Basic Trope: A person is rewarded with food for their efforts.
- Straight: Bob helps Alice with her car and she buys him lunch for his efforts.
- Exaggerated:
- Queen Alice gives Bob a feast for saving the kingdom.
- No matter who you are or what your task is, you will always receive a food reward and nothing else.
- Downplayed: Alice gives Bob a candy bar for his efforts.
- Justified:
- The task at hand was incredibly physically demanding, and after such a grueling feat, good food and a cold drink is a very practical reward.
- Bob's country is experiencing a terrible famine.
- Food of any kind is seen as a very valuable reward in Bob's culture.
- The food reward is Bob's Trademark Favorite Food, or great quantities of it.
- Alice buying lunch for Bob gives her a chance to socialize with someone she likes.
- The competition was an In-Universe marketing stunt set up by Soup Co.
- Inverted:
- Bob helps Alice after she buys him some food.
- Denied Food as Punishment
- Bob is forced to eat something horribly disgusting, either as punishment or as part of a competition.
- Subverted: Bob sees some pies cooling off on the window's frame, so he believes for a moment that Alice is gonna give him one as a prize. She handles him a bunch of money instead.
- Double Subverted: ...However, when she sees him contemplating the succulent treats with yearning Puppy-Dog Eyes, Alice decides to give him one as a bonus for being such a helpful guy!
- Parodied: The Hero Bob saves Princess Alice from an evil dragon. He expects a kiss at the very least, but all he gets is a moss-covered cookie she had in her purse.
- Zig Zagged: Bob asks Princess Alice for some food, and she gives him some money. She then states that the money is actually edible, but it's poisonous if not cooked in the right way with the right items.
- Averted: Bob helps Alice, but she doesn't reward him with any kind of food.
- Enforced: The food is being advertised and showing Bob happily accepting it as a reward for helping Alice is supposed to make people want it.
- Lampshaded: "Doing good deeds is a great way to score a decent meal!"
- Invoked:
- Bob is hungry, so he helps Alice so she'll give him something to eat.
- Food as Bribe
- Exploited: Carol's bakery starts featuring a line of Reward Pies for those who want to give food for good deeds, but are too busy to bake themselves.
- Defied: Bob brings out his packed lunch just as Alice begins to look up places to order out from.
- Discussed: "That's all I get for saving your kingdom?! A friggin cake?!"
- "Bob, don't! That isn't food!" But she's a second too late—Bob smashes out all his teeth on Alice's reward.
- Conversed: "Why is it that the reward in these shows is always some kind of foodstuff?"
- Deconstructed: Bob starts developing food comas from the gratitude- and calorie-heavy lunches Alice buys him for the regular odd jobs she enlists him for, impacting his work performance at his job site(s) throughout the rest of the day.
- Reconstructed:
- "Alice, can we get something lighter this time?"
- Alice treats Bob to an extra round of tea/coffee with his lunch.
- Played For Laughs: Heroes get extremely chubby from eating all the food they get rewarded with.
- Played For Drama: Alice doesn't know Bob is terribly allergic to the reward she offers; he dies from eating it. Bob's widow sues Alice, and she goes to prison.
Back to And Your Reward Is Edible. There's probably pizza there.
