I Ate What?: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|''"I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said... 'I drank ''what?'''"''

 

This trope covers instances when a character eats or drinks something that's not intended to be food. Most of the time, [[Senseless Phagia|the character is not aware of what they're consuming]]; typically results in a [[Spit Take]], [[Vomit Indiscretion Shot]], or some other response once the discovery is made.

Inevitably produces lots of [[Squick]] and [[Nausea Fuel]]. Might lead to [[It Tastes Like Feet]] when the dust settles. Often played for laughs as a form of [[Refuge in Vulgarity]].

 

 

 

Compare [[Eat That]], [[Secret Ingredient]]. Contrast with [[Gargle Blaster]], [[Masochist's Meal]], and [[Fire-Breathing Diner]]. Also see [[Lethal Chef]] and [[Evil Chef]], two people who may be involved with this trope. [[Cool, Clear Water]] might be subverted for the drink-based version of this trope.

 

{{examples}}

* Variant: Noi and Shin in ''[[Dorohedoro]]'' aren't thrilled to find out what they've eaten in En's restaurant. It's mushrooms, no real alterations there... but he grows them on ''corpses''.

 

* In ''[[American Born Chinese]]'', the caricature Chin-Kee urinates into someone's can of Coca-Cola as part of a prank. When the character later discovers this, he [[Vomit Discretion Shot|throws up]].

** There is a [https://web.archive.org/web/20110704061255/http://www.chinesejokes.net/jokes.php?action=read&joke=1339 (horribly racist) joke] along those same lines.

* ''[[Rat-Man]]'' author Leo Ortolani once made a spoof of the second ''[[Star Wars]]'' trilogy. The character Dark Mouse, a parody of Darth Maul, was asked by his master (an expy of Emperor Palpatine) about what evil deeds he did that day, and he answered: "Did you think it was beer in that glass I gave you before?". Some time later, the master replied: "Did you think the cake you ate before was a chocolate one?".

* In a story from the ''[[Archie|Little Archie]]'' comic, one of Little Dilton's inventions receives an alien cooking show. Little Jughead makes up a batch of cookies, following a recipe from the show. People love them until they find out what is in them. Among the ingredients are {{spoiler|wood chips}}.

{{quote|Shut up and eat your {{spoiler|Grundy}}.}}

* ''[[Hellblazer]]'' had a story where [[Satan|the First of the Fallen]] showed up to collect the soul of Constantine's friend Brendan, a consummate drinker and magician. One of his last tricks was performing a working that would turn a spring under his house into pure stout, and John claims to want to "upstage" Brendan by sharing a drink with the prince of darkness. It's only once the stout goes down that John reveals the spring was blessed by a saint, making the base of the stout holy water. The First's reaction: "Interesting -- what?" [[Holy Burns Evil|And then John cuts off the spell, turning the stout back into holy water.]]

* In ''[[Persepolis]]'', for a while, the author has to wait tables in Austria. When one of the guests molests her, the cook sneakily avenges her by spitting on his schnitzel.

 

* A terribly funny ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'' Dark Side Exile and Dark Side Crew invokes this. After a night of Dark Jedi revelry and backstabbing, the crew goes back to the Hawk. {{spoiler|Where Visas Marr fixes cakes for dessert. Of course, seeing as they're all Dark Jedi, they end up arguing, lightsabers get involved, and half the crew dies. That's when the other half of the crew start feeling the effects of the poison Visas put in the cakes and ''they'' drop dead. Kreia comes out of hiding and congratulates Visas on a job well-done }}.

* In a [[Breather Episode]] of ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure Blue Moon]]'', Binbeat, who's [[Never Grew Up|perpetually]] [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|nine]] and can't read Japanese, accidentally eats the moldy bread from Mia's science project. He's sick for the rest of the day and doesn't even bother fighting back when his [[Monster of the Week]] is defeated, just going home and complaining about a stomachache.

 

* In ''[[Dumb and Dumber]]'', a cop who pulls Lloyd and Harry over takes a sip from a bottle of pee which he thought was beer ([[Potty Emergency|Lloyd had to go to the bathroom]] ''[[Potty Emergency|that]]'' [[Potty Emergency|badly]]). They try to warn him, though after sipping, he immediately turns nauseated and tells them to get out of there.

** Also happens when an enemy poses as a friendly hitchhiker, intending to drop pellets of rat poison into Harry and Lloyd's food. Before he can succeed in this, he needs first aid for a stomach ulcer flareup (which was induced by Harry and Lloyd's own practical joking). Harry and Lloyd try to administer his emergency medication, but they mistakenly feed him the rat poison instead.

* Subverted in ''[[Demolition Man]]''. John Spartan orders a burger, then proceeds to heartily eat it. Upon being reminded to check where the meat's coming from, he finds out [[Reduced to Ratburgers|it's a rat-burger]], which deeply disgusts his two partners. He looks at it for a moment, then cheerfully resumes eating it.

** [[Fridge Brilliance|When every other restaurant in the world is Taco Bell, rat-burgers suddenly sound a lot more appealing.]]

* In ''[[The Polar Express]]'', The Boy accepts a cup of what is ostensibly coffee from the trainhopper. A [[Spit Take]] occurs when the hobo removes his freshly-cleaned socks from the kettle.

* [[Cecil B. Demented|It's goat urine!]]

* In [[Jan Svankmajer]]'s short film "Shoes" the characters eat several unusual things: knives, flowers, clothes, tables, napkins, chairs, body parts,...

* In ''[[Nine to Five]]'', a comedy of errors, rodent poison "Rid O' Rat" uses a package design which looked just like "Skinny & Sweet" – an artificial sweetener.

* In ''[[National Lampoon's Vacation]]'', during a rest stop, the family is eating lunch in a park. However they realize the food smells rather funky and is soggy. It's then that Ellen realizes that Aunt Edna's dog has wet on the basket. Clark, who was busy ogling a girl he had seen on the highway and had taken a bite of a sandwich, promptly spits it out. Edna on the other hand, shrugs and continues eating her sandwich.

 

<!-- Note: Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" is an example of I'm A Humanitarian, not this trope. -->

* In ''[[Animorphs]]'', Ax's [[Sense Freak]] tendencies resulted in him eating non-foods on several occasions. He's lucky that [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|morphing]] heals.

* Anodyne Liniment is a medicine that relieves aching muscles and is meant to be rubbed into skin, not taken orally. In ''[[Anne of Green Gables]]'', Marilla breaks a bottle of the stuff and pours it into an old vanilla bottle. Anne Shirley gets such a cold that she couldn't tell the difference between the medicine and the bottle's original contents, and [[Hilarity Ensues]] when her cake is served for tea.

* In ''[[Trainspotting]]'' (book only), a girl jobbing in a restaurant is hit on by some English [[Jerkass]] tourists. She retaliates by putting all kinds of squicky stuff in their food.

 

* In ''[[Fringe]]'' Walter is growing an artificial ear in an organic incubator, but Peter almost eats it thinking it's an omlette.

* ''[[Night Court]]'' - Art, the courthouse's fix-it man, fixed Harry's coffeemaker and used some powder labeled "Herb" to test it.

* In ''[[Little Britain]]'', there was a series of sketches where a bigoted old lady would sample some food and initially love it, but when she found out a minority made it, she then would proceed to vomit everywhere.

 

* [[The Offspring]]'s "Don't Pick It Up":

{{quote|''I saw a little kid

''He chowed about a half

''And his face [[Blue with Shock|turned blue]]

* [[Bob Dylan]]'s "Po' Boy":

{{quote|''[[Othello]] told Desdemona,

* One version of the [[wikipedia:Godiva's Hymn|Godiva's Hymn]], a traditional drinking song among student engineers, includes the verse "They drank three drinks, the Artsman fell, his face was turning green. But the Engineer drank on and said, 'It's only gasoline'!"

 

* ''[[FoxTrot]]'' combines this one with the running gag of Andy's [[Lethal Chef|terrible health food]] by having Roger sample something out of a soup pot, declare it to be the best thing Andy has ever cooked- only to discover that it's "a compound for sealing the cracks in the driveway."

{{quote|'''Roger:''' Please tell me it's poisonous.}}

'''Waiter:''' "This sir." }}

 

** He drank "Barnum tea"! [[Don't Explain the Joke|(See if you can figure that one out.)]]

*** [[Comically Missing the Point|You mean he was a sucker to drink the tea?]]

* At one point, Earthquake crushed [[Jake Roberts|Jake "the Snake"]]'s pet boa, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu_XaibwjaE then served it as "Quakeburgers" to the commentators.] [[Bobby Heenan]] was the only one to realize what they were eating before it was too late. He still ''ate'' it, mind you, being a [[Heel]].

 

* One [[Eddie Murphy]] comedy concert had Murphy talking about how some people make fun of the accent or appearance of the owners of Chinese restaurants. In the bit the owner retaliates by making a "special Won-ton soup" for the person insulting him.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

** For that matter, if you're invited to a party, and you even ''think'' that they might have something to do with Slaanesh, you don't want to accept in the first place, but you ''really'' don't want to know what's in the food, wine and drugs.

 

<!-- Note: Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" is an example of I'm A Humanitarian, not this trope. -->

* From the original Broadway production of ''[[Dracula]]'', discussing [[Renfield]]:

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* The player in the ''[[Shadowgate]]'' game series can drink any number of noxious beverages, only a [[Everything Trying to Kill You|very few]] of which are [[The Many Deaths of You|nonlethal]].

* Combined with [[Lethal Chef]] in ''[[Jade Empire]]'', where an NPC in the tea house near the beginning serves food that reduces your health/spirit/focus reserves and rewards you if you eat enough.

* ''[[Haunting Ground]]'' {{spoiler|has Daniella/The Maid cook a meal during an early stage of the game. Later, this meal is served, and after two spoonfuls and one hell of an awkward conversation, an obviously sickened Fiona excuses herself. Once the cutscene ends, [[Interface Screw|all she can do is walk incredibly slowly, and clutch her stomach]]. If you examined the unattended cooking pot at an earlier point, there is a chance that Fiona will recoil in horror, realising that '''human hair and meat''' is what is being cooked inside.}}

 

{{quote|'''Tim:''' Three-quarters of a cup of...motor oil?

'''Tim:''' I have to... go to the... bathroom.

* Osborne, from ''[[Wally and Osborne]]'', does this [http://wallyandosborne.com/2005/08/03/glug-glug here.]

 

 

{{quote|'''Homer:''' What do you have to drink?

'''Vendor:''' ''[angry-sounding foreign accent]'' We have Mountain Dew or crab juice!

'''Homer:''' Ewww! [[Take That|I'll take crab juice.]] }}

* ''[[Moral Orel]]'' once sold his urine as an energy drink for the school sports teams.

* Happens lots of times on ''[[South Park]]'':

** Mr. Mackey drinks poop with his coffee in season 1's Christmas episode.

** Kenny eats a bowl of antacids thinking it was mints, then drinks water and explodes.

** Cartman makes cocoa out of Kenny's ashes.

* ''[[American Dad]]'': Stan drinks a toxic fluid that would liquify his internal organs 24 hours after consumption. It turns out that it was inert.

* ''[[The Secret Show]]'' has a whole episode revolving around this. Anita appears to have caused an international incident by, while disguised as The World Leader, eating an alien ambassador. However, when the rest of the species shows up, the rest of humanity eats them as well (everyone except vegans, as the aliens smell like any given individual's favorite type of meat/fish). Those who do eat them, however, turn into deformed splotchy versions of themselves, until a second wave of (dessert-scented/flavored) aliens shows up. It turns out that humanity is actually part of an alien reproductive cycle; once the two aliens are eaten, the victim burps up a new baby alien, restoring themselves to normal.

{{quote|'''Mama Cygnoid''': "It's 'Leela's Bean Pizza'. It has six kinds of beans, plus several things that look like beans."

'''Joseph "Fishy Joe" Gellman''': "I don't care if it has manure in it."

'''Papa Cygnoid''': "That's a-good." }}

{{quote|'''Slurm Queen''': And have you ever tried toothpaste?

* In the ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'' episode [[Hiccup Hijinks|"As I Lay Hiccuping"]], Johnny gets the hiccups and goes between curing them and getting them again. At one point, he eats something neighborhood geek Carl bought. Carl says that he didn't know that Johnny was a fan of slug kibble. Johnny spits it out upon hearing that and shivers.

{{quote|'''Carl''': Gee Johnny, I never knew you were such a fan of slug kibble!

'''Johnny''': ''(with mouth full)'' "Slug... kibble?" ''(spits out slug kibble, shivers)'' }}

* There are several episodes of ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' in which Shaggy and Scooby enjoy delicious soup cooking over a stove or on a fire, only to be informed that what they just enjoyed was somebody's washwater for their laundry. Cue urping up bubbles.

* One episode of ''[[Kim Possible]]'' had Ron and Rufus finding a bag of chips that belonged to the current client and began eagerly eating them... at least, until the client tells them the chips were made from crickets.

* A few ''[[Freaky Stories]]'' involve this, like:

** A gourmet escaped from prison, starved for food with a bad cold finds a building without power and eats the contents of its fridge in the dark, wakes up to find it was laboratory and the fridge was full of human organs.

* In ''[[Earthworm Jim (animation)|Earthworm Jim]]'', Peter Puppy experiences this trope when he learns the ingredients to haggis.

{{quote|"Heart...lungs...and ''liver?''"}}

* An episode of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'' has a tired Applejack mishearing Pinkie Pie's cupcake recipe instructions and making cupcakes from potato chips, soda, lemon juice and "wheat worms" ([[Idiot Ball|"That must be fancy talk for earthworms!"]]). Cut to the local health clinic, which is overloaded with victims of food poisoning.

{{quote|'''Nurse''': There was a mishap with the baked goods!

* There was an episode of ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'' that revolved around Cosmo, Wanda, and Timmy attending a ceremony (or something like that), and Timmy having a [[Potty Emergency]], trying to find somewhere to pee. The episode ends with Cosmo and Wanda drinking a yellow liquid from a pitcher, and Timmy saying "Speaking of relief, don't drink the punch!" Ewwwwwwwww...

* In ''[[The Smurfs]]'' episode "Hogatha's Heart Throb", Gargamel disguised as Hogatha's dream date is offered a refreshment that he enjoys until the witch reveals that he was drinking "snail mead".

 

* There are several medical conditions that invoke this trope:

** [[wikipedia:Urophagia|Urophagia]], where people drink urine, ostensibly for health purposes.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Revenge Tropes]]

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:Food Tropes]]

[[Category:The Oldest Tricks in The Book]]

[[Category:This Index Asked You a Question]]