knife, like, ''instantly'', and it ''gurgled'' -- I swear it did -- and then moaned as it wilted and I think it ''died'', which means it was alive, and since it'd been cooked, you know, that really makes you wonder ''what'' it was, only I don't want to think too much of it because I'd already taken a bite, but anyway, I haven't dared eat the Mysterious Wednesday Stew since then and I don't think you should either!%%Quotes aren't acceptable context.

%%* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8240089/17/Mortem-Cantor Mortem Cantor]]'':
%%-->Harry glanced over the different choices, trying to decide which would be the least likely to taste like shit. He decided upon a salad, because it was the only thing he could recognise at a first glance. And at least it looked fresh (probably because it was completely untouched by everybody else; ''heaven forbid eating anything green'') unlike the different selections of meat, none of which Harry could identify. He refused to touch any of ''that''; it could be something gross, like road kill, and nobody would ever notice.%%Quotes aren't acceptable context.
%%* "Motivations":
%%-->'''Clarence:''' Let's pop down the pub, have a few drinks, catch a movie, have a few more drinks, and have kebab on the way home?%%\\
%%'''Clara:''' A kebab with meat of dubious origin that is at least thirty percent rat, carved from a rotating spit, served by a hirsute Muggle with no command of the English language but absolute command of eighteen eastern European languages, served with eight small pieces of lettuce from last week's supermarket returns, and covered in a sauce that is almost completely made of garlic, gelatine and artificial flavourings?%%Quotes aren't acceptable context.

** "[[Recap/RecessS4E23TheDude The Dude]]": The former student called the Dude claims that the school even smells the same from his childhood. Spinelli says it's because the stench from the cafeteria is permanent.

* In some [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPrisons US prisons]], particularly those that are [[Private Profit Prison]]s, or who have contracted their food supply out to certain corporations, [[https://coppercourier.com/story/ex-inmates-say-prison-food-labeled-not-for-human-consumption-was-served-anyway/ inmates are receiving meat labeled "Not Fit for Human Consumption."]] What exactly that means...varies. But it often means it's spoiled or about to spoil...and may not be what it claims to be.

* In some [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPrisons US prisons]], particularly those that are [[For Profit Prison]]s, or who have contracted their food supply out to certain corporations, [[https://coppercourier.com/story/ex-inmates-say-prison-food-labeled-not-for-human-consumption-was-served-anyway/ inmates are receiving meat labeled "Not Fit for Human Consumption."]] What exactly that means...varies. But it often means it's spoiled or about to spoil...and may not be what it claims to be.

"Where Have All The Horses Gone?" by Music/MitchBenn:

Mummy, tell us please?"\\

"Where Have All The Horses Gone?" by Music/MichBenn:

* Music/EricBogle's "The Great Aussie Takeaway".

** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E18Earshot Earshot]]" the cafeteria lady dumps rat poison into the dessert.
** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E12DoublemeatPalace Doublemeat Palace]]", Buffy starts working at [[BurgerFool the eponymous fast food place]] and finds [[HumanResources a human finger in the meat grinder]]. This ends up being a bait-and-switch: the finger was there because a demon killed someone, but the meat was more mundane. [[spoiler:Except that it wasn't meat at all - it was veggieburger ''flavored'' with beef and chicken fat. Fattening cardboard. Charming.]]

* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'': In one episode, Kelly comes home from her job as waitress at a local diner, annoyed about customers complaining about finding a cat claw in their food. What makes this example especially bad is that the meal in question was ''[[UpToEleven a salad]]''!

* One issue of Creator/MarvelComics' ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe]]'' series has a group of Joe recruits being put through deliberately harsh training to see who cracks. Lunch is "mystery meat on a shingle". One disgusted recruit asks "How do they get it so grey?".
* In the Threeboot ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'', Karate Kid is dealing with the FourthWallMailSlot when Shadow Lass serves him a meal. He asks her what kind of meat it is, and she tells him to read the next letter. The next letter says, "Those goats in Brainy's lab were really cute. What happened to them?" After a BeatPanel, KK starts spluttering while Shady takes over.
* This shows up in a comic of the Disney TV series ''WesternAnimation/TeachersPet'', in which a dog named Spot dresses up as a student and attends his owner's classroom so he can spend more time with him. In the comic, Leonard (his owner), in a hurry, accidentally feeds Spot a can of corned beef hash instead of his regular dog food. Later, dressed as "Scott" in the school cafeteria, Spot finds out the mystery meat tastes just like his dog food and concludes that the school is putting dog food in their recipes, which starts a school riot. During a talk-in with the principal, the principal demands to know whether Spot has actually eaten dog food before. Fearing this could blow his cover, Spot agrees with the principal to eat a large plate of their mystery meat and confirm to the students it's dog food free. Much to the principal and lunch lady's surprise, Spot ends up enjoying the experience (he's a dog after all). Overall, most of the cafeteria's recipes are made of turkey.
* The ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' album ''Recap/TintinTintinInAmerica'' has a minor plot point that reveals that a mob-controlled corned beef producer actually uses dogs, cats, and other street animals, both strays and kidnapped pets. They actually have quite an elaborate setup showing live cattle going into a machine, and finished produce coming out.

* In ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', anything Calvin's mom cooks tends to come out looking like a plateful of green sludge. Calvin disdainfully calls it "toad stroganoff" in one SundayStrip. However, in one strip, Calvin's mom tells him that it's "spider pie"; Calvin, being a NightmareFetishist, is persuaded to taste it again and actually approves, though his dad still doesn't want to try eating it. She tries the same trick in another strip, calling stuffed peppers "monkey heads" (with much the same result- Calvin happily eats it, but his dad rejects it).
* Pretty much any scene set in the high school lunchroom in ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' is guaranteed to reference this trope, often exaggerated.
** One example:

** In one strip they also offer a vegetarian alternative: Meatless Mystery.
** Also referenced at the summer camp attended by Jason and Marcus. The camp serves burritos one night, which the boys consider a major treat. Marcus notes over dinner that, "Tomorrow night's menu just says 'grub'."
** Paige is excited because the cafeteria reads S.T.E.A.K. one day. Which turns out to be Squid Tentacles, Eggplant, And Ketchup.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' has occasionally crossed paths with some Mystery Meat when Jon goes too long without cleaning the refrigerator. Once he had to flee for safety because the Mystery Meat had [[ItCameFromTheFridge crawled out of the tinfoil and tried to attack him]].
** Another time Jon and the pets were on vacation and the local delicacy is something called Unguah. Exactly what an Unguah is is never specified, but judging by the cooks unhappy reaction to seeing a live one in his kitchen, it's probably some sort of vermin.

* Discussed in ''Fanfic/BeyondHeroes: Of Sunshine and Red Lyrium'', as Varric and Bethany eat some stew prepared by the [[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition Skyhold chef]]. Varric notes that they can be reasonably sure about what they're eating, as opposed to the mystery meat in the stew at the Hanged Man in Kirkwall. (This is a throwaway joke referring to one of the ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' loading screens, which made reference to the mystery meat used in the tavern.)

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8361323/1/Exit-Materia Exit Materia]]'':
-->'''Zach:''' I wouldn't do that if I were you, Spiky! You never know what's in the Mysterious Wednesday Stew, 'coz, you know, Kunsel says the Science Department gives the failed experiments to the cooks every Tuesday evening and that's why we get Mysterious Wednesday Stew, and I'm not sure I don't believe him, 'coz, yeah it's crazy absurd, but Kunsel always knows everything and besides, there was this time Genesis and Angeal came here to eat on a Wednesday for some reason or other and Genesis was suspicious of his food and thought it was moving and Angeal told him to stop being a drama queen but then the food ''did'' move, and Genesis kind of has the best reflexes ever and he stabbed it with a knife, like, ''instantly'', and it ''gurgled'' - I swear it did - and then moaned as it wilted and I think it ''died'', which means it was alive, and since it'd been cooked, you know, that really makes you wonder ''what'' it was, only I don't want to think too much of it because I'd already taken a bite, but anyway, I haven't dared eat the Mysterious Wednesday Stew since then and I don't think you should either!
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13309790/50/Harry-Potter-gets-smart-and-takes-control-the-goblet Harry Potter gets smart and takes control - the goblet]]'' goblin cuisine is heavy on the meat, a lot of which is "green or other odd colours".
* The mystery meat in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' is not left un-riffed in the [[http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/book/book3_03.htm definitive E-Text]]:

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12507814/11/Magical-Metamorphosis Magical Metamorphosis]]'' Hagrid serves Holly, Ron, and Hermione "beef casserole" with claws in it.
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8240089/17/Mortem-Cantor Mortem Cantor]]'':
-->Harry glanced over the different choices, trying to decide which would be the least likely to taste like shit. He decided upon a salad, because it was the only thing he could recognise at a first glance. And at least it looked fresh (probably because it was completely untouched by everybody else; ''heaven forbid eating anything green'') unlike the different selections of meat, none of which Harry could identify. He refused to touch any of ''that''; it could be something gross, like road kill, and nobody would ever notice.
* "Motivations":
-->'''Clarence:''' Let's pop down the pub, have a few drinks, catch a movie, have a few more drinks, and have kebab on the way home?\\
'''Clara:''' A kebab with meat of dubious origin that is at least thirty percent rat, carved from a rotating spit, served by a hirsute Muggle with no command of the English language but absolute command of eighteen eastern European languages, served with eight small pieces of lettuce from last week's supermarket returns, and covered in a sauce that is almost completely made of garlic, gelatine and artificial flavourings?
* The aliens' mystery meat in ''Fanfic/RetroChill'' is made of something so disgusting, ''[[TakeOurWordForIt the narrator refuses to describe what it is]]''.

* Mrs. Peacock's enjoyment of monkey brains, a mystery meat to the other diners, is a key to two of the solutions in ''Film/{{Clue}}''.
* One of the most memorable scenes in ''Film/DemolitionMan'' has Spartan buy a burger from a member of the Resistance, only for the other characters to point out that the Resistance doesn't exactly have space and resources to raise cattle underground, and that the meat in the burger [[ReducedToRatburgers is almost certainly rat]]. Spartan doesn't really mind, since it's the closest thing he's had to a decent meal since being unfrozen in the future.

* In 'Film/TheGreatOutdoors'', Roman refers to hot dogs as being made from "lips and assholes". In the next scene, when raccoons raid the cabin's trash, one of the raccoons says the exact same thing.
* There's a short scene in ''Film/HomewardBoundTheIncredibleJourney'' where Shadow and Chance (two dogs) discuss what they think hot dogs are made of. Chance doubts that they're made of dog, while Shadow doubts that they're even made of meat. Both agree that they taste the best when they fall in the dirt.
* The French film ''L'Enquete Corse'' has a scene where the protagonist eats a Corsican dinner and compliments the chef, asking what the meat was (he says it tasted like veal, but better). A kid says it was rat and is shushed by another guest who reassures him: it's actually hedgehog.
* This exchange happens in ''Film/{{Gunless}}'' when Sean is eating the first meal Jane made for him:

* Creator/BillMurray in ''Film/{{Meatballs}}'':
-->"Attention. Here's an update on tonight's dinner. It was veal. I repeat, veal. The winner of tonight's mystery meat contest is Jeffrey Corbin, who guessed 'some kind of beef'."
* Best not to think about what TheRemnant were eating while on the march in ''Film/TheScavengers''. What is shown is inedible looking green leaves topped with an unidentifiable grey slop. Whatever it was, most of the men felt that horse meat would be a definite improvement.

* In ''Are We There Yet?'', the diary entry for the Sowsbury 500 Pig Races states that "The next day Mom made sandwiches from this canned mystery meat that I think was the mortal remains of one of the losers."
* "Weird meat" in ''VideoGame/{{Avernum}}'' comes from a variety of sources, of which the ''least'' disturbing is giant lizards used as livestock. At least one example ([[BigBad Garzahd's]] "pantry") is apparently humanoid in origin, maybe even [[ImAHumanitarian human]]. However, all of it can be eaten without harm.
* In ''Barbarous: Tavern of Emyr'' a halfling compliments Emyr on the tender meat in the stew.

* One of the missions done for Edna the Lunch Lady in ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'' involves finding out exactly what goes into the mystery meat at Bullworth Academy cafeteria - discount meat from the butchershop. Not only is the meat just on the safe side of being rancid already, Edna states that it'll last for a month, as "there are no fussy eaters at Bullworth".
* One of the {{loading screen}}s in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' advises people to never order the stew in the Hanged Man (the local bar) because nobody's entirely sure what meat they use to make it.
* One of the various food items in the ''Eschalon'' series is meat scraps. Eating them gives you the message "Where this meat has come from is questionable, but it is fresh and provides some needed protein." Which is saying something considering that other edibles include rat meat and "meaty spider legs".
* Being in the same universe, both ''Videogame/FallenLondon'' and ''Videogame/SunlessSea'' have a couple notable ones:

** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' has a restaurant that sells "Large Wasteland Omelets". Your character thinks they're delicious, and eating one will heal you up to full health. If you check the shed behind the restaurant, however, you'll find a Deathclaw locked in it: the omelets are made from the Deathclaw's egg. In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', you can encounter the restaurant owner's granddaughter, who's learned the recipe from the original character. This time she's open about the fact that it's made with Deathclaw eggs.
** You might come across "[[http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Strange_meat Strange Meat]]" in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''. You ''might'' not want to eat that. [[spoiler:[[ImAHumanitarian It's human flesh.]]]] ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' also has "Strange Meat". Disturbingly enough, Strange Meat (and Strange Meat Pie) is actually a fairly commonly-found food item. It's implied that Strange Meat is [[spoiler:human flesh deliberately prepared in such a way as to disguise it as something else, so that it can be sold to people who don't realize what they're buying]]. According to Old Ben, one butcher in Freeside made a [[IncrediblyLamePun killing]] off of this practice, and sold it cheaply enough to put Ben's father's shop out of business. This continued until people started getting "shakes" (strongly implied to be [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_(disease) Kuru]]) from eating it, including the butcher himself, who eventually died from the disease.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' has a quest ''named'' "Mystery Meat", in which you expose a trader running a crooked meat-canning operation, [[spoiler:whose secret ingredient is ghoul flesh]].
* The cafeteria in ''VideoGame/{{Kindergarten}}'' sells "slop", a grey goo that, according to the lunch lady, contains "herbs and spices and salt and about 89 percent the principal's secret ingredient". [[spoiler:Whatever that secret ingredient is, it comes from a strange machine in the principal's secret lab, meaning it's probably not recommended for consumption.]]
* One student in ''VideoGame/ManaKhemiaAlchemistsOfAlRevis'' claims that the roast served in the cafeteria of Al-Revis is dried Puni.
* One of the side quests in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' mod ''Shadowlands'' involves killing a bunch of out-of-control fire beetles in the basement of the local inn. It turns out that they're the "secret ingredient" in a rather popular noodle dish sold by one of the market vendors.
* The ''VideoGame/NickelodeonClickamajigs'' "Chef's Mystery Special" features a {{gonk}}y lunch lady feeding gross slop that includes shoes, tin cans, rotten food, cigar butts, human body parts, and other inedible stuff.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonVietnameseCrystal'', the infamous TranslationTrainWreck bootleg of ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokémon Crystal]]'', gives us "[=VOLCANO BAKEMEAT=]".
* The Meat Seller in ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIII'' sells mystery meat as rations. If you ask him what's in it, he'll tell you in exhausting detail (and rhyme) until you decide that YouDoNotWantToKnow. Its greatest virtue lies in the fact that the merchant is such a terrible haggler that you can get it for virtually nothing.

* The food served in the cafeteria at Sorcerer's University in ''VideoGame/TheSpellcastingSeries'' is notoriously inedible on any day when parents aren't visiting (the students learn cooking spells in their freshman year and use that to make their own food instead of eating there). The casserole served in the second game is used as a source of firefly larva (which is apparently part of the recipe), and squirrel vomit (produced when you to try to feed the casserole to the squirrel).

* In the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' franchise there are a set of recurring bizarre food items (Muscle Drink, Odd Morsel and Rancid Gravy) that are effective but also cause some weird {{Status Effect}}s when consumed. Naturally, they can only be used in battle. Other examples include the Weird Takoyaki from ''VideoGame/Persona3''("Something other than octopus is inside") and the Mystery Stew from ''VideoGame/Persona5'' ("No ingredients listed"). Mystery Food X, despite the name, is not an example since we DO know what's made of (usually curry gone horribly, ''horribly'' wrong) with the mystery being what the girls ''did'' for the food to turn out like THAT.
* Seen in a minor dungeon in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', where the Dovahkiin discovers that some bandits have been using wolves for a dogfighting enterprise. They find the diary of the outfit's cook, in which the gourmet complains that the bandits don't appreciate his skill with vegetables and keep nagging him to get them some meat. The remaining clues in the kitchen indicate that the cook started feeding the bandits canine meat (from the fighting pit), and when they discovered what they were really eating, they... didn't take it well.
** Also in ''Skyrim'' is a book called ''The Red Kitchen Reader''. A man recounts climbing into a red-painted kitchen as a child and eating some meat he found there. He describes it as being delicious, and had planned on sticking around to ask the kitchen's owners what it was, but got bored waiting for them to come home so he left. [[spoiler:It's heavily implied that he stumbled into a [[MurderInc Dark Brotherhood]] torture chamber and that the meat was very likely humanoid.]]

* In ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'', at one point in Rin's route Hisao refers to the food served at the cafeteria as "fried mystery lumps".

* In ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily'', Kirby eats a hot dog and transforms into [[http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/138-hotdog/ a horrific-looking]] MixAndMatchCritter.
* In ''Webcomic/DetoxCamp'', the only food available at camp (unless you go out and kill your own) is ambiguous-looking "Military Mush".
* In ''Webcomic/DrowTales'', after reaching topside and making camp, the crew decides to dine on meat of unknown origin. Kyo'nne teases human slave Vaelia by suggesting that the meat she's snacking on [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive//20081219c14p009.jpg might indeed be human]].
* Sometimes, as in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary,'' you really ''wouldn't'' [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-06-07 want to know what the mystery meat is]].
* Johanna from ''Webcomic/{{Sire}}'' is an enthusiastic chef for the lineage children at the London haven. She is descended from [[Theatre/SweeneyTodd Mrs. Lovett]], and the subject of her ingredients is one that causes characters concern.
* One arc in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' involves burgers made from ground demon (after Bun-Bun drops the demon into the meat grinder).
* In ''Webcomic/SturgeonsLaw'', the eponymous law firm has a division that produces the Sturgeon Farms Extruded-Slurry Meat Brick: So warm, so dank, so [[http://sturgeonslaw.net/comic/28-deliciousness/ delicious]].
* ''Ugly Hill'' has a variation where the mystery meat actually tastes GOOD despite its dubious quality. Hastings office has a "Loose Meat Sandwich Day" in the cafeteria, which is apparently very popular with the workers.
-->'''Peter:''' Mmm-mmm, this loose meat sandwich tastes so good I'm choosing to ignore the cow's eye I just bit into!

* In Website/{{Bogleech}}'s [[http://bogleech.com/burgrr-walkthrough.html Burgrr.com Terms and Conditions ARG]], this is the sort of stuff that the creepy restaurants behind the green doors are serving. So why are all the people clamoring for it? And why is it replacing all the other products on grocery shelves? [[spoiler:If you're guessing a conspiracy by nightmarish beings from [[EldritchLocation some undefinable otherplace]] involving brainwashing, brain parasites, and consumerism, then you're correct!]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'', Genie's ''Big Book of Things you Aren't Supposed to Know'' includes what's really in a tongue sandwich.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' begins with the two in the school cafeteria, where they're mystified by that day's serving of mystery meat.

* [[EvilChef Gramma Stuffum]] from ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' serves up these type of dishes whenever she's the [[MonsterOfTheWeek villain]]. Most notable in "[[Recap/CodenameKidsNextDoorS4E2AOperationFOODFITE Operation: F.O.O.D.F.I.T.E.]]", where she works in Sector V's school cafeteria. The food is not only gross, it's also sentient and it forcibly tries to stuff itself inside children's mouths.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'', "Magic Meat" is served to unwilling students. One episode revolves around Doug drawing a cartoon for the school newspaper that makes fun of it, which results in the newspaper being shut down; by the end, the students not only get their paper back, but magic meat is taken off the menu. In a later episode, in a [[SubvertedTrope subversion of the trope]], Doug is [[FakeMemories being overly nostalgic]], and goes so far as to believe that Magic Meat was not only edible, but tasty as well.

* Frequently served at Middleton High's cafeteria in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', to the disgust of the students. One episode has Kim and her class forced to watch a video saying what exactly goes into Mystery Meat; the class runs out screaming and wanting to vomit. In another episode, [[TwoTeacherSchool Mr. Barkin is filling in]] for [[NoodleIncident yet another absent teacher]] who "made a mistake many first-year teachers make -- she ate the cafeteria meatloaf". The class [[ReactionShot reacts with horror]]. In yet another one, Wade analyzes the gravy that a ghost ([[spoiler:actually Sensei's astral projection]]) used to write a message to Ron on the cafeteria wall. Wade tells Kim and Monique that [[YouDoNotWantToKnow they do not want to know]] what's in it until they graduate. From college.
* The unfinished ''WesternAnimation/MissionHill'' episode "Supertool" had its b-plot start out with Kevin trying to use the bathroom at school to brush his teeth to get rid of the aftertaste of the schools "Nutrition Loaf". Toby remarks that at least it's better than the even lower-quality "Behavior Loaf".
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/MovilleMysteries'' is about the local ConspiracyTheorist dragging Mo into investigating what the deal is with the new Mystery Meat at the cafeteria. Since it's really tasty, everyone keeps buying it and it glows in the dark. After hinting that it's of extraterrestrial origin, they find out it's actually made of tofu, which causes everyone to hate it because is healthy, and the makers of the meat break their deal with the cafeteria. [[spoiler:Then when asked why the meat glowed in the dark, it's revealed the lunch lady didn't know it did that. A final shot reveals the meat makers ''were'' aliens after all.]]
* On the episode of ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' where they build a truck stop, Ferb can be seen scooping out ingredients from a large can labeled "assorted mammal chunks".

** In "[[Recap/RecessS4E23TheDude The Dude]]", former student The Dude claims that the school even smells the same from his childhood. Spinelli says it's because the stench from the cafeteria is permanent.

** Taken to a final extreme in ''WesternAnimation/RecessTakingTheFifthGrade'' when the school starts serving a synthetic food paste as part of a misplaced reform attempt by the school board. This is the straw that breaks the camel's back and T.J. ends up going on strike against the school's insane new policies.
* The Rankin-Bass adaptation of the ''WesternAnimation/TheReturnOfTheKing'' features Samwise and Frodo amongst orcs in disguise. Despite the situation looking hopeless, Samwise mentions that at least the whipmaster allowed them to keep their food packs, saying that orc food makes rodents ''sick''.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E19SweetSeymourSkinnersBaadasssssSong Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song]]", Lunchlady Doris gets her ingredients from a barrel labelled "Assorted Horse Parts - Now With More Testicles" ("More testicles mean more iron!").
** In the "Nightmare Cafeteria" segment of "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E6TreehouseOfHorrorV Treehouse of Horror V]]", Doris grabs ''something'' from a barrel of "Grade F Organ Meat", which is labelled as "Mostly circus animals, some filler".
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E21ThePTADisbands The PTA Disbands]]", Doris pushes ''gym mats'' into a meat grinder, while Principal Skinner insists that shredded newspaper provides "much needed roughage and essential inks".

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E5LisaTheVegetarian Lisa The Vegetarian]]", Lisa imagines all the animal parts involved in making the dinner on her plate - the sheep part for the lamb chop, the chicken part in the chicken breast, and the rat tail, raccoon foot, pigeon head and part of a ''boot'' in the hot dog. There's also this exchange as Lisa searches for a vegetarian option during lunch:

** When Krusty Burger creates the [[BlandNameProduct Ribwich]] in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS14E12ImSpellingAsFastAsICan I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can]]", it creates hordes of devotees who follow it around to selected restaurants like Music/GratefulDead fans (including Homer, of course). Krusty has to announce that they had to stop making it since the animal they used was driven extinct.

** The titular camp in "Kamp Krusty" favors Krusty Brand Imitation Gruel. "Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference!"
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' episode "[[Recap/SonicBoomS2E40ThreeMenAndMyBaby Three Men and My Baby!]]", Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles [[BabysittingEpisode volunteer to babysit Chumley]], Lady Walrus's infant son, after [[NiceJobBreakingItHero they accidentally injure Lady Walrus]]. Near the end of the episode, [[StrayingBaby Chumley runs away]], and when Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles search for him at Meh Burger, Sonic tells Dave it's great that Chumley is not ingesting Grade-D beef. Dave then tells Sonic, "I wouldn't call it beef, per se."

** In "[[Recap/SouthParkS3E3Succubus Succubus]]", Chef briefly quits his job after being ensnared by a succubus, and is replaced by the obnoxious Mr. Derp, who's more interested in trying to seem funny with terrible jokes than cooking, and only serves "yellow stuff, or white stuff". It's implied that Mr. Derp replaced Chef permanently after the latter's death in Season 10, but the food quality hasn't dipped again.
** In "[[Recap/SouthParkS3E6SexualHarassmentPanda Sexual Harassment Panda]]", frivolous lawsuits lead to the school being squeezed dry and Chef is reduced to serving something called "lumpy potato" for lunch, which is what convinces Cartman he was wrong for starting the lawsuit trend.
* In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/TeachersPet'', the plot of one episode is kicked off when the main character, a dog masquerading as a human student, identifies the mystery meat as being the same stuff served to him that morning for breakfast -- dog food. He's unwittingly blackmailed into recanting his revelation, though. [[spoiler:It turns out that the mystery meat was actually corned beef hash; Leonard had accidentally fed him ''that'' that morning instead of dog food.]]

[[/folder]]

It may or may not [[ItTastesLikeFeet taste like feet]], just don't think about what it's made of if it does--[[TheSecretOfLongPorkPies or maybe you should]]. Sometimes the food is so disgusting that EvenTheRatsWontTouchIt.

Any North American show, cartoon, or movie which touches on elementary through high school can be expected to have at least one gag about this. Standards in educational institutions' food used to be quite low: strict health and safety guidelines were enforced, but flavor didn't matter, and what counted was just that it wouldn't kill you. These days, things are pretty good (school lunches are for-profit, so they try to be more palatable than bringing your own lunch; but they're also held to pretty strict dietary-health standards); but most content-creators [[TwoDecadesBehind came of age before these reforms]], and old memories die hard, especially comical ones.

** According to Montana Max, the airplane food served to Buster and Babs hasn't been classified by science yet.

Any US show, cartoon, or movie which touches on elementary through high school can be expected to have at least one gag about this. Standards in educational institutions' food used to be quite low: strict health and safety guidelines were enforced, but flavor didn't matter, and what counted was just that it wouldn't kill you. These days, things are pretty good (school lunches are for-profit, so they try to be more palatable than bringing your own lunch; but they're also held to pretty strict dietary-health standards); but most content-creators [[TwoDecadesBehind came of age before these reforms]], and old memories die hard, especially comical ones.

* Finely-textured lean beef, known by some as "Pink Slime", used by many fast food chains such as [=McDonald's=] for hamburger filler. Somewhat similar to the chicken nuggets mentioned earlier, the process actually consists of taking the vaguely liquid-like parts that are not used (about 80% fat and 20% lean), and stripping all the fat out. There's a lot of controversy over the fact it's cleaned with [[IAteWhat ammonia hydroxide]], though.

* Discussed in ''Fanfic/BeyondHeroes: Of Sunshine and Red Lyrium'', as Varric and Bethany eat some stew prepared by the [[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition Skyhold chef]]. Varric notes that they can be reasonably sure about what they're eating, as opposed to the mystery meat in the stew at the Hanged Man in Kirkwall. (This is a throwaway joke referring to one of the ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' loading screens, which made reference to the mystery meat used in the tavern.)
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13309790/50/Harry-Potter-gets-smart-and-takes-control-the-goblet Harry Potter gets smart and takes control - the goblet]]'' goblin cuisine is heavy on the meat, a lot of which is "green or other odd colours".

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': In the slums Akira grew up as a StreetUrchin in, the main supply of food is what the government hands out twice per day. These foods include things like plants grown in radioactive fields, produced by enigmatic LostTechnology devices, and meat from monsters, with the purpose being to test if these foods are safe for commercial sale. This sometimes result in horrific mutations. The food has warning labels, but most everyone in the slums NeverLearnedToRead and they’re TooDesperateToBePicky even if they could. After Akira earns enough money, he donates funds for Sheryl to make sure the kids in the slum gang the two established together have decent food and can read.

* As revealed by a lawsuit near the beginning of 2021, Subway's tuna [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/01/27/subway-tuna-lawsuit/ is not actually tuna]], but a mixture of concoctions that weren't even fish to begin with.

** Since Dibbler is in charge of the movie studio in ''Literature/MovingPictures'', the studio's canteen offers really dodgy food. When a troll asks Victor "you're made of meat and what do you eat?" Victor replies "Good question."

* ''Film/SoylentGreen'' is people.