History Main / FeedByExample

* A variant on the baby-food version crops up in ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/8831866/chapters/23729553 My Golden Sun/Kin-Kur Las’hark T’nash-Veh]]''. After utterly failing to convince his daughter to eat, [[Film/StarTrek Jim]] decides to combine this trope with ReversePsychology...only to realise that the food is absolutely disgusting and that T'Aman was right to refuse it.

* It also works with humans. Anyone who's ever been a mother or otherwise around small children knows that the best food is always on ''your'' plate, ''not'' the child's plate. Placing something on your own plate and eating a bite, then offering the child a bite, can convince them to take foods they might otherwise refuse. This is likely an inborn instinct: infants don't know what is and isn't good to eat, but their caregiver likely does, so eating exactly the thing they're eating (not just something that looks like it but is in a different place; the ''exact'' thing) is a good way to insure your food is safe and tasty.

* A variant on the baby-food version crops up in [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/8831866/chapters/23729553 My Golden Sun/Kin-Kur Las’hark T’nash-Veh]]. After utterly failing to convince his daughter to eat, [[Film/StarTrek Jim]] decides to combine this trope with ReversePsychology...only to realise that the food is absolutely disgusting and that T'Aman was right to refuse it.

[[folder:Comics]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}} [[Recap/TintinTintinAndThePicaros and the Picaros]]'': When Calculus is spotted slipping something into the rebel's grub (anti-alcoholism pills), the rebels refuse to eat it, since you never know what kind of chemicals were in the pills. They're convinced when Snowy (after some convincing) chows down.

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/DolphinTale,'' wherein all the more qualified aquatic life hospital employees didn't know how to convince [[FriendlyPlayfulDolphin Winter]] to drink from the bottle she needed to drink from, newcomer Sawyer came up with the idea to drink from it himself in front of her. [[note]]As seen in the page image, it worked.[[/note]]
* ''{{Free Willy}}'' has a variant of this. Jesse tries throwing Willy the fish and it doesn't work, so he holds it up and pantomimes eating it. This leads to him eventually realizing Willy wants him to put the fish right into his mouth.
* In ''Film/{{Hellboy}}'', Professor Trevor Bruttenholm tries to coax baby Hellboy to him with a Baby Ruth candy bar. He takes a bite first to show Hellboy that it's food and offers him the rest. Hellboy accepts the bar [[TastesLikeFriendship and by extension the Professor]].

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{House}}'' uses a similar tactic to get a low-functioning autistic kid to put on an oxygen mask, he refers to it as "eating the yellow berries".
* ''FindingBigfoot''. James "Bobo" Fay once cooked up some bacon because he believes that "squatches" like the smell. He said that after the bacon was cooked he would throw pieces of it into the woods for them to eat, and he ate some to show any that were watching him that it was O.K. to eat it.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* In one ''ComicStrip/BabyBlues'' strip, Darryl tries to get Zoe to eat her baby food by tasting it. After taking a moment to sample it, he starts eating out of the jar and gives Zoe his hamburger.
* And in a ''HiAndLois'' strip, Lois demonstrates how to eat with a spoon when the baby tries to put the food in her ear. Then the baby demonstrates she has learned - by putting the spoon in Lois' mouth!
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "A Bird in the Hoof" Fluttershy put her mouth into a soup bowl, pretending to sip on it so that [[ThePhoenix Philomena]] would do so as well. [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer ends up doing the "taster eats it all" variant with Maggie's food. When he finishes it off, the camera reveals about a dozen other empty jars he'd already eaten offscreen.

** Begging dogs as well. Stick the lettuce in with the kibble? Blah, [[RealMenEatMeat that's what food eats]]! Stick the lettuce on your plate and "accidentally" drop it under the table? [[ExtremeOmnivore BEST FOOD EVER]]! Like the children above, they might just develop a new favorite.

* ''{{House}}'' uses a similar tactic to get a low-functioning autistic kid to put on an oxygen mask, he refers to it as "eating the yellow berries".

* ''MalcolmInTheMiddle'': Dewey is given the task of feeding a very reluctant Jamie. To get him to eat, he eats a spoonful of the baby food. As it happens, baby food is apparently delicious, and Dewey spends the rest of the episode eating tons of baby food, along with wearing a onesy and diapers...

* "{{Tintin}} and the Picaros": When Calculus is spotted slipping something into the rebel's grub (anti-alcoholism pills), the rebels refuse to eat it, since you never know what kind of chemicals were in the pills. They're convinced when Snowy (after some convincing) chows down.

* This method of feeding is attempted by animals. [[http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/deadly-leopard-seal-tries-to-feed-live-penguins-to-photographer-video.html An underwarer photographer had a close encounter with a leopard seal.]] The dangerous predator thought the photographer was a weak baby that didn't know how to eat, and provided assistance by giving weaker penguins, eventually dead ones, and showing the photographer how to eat half a penguin.

* In ''Film/DolphinTale,'' wherein all the more qualified aquatic life hospital employees didn't know how to convince [[FriendlyPlayfulDolphin Winter]] to drink from the bottle she needed to drink from, newcomer Sawyer came up with the idea to drink from it himself in front of her... [[spoiler:and, as seen in the page image, it worked.]]

* Homer ends up doing the "taster eats it all" variant with Maggie's food. When he finishes it off, the camera reveals about a dozen other empty jars he'd already eaten offscreen.

* Homer ends up doing this with Maggie's food. When he finishes it off, the camera reveals about a dozen other empty jars he'd already eaten offscreen.

* In ''FinalFantasyV'', one of the protagonists ate dragon-grass (which is poisonous to humans) to encourage an injured dragon to eat it (to heal the dragon's injuries).

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* In some versions of the SnowWhite fairy tale, the wicked queen has poisoned only half of the apple, and to show Snow White that it is perfectly safe to eat, takes a bite from the side without the poison.

* In one ''BabyBlues'' strip, Darryl tries to get Zoe to eat her baby food by tasting it. After taking a moment to sample it, he starts eating out of the jar and gives Zoe his hamburger.

* {{Tintin}} and the Picaros: When Calculus is spotted slipping something into the rebel's grub (anti-alcoholism pills), the rebels refuse to eat it, since you never know what kind of chemicals were in the pills. They're convinced when Snowy (after some convincing) chows down.

* In some versions of the Snow White fairy tale, the wicked queen has poisoned only half of the apple, and to show Snow White that it is perfectly safe to eat, takes a bite from the side without the poison.

* In FinalFantasy5, one of the protagonists ate dragon-grass (which is poisonous to humans) to encourage an injured dragon to eat it (to heal the dragon's injuries).

[[/folder]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' Fluttershy put her mouth into the soup bowl, pretending to sip on it so that [[ThePhoenix Philomena]] would do so as well. [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]]

* In ''Film/DolphinTale,'' wherein all the more qualified aquatic life hospital employees didn't know how to convince [[FriendlyPlayfulDolphin Winter]] to drink from the bottle she needed to drink from, newcomer Sawyer came up with the idea to drink from it himself in front of her... [[spoiler:and it worked.]]

* In ''Film/DolphinTale,'' wherein all the more qualified aquatic life hospital employees didn't know how to convince [[FriendlyDolphin Winter]] to drink from the bottle she needed to drink from, newcomer Sawyer came up with the idea to drink from it himself in front of her... [[spoiler:and it worked.]]

Suppose some animal, or child, or any other character doesn't want to eat what they're being fed; how will you get that food in them, without resorting to ForceFeeding? Why, you [[TitleDrop feed by example]], of course! [[hottip:*:A pun on the phrase "lead by example."]]

* In ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' Fluttershy put her mouth into the soup bowl, pretending to sip on it so that [[ThePhoenix Philomena]] would do so as well. [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]]

Suppose some animal, or child, or any other character doesn't want to eat what they're being fed; how will you get that food in them, without resorting to ForceFeeding? Why, you [[TitleDrop feed by example]], of course!

* {{Tintin}} and the Picaros: When Calculus is spotted slipping somthing into the rebel's grub (anti-alcoholism pills), the rebels refuse to eat it, since you never know what kind of chemicals were in the pills. They're convinced when Snowy (after some convincing) chows down.