Tastes Like Disdain

One attempt of friendship splattered on the ground.

I go to my favorite hot dog stand
And the dude says,
"You come here all the time! Here's one for free!"
I said, "Man, what I look like? A charity case?"
I took it, and threw it on the GROUND!

— The Lonely Island, "Threw It on the Ground"

In nearly every culture around the world, giving someone food is a universal gesture of friendship and hospitality. Therefore, it stands to reason that doing the opposite and rejecting an offer of food in a rude manner, optionally destroying it to show your disdain, means you dislike that person very much. It is one thing to politely turn down food (which does not count as this trope), and another to destroy food that someone made for you or gave to you.

The level of Kick the Dog present in this trope generally depends on how elaborate the food is, how much there is of it, and how thoroughly the rejection is made. Merely turning your nose up at or ignoring the food is mildly rude, though it can be extremely rude if the other person had put a lot of effort into cooking the food for you. Throwing the plate at the person or knocking it out of their hands so that it sends food flying everywhere is an even bigger insult. Dropping an apple or a cookie on the ground is also on a different level than smashing a plate carrying a full meal or a fancy dessert. It also counts as this trope if someone eats the food but later rudely tells the other person that they hated it.

Commonly this is part of a Rejected Apology, as food is a popular Apology Gift (especially someone's favorite food).

Subtrope of Kick the Dog and Ungrateful Bastard, and the reverse of Tastes Like Friendship.

Related tropes:

• Battered Bouquet: Someone violently rejects a gift of flowers instead of food.
• Berserk Button: Some people take great offense to others spurning their food, especially if they take pride in their own cooking.
• Enemy Eats Your Lunch: Stealing and eating someone else's food to show dominance.
• Food Shove Gag: Shoving food into someone's mouth to shut them up or to show your disrespect of them.
• I'm Not Hungry: A prisoner spurns their captor's hospitality.
• Lost Food Grievance: A character is angry and/or upset about their food being taken or destroyed.
• Lost My Appetite: A character loses their appetite due to being grossed out.
• Put Off Their Food: Someone orders food, hears something unpleasant that reminds them of said food, and then changes their mind about it.
• Spiteful Gluttony: Eating all the food so someone else can't have it.
• Too Unhappy to Be Hungry: A character loses their appetite due to being sad, scared, or angry.
• Wicked Wastefulness: Variations involving food treat wasting it as a sign of evil.

Contrast with:

• Denied Food as Punishment: Punishing someone by not allowing them to eat.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: A character orders and gets food, but leaves without eating it for whatever reason.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: During the Swordsmith Village Arc, one of the ways Tanjiro tries to make friends with Genya is by offering him a senbei (rice cracker), but Genya slaps it out of his hand and crushes it.
• In Kiki's Delivery Service, the eponymous Cute Witch flies through a storm to deliver a herring pie as a birthday present for Madame's granddaughter, only for the snooty recipient to turn down her grandmother's gift in disgust and throw Kiki back out into the rain.
• In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Fate brings her mother a box of sweets when she goes to report on her progress collecting the Jewel Seeds. In the original anime, Precia ignores the food and there's a shot of Fate seeing the box untouched on a table after Precia is done whipping her. The movie on the other hand goes in the opposite direction, with Precia furiously slapping the box out of Fate's hands upon seeing it, taking it as a sign that she's wasting time rather than focusing on her mission.
• Onegai My Melody: In "I Wish She Could Become My Melody!", Baku quits being Kuromi's henchman after she is mean to him, and My Melody offers to let him stay with her at Uta's house. While everyone is having dinner, a very angry Kuromi comes to get Baku back, and My Melody offers her a cupcake.
  My Melody: Now, now, Kuromi-chan, would you like to have some cake too?
  Kuromi: (appearing to calm down) Oh? That looks tasty, don't it. Down the hatch...! (throws cupcake on the floor) No! You expect me to eat this?! (starts shaking My Melody like a maraca) Why the heck should I hafta eat some of My Melo's cake?! Don't be ridiculous!
• One Piece: The Baratie Arc ends with the entire restaurant staff spitting at Sanji's soup (some even dashing it on the floor) to motivate him into leaving the place and join Luffy's crew. Sanji sees through it quickly enough (they admit the truth the second they think he's out of earshot), but it's the thought that counts.
• Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: In "The Diet Syndrome", Stocking is trying to lose weight by exercising vigorously and giving up her favorite sweets. When Panty tries to tempt her with her favorite Swiss roll cake, Stocking just pours it on the ground.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Sayaka takes a disliking to Kyoko for being a magical girl who has no interest in saving people and only kills witches for their Grief Seeds so she can clean her Soul Gem with them. When Kyoko offers her an apple, Sayaka tosses it away and lets it fall to the ground. Kyoko, whose Berserk Button is wasting food due to having been hungry and poor in her childhood, Neck Lifts Sayaka and threatens to kill her if she ever does that again.
• In Vividred Operation, after showing Rei around her home, Akane picks one of the tomatoes she's been growing and offers it to Rei as a sign of friendship. Rei crushes it in her hand, infuriating everyone except Akane, who isn't discouraged in the slightest.

Comic Books

• The Authority: During an arc where Swyft is brainwashed into being a housewife in an abusive marriage, we see her "husband" put out his cigarette in the food she just brought him.

Fan Works

• Brainbent: When Karkat is committed to St. Lobaf's Residential Treatment Center, the last thing he wants is to interact with any of the other residents, but the overly-friendly John tries to get him to come out of his dorm room anyway. When he offers Karkat a cupcake his dad baked, the other boy throws a shoe at him and yells, "Eat this, fuckass!"
• Couturiere: To apologize to Lila for traumatizing and injuring her as the titular akuma, Marinette visits her house and brings her a box of éclairs from her family's bakery. When Lila sees them, she grabs the box and stomps it flatter than a pancake before slamming the door in Marinette's face.
• In this JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind fan comic, Giorno makes a cake for Abbacchio's birthday, but Abbacchio knocks it out of his hands, which makes Giorno cry. However, the last panel shows Abbacchio holding one of the candles and smiling while hiding his face to express that he does appreciate the gesture a little bit.
• We Can't All Be Friends: After Starlight is defeated by Twilight and permanently stripped of her magic to stop her from destroying Equestria, she is imprisoned in the castle dungeons. Hoping that she can still reform Starlight with The Power of Friendship, Twilight brings her a plate of cheeses, baked vegetables, and buttercream cake from the celebratory banquet being held above, but Starlight kicks it away and smashes it against the wall, scattering the food everywhere.

Films — Animated

• Bao: When the dumpling boy wants to play soccer with some other boys, his overprotective mom pulls him away. He is so upset by this that he refuses to eat the red bean bun she offers him on the bus ride home. Later, when he has grown into a teenager, she can tell that he is starting to grow distant from her and prepares an elaborate Chinese dinner for him. However, he turns it down to go eat with his friends instead.
• The Emperor's New Groove: When Yzma lays into Kronk near the end for his incompetence, causing his Heel–Face Turn, it's her insult to his cooking that truly upsets him (and his shoulder angels).
  Yzma: Kronk! Why did I think you could do this? This one simple thing. It's like I'm talking to a monkey.
  Shoulder Angel: Woah now.
  Yzma: A really, really big, stupid monkey named Kronk!
  Shoulder Devil: Ouch.
  Yzma: And do you want to know something else? I've never liked your spinach puffs!
  Kronk and Shoulder Angels: (Gasp!)
  Yzma: Never!
  (Kronk tears up while Shoulder Angel comforts him)
  Shoulder Devil: That's it. (cocks pitchfork like a gun) She's going down.
• Flushed Away: After driving away Rita in a moment of Don't You Dare Pity Me! over his refusal to admit how much of a Lonely Rich Kid he really is, Roddy returns to the living room of his house to find Sid- the sewer rat who flushed him down the toilet into the sewers in the first place- watching the World Cup Final and eating his Cheese Puffs right in front of him. Sid, despite having humiliated Roddy in front of Rita earlier, cheerfully offers Roddy a Cheese Puff, only for Roddy to calmly crush the Puff into orange powder in his grasp. Sid offers him another one, which he snaps in half, and a third, which he just throws away over his shoulder, before Suddenly Shouting at Sid to move over and let him sit on the sofa. This is a positive example of the trope since it shows that Roddy Grew a Spine from his time spent in the sewers, and is no longer going to let Sid push him around or try bribing him anymore.
• The Lorax (2012): After the Once-ler and his family cut down the entire forest, he offers Pipsqueak the Bar-ba-loot a marshmallow, but Pipsqueak turns it down.
• My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: When Sunset Shimmer comes to supervise the decoration of the gym for the Fall Formal, she's not happy with Applejack's choice of drinks.
  Sunset Shimmer: Fizzy apple cider? Ugh! This is my coronation, not a hoedown!

Films — Live-Action

• Aliens: After Bishop's Five-Finger Fillet stunt with Hudson in Sulaco's mess hall, he notices that he nicked one of his fingers and is "bleeding" internal fluid. When Ripley sees this, she snaps at Burke for not telling her that an android was on the ship. Bishop expresses shock when Burke gives him an abbreviated explanation of why she's upset and tries to assure Ripley that she has nothing to fear from him due to his programming, offering her a plate of food. However, Ripley smacks the plate out of his hand and tells him to stay away from her, and he quickly leaves.
  Frost: Guess she don't like the cornbread, either.
• Blue Hawaii: Ellie rudely takes one bite of the fresh pineapple slices brought to her by Chad and dumps the rest onto the ground.
• Bridesmaids: Annie destroys the massive heart-shaped cookie at Lillian's over-the-top bridal shower to spite Helen, the person who put the shower together.
• Happy Death Day: On her birthday, Tree's roommate Lori bakes her a cupcake that she then throws in the trash. Tree ends up being killed by a mysterious baby face masked killer, only to be brought back to life to repeat her birthday several times throughout the film. The only time Tree ever actually eats the cupcake, she finds out that Lori poisoned it, and was the baby-faced killer the whole time.
• Ilya Muromets: Kalin's envoy comes to Kiev and is offered food and drink as signs of Sacred Hospitality. When he kicks away the plate, even The Mole is shown to be shocked at the behavior, while Dobrynia and Alyosha call the envoy a jackass to his face. Prince Vladimir, as per his job, expresses the same thought somewhat more diplomatically.

Literature

• The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes: In The Best Is Yet To Come, Abby's mother Olivia invites her old friend from college, Laurie, to visit the Hayes house, and even prepares her favorite foods from scratch to welcome her—lasagne and cherry cobbler. She finds out the hard way that Laurie has taken a level or two in jerkass when she turns her nose up at the food because she no longer eats wheat, sugar, or dairy and goes on a self-righteous spiel about how lasagne clogs the arteries with fats, poisons, and toxins.
• American Girls: Felicity: Discussed in Felicity Learns a Lesson. When Felicity's family stops drinking tea to protest the king's tax on it, she wants to do the same. However, she is not sure what to do when tea is served at her lessons with Miss Manderly, because she does not want to be rude and uncouth. Annabelle also makes a big show of serving everyone their tea but Felicity and saying it's because she wouldn't want Felicity to "toss the tea all over the fine carpet" like the men who threw chests of tea leaves into the York River. In the end, Felicity is able to avert this trope and gracefully refuse tea by doing what Miss Manderly taught her: turning her teacup upside down on the saucer, laying her spoon across it, and saying, "Thank you. I shall take no tea."
• Anne of Green Gables: In the first book, Anne is forced to share a desk with Gilbert after coming in late from recess. Trying to be nice, and in effort to apologize after having tugged on her orange hair and called her "Carrots", Gilbert slips her a candy heart that says, "You are sweet." Anne drops it to the floor and crushes it under her foot. There is a nice Call-Back to this incident when the two get older; Gilbert gives Anne a pendant necklace in the shape of a pink candy heart.
• Harry Potter:
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: During the summer following Cedric's murder and Voldemort's return, Harry is stuck at his abusive aunt's and uncle's house, suffering from nightmares about the incident and being kept out of the loop by his friends and allies. Albus Dumbledore won't let them tell him anything, so all he gets are letters with vague statements like "We can't say much about you-know-what, obviously" and "We've been told not to say anything important in case our letters go astray." He's so mad at all of them that when Ron and Hermione send him Honeydukes chocolates in the mail for his birthday, he throws the packages in the trash without opening them.
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Bathilda Bagshot reveals under pressure from Rita Skeeter that she was neighbors with the Dumbledore family in Godric's Hollow. When they first moved there, Bathilda tried to be neighborly and brought them a batch of homemade Cauldron Cakes, but Albus's mother Kendra slammed the door in her face.
  • Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: A knarl is a magical beast that is virtually indistinguishable from a non-magical hedgehog. The only way to tell them apart is to offer them food: a hedgehog will happily eat it, but a knarl will get very angry because it will think the person is trying to lure it into a trap and destroy their garden in retaliation.
• Sailor Nothing: Aki is kicked out of the Fashion Club after her Yamiko reveals the truth about how she really hates them. She gives Ami a blistering "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how terribly she was treated by the Fashion Club despite how hard she tried to please them, including one time when she made them s'mores and was told they weren't squishy enough.
• A Song of Ice and Fire: The sisters Obara, Nymeria, and Tyene Sand hold a deep grudge against House Lannister for its crimes against their family, including the boy king, Tommen. When House Martell is holding a feast and a toast is proposed to Tommen, Nymeria and Tyene turn down wine, but Obara allows a serving man to fill her cup and makes a show of pouring it onto the floor before leaving.
• Stargirl: Even after becoming a pariah at Mica Area High School due to cheering for the opposing team at basketball games, Stargirl continues to do kind things for her classmates. When she passes out smiley-face cookies in the cafeteria, Hillari takes off her shoe and uses it to smash the cookie Stargirl gave her. As Leo is leaving the cafeteria, he sees that the students have all left their cookies behind.
• In the Warrior Cats novella Spottedleaf's Heart, Thrushpelt brings prey to give to Bluefur's kits, who everyone in the Clan assumes were fathered by him due to his very obvious feelings for her. Bluefur coolly tells him that her kits have had enough to eat despite the fact that they want it, rejecting his affections and his offer to behave as the kits' father.

Live-Action TV

• The Addams Family: In one episode, Uncle Fester is trying to feed Cleopatra, the sentient plant. However, since Cleopatra is a very moody plant and Morticia is the only member of the household she likes, she spits the food out at him instead.
• Doctor Who: Doubling as Secret Test of Character, if the 4th Doctor offers someone a jelly baby and they refuse in anger, they will be the villain of that story. The villain in "Robots of Death" slaps the bag out of the Doctor's hand.
  The Doctor: A simple "no" would have sufficed.
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: In "Mac and Dennis Move to the Suburbs," a montage of life in the suburbs shows Dennis throwing away a plate of Mac's "Famous Mac and Cheese," which he had cooked for every meal.
• Kitchen Nightmares: In the Burger Kitchen 2-parter, Gordon asks chef David to make a burger on his own to demonstrate how owner Alan's ingredients and recipes were holding the restaurant back. When Alan's wife Jen (who has a longstanding beef with David) takes a bite, she makes a big show of coughing and gagging on it.
• The Sopranos: As Tony's feud with Ralphie Cifaretto escalates, Ralphie refuses to share a drink with Tony to signal his displeasure, a major insult against the Boss of a mob family. Tony is later forced to settle the dispute when Ralphie becomes the only viable candidate for Caporegime of the Aprile crew but pays him back when Ralphie offers to drink with Tony to celebrate. Tony immediately downs his drink and leaves.
• In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Hide and Q," Q has kidnapped Riker, Data, Worf, Geordi, and Yar and taken them to an alien planet to test Riker. It's hot out, so Riker thought a lemonade would be nice. Q provides him with one, then provides beverages to the rest when Riker says they should have some too. Worf pointedly pours his drink onto the ground. Q is amused, saying "Drink not with thine enemy. The rigid Klingon code." This must be a recent tradition, since Kirk's crew drank with Klingons a few times in the movies, most notably in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Worf would later be established to follow a much more rigid code of behavior than the average Klingon due to having been raised by a human family that didn't know much about actual Klingon culture and consequently teaching him what was basically a mythological, idealized version of what it meant to be a Klingon.
• This is one of Joe's Kick the Dog moments in the TV miniseries of The Tommyknockers, throwing away some sandwiches his wife Becka had made for him in order to show just how little a crap he gives about her on top of cheating on her.
  The Nostalgia Critic: OH, MY GOD, HE NIXED THE SANDWICHES! HE NIXED THE SANDWICHES! YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! Cheating on your wife is one thing, but throwing her sandwiches out the window? You are a bad, BAD MAN!

Music

• Serves as the opening of Bowling for Soup's "A Friendly Goodbye":
  I can lay it on real thick
  'Cause I know how you don't like to get bogged down
  With anything 'bout us and our kick-ass true love tale
  Sorry I swore just then
  'Cause I know, you hate it
  And by the way, that cake you baked me really sucked, but I ate it
• In The Lonely Island's "Threw It on the Ground", the singer apparently hates being told what to do and expresses it by throwing things that people give him on the ground, including an energy drink from someone on the street, a free hot dog from his favorite hot dog stand, and a slice of cake at someone's birthday party, along with the rest of the cake ("Happy birthday to the GROUND!"). He gets tased in the butthole when he does this to two celebrities who try to give him their autograph (or so he claims; the music video instead shows him running up to them and flipping their table while they're having dinner).

Theatre

• Heathers: The Heathers coerce Veronica into writing a fake invitation for Martha to Ram's party. When she shows up with a bottle of sparkling cider and gives it to Ram, he takes a swig, spits it out and complains, "There's no alcohol in this! Are you trying to poison me!?"

Video Games

• Pumkin Land: If you give Hungry Pumkin a food item he didn't ask for, he will slap it off the table and say, "NO! I don't want that!"
• Stardew Valley: Gifting someone a food they dislike will result in a bit of upset dialogue and decreases their friendship with you by 20 points on a normal day, 100 on the Feast of the Winter Star, and 160 on their birthday. Gifting someone a food they hate decreases friendship by 40, 200, and 320 points instead, respectively.
• Webkinz: One story is about Salley coming to a party hosted by Purr-Cilla, who is very mean. When Salley offers her a bowl of salsa that she made, Purr-Cilla knocks it out of her paws so it splatters on her new shirt and ruins it.

Visual Novels

• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations: Maggey Byrde is falsely accused of a crime, and Dick Gumshoe ends up testifying against her because of his position, making her upset. While in custody she is brought sausage weenies (which she loves) by Phoenix and Maya, but as soon as she learns Gumshoe was the one responsible for the meal, she bitterly turns the weenies down.

Webcomics

• Homestuck: Beyond Canon: While taken captive by Jane, Yiffany has been caged and treated like a dog, to the point of being fitted with a shock collar. Jake tries to help the girl by offering a bowl of mac and cheese, but unfortunately for him, the only bowl he could find is a dog bowl, making the gesture come off as "minion behavior". This causes Yiffy to hurl the bowl at Jane in a fit of rage, who turns on the collar in return.
• Unsounded: Jivi loves turtle bacon whereas Sette doesn't care for her first taste of it, the least of the two children's disagreements. When Jivi argues with her over breakfast, she spits the wet, well-chewed mouthful into his hand, leaving him blank with shock.

Western Animation

• Arthur: In "Arthur and the True Francine", Francine doesn't want to be friends with Muffy anymore after Muffy cheats by copying off Francine's test and gets her wrongly punished. Muffy tries to apologise by offering a basket of fruit and a balloon that says "From Your Friend Muffy", but Francine pops the balloon and throws the fruit in the trash.
• The Critic: In "Dial M For Mother", Jay Sherman tries to apologize to his mother Eleanor after humiliating her on television with various methods. One is sending her a Hillshire Farms gift basket loaded up with food; Eleanor's reaction is to destroy it with a shotgun blast as target practice.
• Fillmore!: In "Immune to All but Justice", as Fillmore is eating a dinner of chicken prepared by his ex-girlfriend Penny, she accidentally tips him off that she knew about Winston's counterfeit baseball card operation all along. After investigating and discovering that she was in on it, he leaves, with his parting words being, "And one last thing, baby, that chicken was dry. Real dry."
• Hazbin Hotel: In "Masquerade", after being forced to film rape porn by his abusive boss/pimp, Valentino, for 16 hours straight, Angel goes to the hotel's bar and demands the hardest drink Husk can make. He downs the whole thing and demands something stronger.
  Husk: Excuse me. Didn't realize this was a "drinking to forget" kind of night.
  Angel Dust: Oh, I forgot! You're the wise old bartender who's seen it all. Get the fuck over yourself and pour me a real drink. (knocks over the shot glass and spills it on the bar)
  Husk: Look, if you've got a problem, you're not going to find the solution at the bottom of a bottle. I should know, I've been looking there a long time.
• Invader Zim: "Tak: The Hideous New Girl" reveals that due to an unknown event which even Miss Bitters doesn't want to speak of, people now give out meat instead of candy and flowers for Valentine's Day. When the students are giving out meat to each other, a girl offers Zim a platter of heart-shaped meats, but he's an alien allergic to meat so he yells, "Get that out of my face!" and slams the platter into her face.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • In "The Best Night Ever", at the Grand Galloping Gala, Rarity buys two apple fritters from Applejack for herself and her date, Prince Blueblood. When he tries one, he immediately spits it out and exclaims, "My royal lips have touched common carnival fare!"
  • In "Putting Your Hoof Down", when Fluttershy is feeding her animals, Angel the rabbit refuses to eat a bowl of pellets, then a bowl of lettuce and cucumber salad, and demands that Fluttershy make him a fancy salad with mandarin oranges, whipped cream, and a cherry on top. She goes out to buy the ingredients, but fails to get a cherry because the rude seller keeps jacking up the price of the last cherry and then sells it to somepony else. She makes the salad, but Angel refuses to eat it without the cherry, and throws both the salad and Fluttershy out the window. This is the final straw that makes her decide she needs to stop being such a doormat. At the end of the episode, Angel is refusing to eat salad again, but Fluttershy stands her ground and gets him to eat it with The Stare.
  • Downplayed in "A Canterlot Wedding -- Part 1". When Applejack is asked to help prepare the food for Princess Cadance's wedding, Cadance appears to politely enjoy the food, only for Twilight to see her dump it in the trash once Applejack is out of the room. Twilight is insulted on her friend's behalf, giving her more reason to distrust Cadance. In Part 2, after it's revealed the Cadance who trashed the food was actually the changeling Queen Chrysalis, the real Cadance actually does love Applejack's food, averting the trope.
  • In "Party Pooped", Twilight is welcoming a delegation of yaks from Yakyakistan and prepares traditional Yakyakistan food for them. When they try it, they get upset because it's not made with traditional Yakyakistan ingredients and smash up the castle in retaliation.
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998): In "Criss Cross Crisis", everyone in Townsville has switched bodies and someone takes advantage of the confusion to rob the bank. The girls' first suspect is Mojo Jojo, so they fly to his lair. He's been body-switched with an old lady, who offers them milk and cookies, but Blossom smashes the tray.
• Total Drama:
  • At the beginning of "No Pain, No Game", the girls are bitter that the guys beat them in the previous episode's challenge and won the prize of a luxury cruise. Owen offers them chocolate-coated cherry blossoms, but Leshawna throws her sandal at the plate and knocks it into the ocean.
  • In Celebrity Manhunt's Total Drama Action Reunion Special, Noah has taken up a job as Chris's assistant. When he brings Chris the latte he asked for, Chris spits it at his face, complains that it's cold, and fires him on the spot.

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