History Main / WackyCravings

* In her ''Mémoires'', Laure Junot describes how she started to crave pineapple during her first pregnancy, after her mother and her mother-in-law all but convinced her that her child would be born deformed if she didn't crave anything. No big deal, right? Well, this was the early 19th century and pineapples were not in season. Cue her poor husband searching high and low for a ripe pineapple and eventually taking one from [[NapoleonBonaparte the First Consul]]'s greenhouses... And in a textbook example of the trope, it turned out that Laure could not even stand the sight or smell of the fruit.

* In "Literature/{{Rapunzel}}" the girl is held captive by a WickedWitch who caught her father stealing rampion for his pregnant wife and demanded her in return for her father's life. As are [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rapunzel/stories/petros.html Petrosinella]] and [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rapunzel/stories/fairang.html The Fair Angiola]], whose mothers had robbed the witch of her herbs and had to pay the same price. Herbs may not seem wacky -- unless you want to eat them plain, and ''have'' to have the ones owned by a dangerous sorceress.

* Pepper of IronMan gained the crazy cravings of pickles despite the fact that she hated pickles and it turns out that [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6514352/1/Pickles she was pregnant ]]. In the sequel, she gained the oddest craving of [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6530311/1/Frozen-Coke frozen coke]].

* [[SubvertedTrope Nicely subverted]] in ''{{Fargo}}'', as Marge Gunderson's appetite is pretty normal for any average woman...except the vast quantities of [[MustHaveCaffeine coffee]]

* During Alisande's pregnancy in ''AWizardInRhyme'' she finds herself craving a hot fudge sundae. The "wacky" part comes from the fact that she lives in an AlternateUniverse medieval France where ice cream ''doesn't exist'', so all she can do is describe a food she that she doesn't even have a name for.

* On ''Series/SesameStreet'', during Maria's pregnancy with Gabriella, her cravings led her to try Grouch cuisine, which is always depicted as very disgusting mash-ups such as marshmallow sauce over fish -- and she loves it to Oscar's delight and Luis's disgust.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', during the episode ''Elogium'' where Kes goes through false puberty and her body readies for conception. She eats beetles, nitrogenated planting soil, mashed potatoes with butter (with soil), assorted fruits, and even the flowers Neelix brings her to apologize for his jealousy over Tom... all in the space of a few minutes.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in a scene from ''TheGoldenGirls'', where Rose is talking to a pregnant neighbor girl

* During Peggy's pregnancy arc on ''MarriedWithChildren'', she has a heavy craving for tapioca, and when she calls for it from upstairs, the kids are seen ''shoveling'' it from a giant drum in the living room. She also craved "tobacky and clam" ice cream, and would take food from one restaurant to combine with food from another. Marcy had them too, and in one scene she was scarfing chicken legs while throwing the bones over her shoulder, while Peg was eating spaghetti, with an entire jar of gas tablets mixed in. (Both of them complaining about their families acting as if the two of them were "unpleasant to be around".)
* During one episode of ''Croc Diaries'' Steve Irwin's wife Terri decides to tell him about her second pregnancy by setting up a meal of pickles and ice cream and mentioning the craving when Steve walks in, and you can watch the wheels in his head turn in realization.
* On an episode of ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'', Samantha has weird cravings during her pregnancy and being a witch, something causes whatever food she wants to magically appear in her hand. She gets that fixed, but then when she has a craving it causes her to go to where the food is.

* Pregnant women in ''VideoGame/TheSims 2'' and 3 sometimes get wishes to eat odd combinations of food, like spaghetti and ice cream.

* At one point in the 2004 [=ITV=] adaptation of ''[[MissMarple The Murder at the Vicarage]]'', Griselda Clement (the vicar's wife) asks for apricot chutney to season her meal, from which Miss Marple deduces that Griselda is pregnant.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4246102/25/Marriage-laws Marriage Laws]]'' Fleur mentions having craved chocolate ice cream with fried onions while she was pregnant with Victoire.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6686569/1/Meeting-Bill Meeting Bill]]'' Hermione made herself a concoction of peanut-butter curry, asparagus, rice and chicken.

A [[PregnancyTropes Pregnancy Trope]]. During any pregnancy, at some point the mother will experience cravings -- however, they will never be cravings for any standard foodstuff (such as pickles, ice cream, etc), but will instead be cravings for the most ''[[HilarityEnsues hilariously]]'' inappropriate and mismatched foods (chocolate covered kippers, boiled eggs and ice-cream, peanut butter-dipped pickles, etc). Bonus points are awarded if the woman craves something that is either (a) extremely difficult if not ''[[BeyondTheImpossible physically impossible]]'' to find; (b) isn't actually ''food'' or (c) both.

A case of TruthInTelevision -- some women actually ''do'' crave inedible things during pregnancy. In many cases, a woman doesn't even have to be pregnant. Some are prone to wild cravings during "that time of the month," to the confusion of any men present. This is probably a milder form of a condition known as "''pica''"; those afflicted with full-blown pica will crave all sorts of bizarre stuff 24/7, regardless of gender.

* During Peggy's pregnancy arc on ''MarriedWithChildren'', she has a heavy craving for tapioca, and when she calls for it from upstairs, the kids are seen ''shoveling'' it from a giant drum in the living room. She also craved "tobacky and clam" ice cream, and would take food from one restaurant to combine with food from another.

* In the Babylonian Talmud, Chapter 82a of Tractate Yoma mentions pregnancy cravings for non-kosher food. The passage discusses a pregnant woman who craves pork on Yom Kippur! (Yep, it's allowed! Still, check with your rabbi first.)

* In ''TheBelgariad'' sequel series ''The Malloreon'', during Ce'Nedra's pregnancy, she got these sorts of cravings, mainly just to mess with Belgarion. In a subversion, it was never a problem, since Garion (a sorcerer) could simply create whatever food she wanted out of thin air.

* In ''LadyAndTheTramp'', Darling sends her husband out into a January snowstorm to get watermelon... and Chop Suey.

* When Lucy is "expecting" Little Ricky on ''ILoveLucy'', she sends Ricky out in the middle of the night to find a store that makes a papaya milkshake--as well as sardines to mix in and a pickle to dip in it.

* Inverted in ''{{Webcomic/Shortpacked}}'' where the normally ExtremeOmnivore Robin finds herself craving a salad.

* Male example: [[TheMovieBuff Merton]] gets them during an episode of ''BigWolfOnCampus'', after being impregnated by an alien.

* {{Invoked}} in ''Webcomic/{{Housepets}}'' King freaks out when [[http://www.housepetscomic.com/2014/03/10/bedtime-snack/ Bailey craves a "pickle and cherry milkshake",]] but she claims her mom made it for her when she was a pup.

* Vegetarian [[MythBusters Kari Byron]] had a craving for [[http://www.pregnancymagazine.com/mom/kari-byron/ beef stew]] (her mom's recipe) while she was pregnant. Her husband got stuck with the job of preparing it.