History Main / MessOnAPlate

** Another episode, which uses a RashomonStyle narrative has Marge serving a healthy new breakfast food called Muslix, which is pretty much just a sticky, blobby mess. She also gave Maggie Juicelix to drink, which turns out to have the consistency of glue.

* The freeze-dried ingredients of many [=MRE=] (Meal, Ready to Eat) rations also count, as many look rather bland and unappealing regardless of actual taste. Those who eat this food often refer to it as "Three lies for the price of one": it's not a meal, it isn't ready, and you can't eat it. Other backronyms include Meals Refusing to Exit[[note]]with good reason; they're high in calorific value and shelf-stable at the cost of being rather low in fibre[[/note]], Materials Resembling Edibles, Meals Regurgitated by Everyone, and even [[EvenTheRatsWontTouchIt Meals Rejected by Ethiopians]]. Standard [=MREs=] no longer use freeze-dried mains due to the inconvenience of having to reconstitute them. The retort-pouches of later generation maintain better but still not great consistency and the general edibility is ever improving. The Omelette is still a universally reviled [[FunWithAcronyms Mush, Resemblance to Excrement]].

* In ''VideoGame/DontStarve,'' a failed/invalid cooking recipe will result in "Wet Goop."

* The freeze-dried ingredients of many [=MRE=] (Meal, Ready to Eat) rations also count, as many look rather bland and unappealing regardless of actual taste. Those who eat this food often refer to it as "Three lies for the price of one": it's not a meal, it isn't ready, and you can't eat it. Other backronyms include Meals Refusing to Exit[[note]]with good reason; they're high in calorific value and shelf-stable at the cost of being rather low in fibre[[/note]], Materials Resembling Edibles, Meals Regurgitated by Everyone, and even Meals Rejected by Ethiopians. Standard [=MREs=] no longer use freeze-dried mains due to the inconvenience of having to reconstitute them. The retort-pouches of later generation maintain better but still not great consistency and the general edibility is ever improving. The Omelette is still a universally reviled [[FunWithAcronyms Mush, Resemblance to Excrement]].

* One episode of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' had a Sneasel that cooked food that looked terrible, but tasted great. It was contrasted with a Mr. Mime whose food looked appetising, but tasted terrible.

* In ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'', Stew. It doesn't necessarily taste ''bad'', but its main qualities are that you can't, at least not very easily, tell what's in it, and that it's so ubiquitous that you will get incredibly tired of eating it. To the point where the entry for "Food" reads "1. See STEW."

* The [[UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}} Québecois]] dish poutine evokes this, both in appearance in name; it’s apparently descended from a French-Canadian slang word meaning “a mess” (though other origin stories tell that it comes from the English word “pudding” or a cook nicknamed Ti-Pout). It's been described as "looking like someone threw up and left it in the sun", but it tastes pretty good. The basic version consists of French fries topped with fresh cheese curds and warm gravy; different versions may add additional toppings (like green peas, sliced mushrooms, cut-up hot dogs or pieces of chicken) or swap out the gravy with Indian curry sauce or Italian-style tomato sauce to evoke foreign cuisines. It’s basically a variation on the common British and Canadian snack of fries/chips dipped in gravy, and many Brits brought up on chip shop culture see nothing wrong with this whatsoever and consider throwing cheese on top to be an interesting innovation.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda''

* Poutine evokes this, both in appearance in name -- apparently descended from a French-Canadian term for pudding. It's been described as "looking like someone threw up and left it in the sun", but it tastes pretty good. It consists of French fries topped with cheese curds and a blend of chicken and turkey gravy. ''Chips and gravy'', to British eyes, although many Brits brought up on chip shop culture see nothing wrong with this whatsoever and consider throwing cheese on top to be an interesting innovation.

* One episode of Anime/{{Pokemon}} had a Sneasel that cooked food that looked terrible, but tasted great. It was contrasted with a Mr. Mime whose food looked appetising, but tasted terrible.

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

* One episode of Anime/{{Pokémon}} had a Sneasel that cooked food that looked terrible, but tasted great. It was contrasted with a Mr. Mime whose food looked appetising, but tasted terrible.

*** It is specifically noted that the main difference in the faculty dining room is not the food itself, but it being plated by the staff for the sake of presentation.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild,'' cooking with incompatible ingredients will result in the Dubious Food, a dish so gross that you can't even ''look'' at it. It's even CensoredForComedy in its icon. You still recover a little bit of health from eating it, though.

[[folder: Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild,'' cooking with incompatible ingredients will result in the Dubious Food, a dish so gross that you can't even ''look'' at it. It's even CensoredForComedy in its icon. You still recover a little bit of health from eating it, though.
-->''"It's too gross to even look at. A bizarre smell issues forth from this heap. Eating it won't hurt you, though... probably."''
** There's also an unlockable recipe for Dubious Food in ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamity'' with specific ingredients (two Durians, two Rock Salts, and two Hot-Footed Frogs). Using it gives you double Rupees but -20% max health during a mission. The flavor text is exactly the same as the above.
* In ''VideoGame/Persona4,'' nearly every female character is incapable of cooking, and multiple scenes make references to this.
* In ''VideoGame/DontStarve,'' a failed/invalid cooking recipe will result in "Wet Goop."

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* In one ''WebVideo/StuartAshens'' video, he uncans a tinned chicken, which has degenerated into a sickly mass of pink-and-yellow slime with a chicken skeleton in it. He jokes that the mere sight should have turned his whole audience into vegetarians.

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. If the "food" in-question is more-or-less unidentifiable AND it tastes absolutely horrid, but actually contains nutrients to sustain life, then it's a case of NondescriptNastyNutritious.