History Main / FantasticDietRequirement

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': The Jem'Hadar don't need to eat per se, but they need [=IVs=] of a drug called ketracel-white, or "white" for short, to survive. This was done on purpose by the people who genetically engineered them to make them dependent.

This is TruthInTelevision for various terrestrial animal species. Related to HorrorHunger when their diet requirement is hard to get and/or is something questionable to eat. Compare AlienCatnip (drugs for fantastic creatures) and WizardNeedsFoodBadly. See also PickyEater and PickyPeopleEater. SubTrope of FoodAsCharacterization. Compare ExtremeOmnivore; while the Extreme Omnivore ''can'' eat almost anything, but doesn't typically require any one specific intake, someone with a Fantastic Diet Requirement ''needs'' to eat something unusual, either exclusively or as part of their diet. Contrast with IDoNotDrinkWine, in which a fantastic character cannot eat "normal" food.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Inverted with Luz. As a human she's unable to digest most of the food on the Boiling Isles and the food she can eat is implied to be rather pricey. This becomes a problem at the beginning of the second season after [[spoiler:she destroyed the Earth portal at the end of the previous season to keep it out of [[BigBad Emperor Belos's]] hands, since the portal was previously used by Eda to collect either Earth food for Luz or human junk which she sold for money]].

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[[quoteright:349:[[Literature/{{Shrek}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shrek_eat_lightning.png]]]]
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* Some of the youkai races in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' have to eat humans periodically in order to survive. Raizen dies of starvation after swearing off human as a result of falling in love with Yusuke's ancestor. It eventually turns out that the "cultivated humans" first shown in the Saint Beast arc are nutritionally equivalent without the issue of killing sentients for food.

[[caption-width-right:349:"Shrek just gobbled it, belched some smoke, and grinned. Lightning, Thunder, and Rain departed."]]

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* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': The Arcona species come from a planet rich in ammonia and need to supplement their diet with dactyl, a crystalline ammonia compound, while offworld. Conversely, common table salt is a potentially deadly AlienCatnip to them.

[[caption-width-right:349:"Lightning fired his fiercest bolt straight at Shrek's head. Shrek just gobbled it, belched some smoke, and grinned. Lightning, Thunder, and Rain departed."]]

[[caption-width-right:349:"Shrek just gobbled it, belched some smoke, and grinned. Lightning, Thunder, and Rain departed."]]

This is TruthInTelevision for various terrestrial animal species. Related to HorrorHunger when their diet requirement is hard to get and/or is something questionable to eat. Compare AlienCatnip (aka drugs for fantastic creatures) and WizardNeedsFoodBadly. See also PickyEater and PickyPeopleEater. Subtrope of FoodAsCharacterization. Compare ExtremeOmnivore; while the Extreme Omnivore ''can'' eat almost anything, but doesn't typically require any one specific intake, someone with a Fantastic Diet Requirement ''needs'' to eat something unusual, either exclusively or as part of their diet.

* EatDirtCheap: Some of these diets are, shall we say, more down to earth than others.

[[index]]

[[caption-width-right:349:"Shrek just gobbled it, belched some smoke, and grinned. Lightning, Thunder, and Rain departed.]]

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** Turians and quarians, being of a [[MirrorChemistry different protein structure]] than the other prominent members of the galactic stage, have to take care not to eat foods meant for levo-protein oriented species.

What with all the exotic biologies hanging about, it's not exactly surprising that some SpeculativeFiction characters need to eat things not in the ordinary run of things. This can vary widely, ranging from real-life trace elements or certain specific plants to food grown on other planet, {{Unobtanium}} or magical substances.

* ''ComicBook/MickeyMouse'': Eega Beeva, one of Mickey's alien friends, survives on a diet of mothballs -- or, to be precise, naphthalene -- when he stays on earth.

* ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'': The Bread-and-Butterfly feeds itself with weak tea with cream in it, while the Snap-Dragonfly feeds on frumenty and mince pie.

* ''Literature/{{Catseye}}'': Kyger claims that the Terran animals can not survive without the special food he provides, explaining to a patrolman why stealing one would be folly. Later, Troy sees them hunting and eating freely in the wild, revealing that this was a lie.

* ''Literature/JurassicPark'': One of the characters from the rival companies speculates that [=InGen's=] greater plan is to genetically engineer toy breeds of their dinosaurs to sell as pets. They could get around the problems of the larger animal's diets by creating the toy breeds in such a way that they would only eat a special dinosaur food... which only [=InGen=] would sell.

* SoulEating: Pneumavores, who consume the spiritual selves of their victims.