History Main / CookingTheLiveMeal

It's very rare for anything genuinely bad to ever actually happen to the "meal". Part of the reason for this trope's existence is that it gives the victim time to escape, to be saved by friends, or to trick their captor into releasing them. There's also usually some comedy to be had as the would-be meal [[RegretEatingMe tries to fast-talk]] their way [[YouWontLikeHowITaste out of the situation]]. Most of the time the worst that will happen is for the victim to [[AmusingInjuries amusingly howl in pain at being singed by flames, but without suffering realistic injuries]]. Comically trying to blow out the fire is a standard gag. Alternatively, the victim may be innocently unaware of the cook's true intentions and may mistake the cooking pot for a hot tub and the baking oven for a sauna. This trope makes sure that in cartoons the peril of being eaten is a [[RuleOfFunny source of fun]], not horror.

It's very rare for anything genuinely bad to ever actually happen to the "meal". Part of the reason for this trope's existence is that it gives the victim time to escape, to be saved by friends, or to trick their captor into releasing them. There's also usually some comedy to be had as the would-be meal [[YouWontLikeHowITaste tries to fast-talk their way out of the situation]]. Most of the time the worst that will happen is for the victim to [[AmusingInjuries amusingly howl in pain at being singed by flames, but without suffering realistic injuries]]. Comically trying to blow out the fire is a standard gag. Alternatively, the victim may be innocently unaware of the cook's true intentions and may mistake the cooking pot for a hot tub and the baking oven for a sauna. This trope makes sure that in cartoons the peril of being eaten is a [[RuleOfFunny source of fun]], not horror.

Luckily we are in a cartoon world, which means the hungry cooks skip all the tedious and untender tasks entailed in preparing an animal for cooking in the real world. Killing, scalding or skinning, cutting and boning the carcass--when things run on [[ZanyCartoon cartoon logic]], the entire job profile of the butcher just doesn't exist. Instead the whole, living being is treated like it was a ready-to-cook piece of meat as-is, clothes (if the victim wears them) included.

[[folder:Films – Animated]]

[[folder:Films – Live-Action]]

* Evoked in the ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' two-reeler "Violent Is The Word For Curly": After the title character hides in an ice cream truck and is frozen solid, Moe and Larry try to thaw him out by attaching him to an improvised rotating spit above an open fire.
-->'''Moe:''' The directions say five minutes to a pound. Haha, we'll be here a month!
** This also happens in Recap/TheThreeStoogesIllNeverHeilAgain: The daughter of the king of Moronika, disguised as a fortune teller, shows Hailstone, Pebble, and Herring a terrifying vision of what their allies might do to them through a special telescope: All three of them are tied to a roasting spit, and turned over the fires of {{Hell}}, with demons poking them... and seasoning them!

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In the 8-bit game ''Three Weeks in Paradise'', Herbert is captured by cannibals and placed fully dressed in a cauldron over a fire. One of the main objectives of the game is to rescue him.
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' (deconstructed): A sketch from "Kramer vs. Showgirls" has Darkwing Duck selling his body to a Chinese restaurant to pay for Gosling's needed kidney transplant. The scene then cuts to him in the oven getting roasted alive, banging against the oven door from the inside, and begging the chef to kill him; the latter however refuses because "the live ones cook better". Darkwing is then served up to Creator/MichaelMoore in front of Gosling.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short "That's My Mommy!", Tom exploits the naiveté of the duckling Quacker, who believes Tom to be his mother, by trying to cook him by successively tying him to a spit and roasting him on an open fire (which Quacker believes is meant to keep him warm), baking him as a pastry (by tucking him into a "bed" of dough), and by fattening him up and oven-roasting him as a "stuffed duckling" (which Quacker interprets as having dinner and then going to sleep in his bedroom). Each time Quacker is saved by Jerry, but runs back to his "mother" until finally Quacker learns the truth by reading Tom's cookbook while the latter is preparing to cook Quacker in a stew. When a heartbroken Quacker wants to jump into the bubbling pot to please his "mother", Tom has a change of heart and saves Quacker.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': During Brian's MushroomSamba in "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS10E2SeahorseSeashellParty Seahorse Seashell Party]]", two evil Brian's with their heads on humanoid bodies are rotating a naked Peter Griffin on a stick above a fire, while Peter sings "Wheels on the Bus".

!! Examples:

[[AC:Fairy Tales]]

[[AC:Film -- Animated]]

[[AC:Film -- Live-Action]]

-->'''[[TheDitz Tom]]''': Don't bother cooking them. Let's just [[SquashedFlat sit on them and squash them into jelly]]!
-->'''[[TeamChef Bert]]''': They should be sauteed and grilled with a sprinkling of sage!
-->'''Tom''': That ''does'' sound quite nice!
-->'''[[OnlySaneMan William]]''': Never mind the seasoning. We ain't got all night. Dawn ain't far away. [[KillHimAlready Let's get a move on]]. I don't fancy [[TakenForGranite gettin' turned to stone]].

-->'''Moe:''' "The directions say five minutes to a pound. Haha, we'll be here a month!"

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC:Video Games]]

[[AC:Western Animation]]

It's very rare for anything genuinely bad to ever actually happen to the "meal". Part of the reason for this trope's existence is that it gives the victim time to escape, to be saved by friends, or to trick their captor into releasing them. There's also usually some comedy to be had as the would-be meal [[YouWontLikeHowITaste tries to fast-talk their way out of the situation]]. Most of the time the worst that will happen is for the victim to [[AmusingInjuries amusingly howl in pain at being singed by flames, but without suffering realistic injuries]]. Comically trying to blow out the fire is a standard gag. Alternatively the victim may be innocently unaware of the cook's true intentions, and may mistake the cooking pot for a hot tub and the baking-oven for a sauna. This trope makes sure that in cartoons the peril of being eaten is a [[RuleOfFunny source of fun]], not horror.

The trope has precedents in {{fairy tales}}, in which a somewhat darker tone may prevail, and in which the gruesome threat of being CookedToDeath is taken more seriously, even if the hero or heroine will inevitably evade that fate, ''without'' ever going into the oven (instead it is frequently the thwarted ogre or witch or their kin which [[KarmicDeath end karmically in their own oven]]). Despite being fundamentally unrealistic, Cooking the Live Meal also occurs in live action film; in such examples the grim threat of death and cannibalism is mellowed by the silly way the cannibals go about it.

* "Literature/HanselAndGretel": On the same day the witch of the gingerbread house is about to carry out her long-announced plan of killing and cooking Hansel, she fires a baking oven and tells Gretel to crawl into the oven "to see if it is properly hot" for baking bread, because, as the narration assures us, she wants to lock up Gretel in the oven to bake and then eat her. Gretel however turns the tables on the witch by pushing her into the oven and locking the door. The witch's plan for Gretel contrast with her declared intention to kill Hansel before cooking him.

[[AC:Film - Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MadagascarEscape2Africa'': The New York tourists who have been stranded in the African wilderness and turned feral attempt to roast Alex the Lion by tying him to a wooden spit and turning him over a fire. In a parody of the common gag, Alex attempts to blow out the fire as he faces downwards, only for the fire to blaze up even higher as he supplies it with fresh air. He is saved by his father bursting in and freeing him from the spit, which gives Alex opportunity to assuage the angry tourists by displaying his dance skills.

[[AC:Film - Live Action]]
* ''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad'': A [[ClassicalCyclops Cyclops]] has taken Sinbad's men captive and locked them in a cage, before returning to remove Sinbad's {{Lancer}} Harufa and tie him to a spit over a fire whilst he's still live and screaming. The Cyclops even pulls up a stool to sit while it turns the spit, [[ItCanThink proving that the mute, brutish giant is more intelligent than it looks]]. Sinbad meanwhile escapes from the cage and saves Harufa while the cyclops is distracted.
* ''Film/AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent'': One of the numerous absurd transition scenes in which the announcer says the movie's title phrase features the announcer in a suit and tie being roasted on a spit over an open fire by three middle-aged British ladies. Though the spit appears to be going through his chest, the announcer is alive and well and seems quite indifferent towards the situation.

* ''Film/{{Morozko}}'': Having captured hero Ivan, Baba Yaga intends to shove him into an oven to roast and eat him, but Ivan tricks her and shoves her into the oven instead. But he needs her magic which he hopes will help him to find his lost love Nastenka, so he saves her in the last minute.
* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'': The cannibalistic natives of Pelegosto attempt to roast Jack Sparrow by tying him to a wooden pole and placing him over a fire, alive and fully clothed (even including his hat). However they are distracted by their other captives escaping just as the firewood is being kindled, making the Pelegostos chase after the escapees and giving Jack opportunity to free himself by bouncing the pole until it jumps out of its mounts.
* ''Film/StarWarsReturnOfTheJedi'': After capturing Luke, Chewie and Han Solo, the Ewoks carry them into their village [[TribalCarry tied to poles]] and place them over fire pits strewn with bones. As the Ewoks pile up wood beneath them, [=3PO=] (who is the only one to understand their language) informs Han that he is going to be the main course of the coming banquet. The Ewoks are just about to kindle the fire under Han when Luke scares them into submission by use of the force.

[[AC:Videogames]]
* In the 8-bit game ''Three Weeks in Paradise'', Herbert is captured by cannibals and placed fully-dressed in a cauldron over a fire. One of the main objectives of the game is to rescue him.

* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' (deconstructed): A sketch from "Kramer vs. Showgirls" has Darkwing Duck selling his body to a Chinese restaurant to pay for Gosling's needed kidney transplant. The scene then cuts to him in the oven getting roasted alive, banging against the oven door from the inside and begging the chef to kill him; the latter however refuses because "the live ones cook better". Darkwing is then served up to Creator/MichaelMoore in front of Gosling.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short "That's My Mommy!", Tom exploits the naiveté of the duckling Quacker, who believes Tom to be his mother, by trying to cook him by successively tying him to a spit and roasting him on an open fire (which Quacker believes is meant to keep him warm), baking him as a pastry (by tucking him into a "bed" of dough), and by fattening him up and oven-roasting him as a "stuffed duckling" (which Quacker interprets as having dinner and then going to sleep in his bedroom). Each time Quacker is saved by Jerry, but runs back to his "mother", until finally Quacker learns the truth by reading Tom's cookbook while the latter is preparing to cook Quacker in a stew. When a heartbroken Quacker wants to jump into the bubbling pot to please his "mother", Tom has a change of heart and saves Quacker.

It's very rare for anything genuinely bad to ever actually happen to the "meal". Part of the reason for this trope's existence is that it gives the victim time to escape, to be saved by friends, or to trick their captor into releasing them. Most of the time the worst that will happen is for the victim to [[AmusingInjuries amusingly howl in pain at being singed by flames, but without suffering realistic injuries]]. Comically trying to blow out the fire is a standard gag. Alternatively the victim may be innocently unaware of the cook's true intentions, and may mistake the cooking pot for a hot tub and the baking-oven for a sauna. This trope makes sure that in cartoons the peril of being eaten is a [[RuleOfFunny source of fun]], not horror.

* Evoked in the ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' two-reeler "Violent Is the Word for Curly": After the title character hides in an ice cream truck and is frozen solid, Moe and Larry try to thaw him out by attaching him to an improvised rotating spit above an open fire.

Luckily we are in a cartoon world, which means the hungry cooks skip all the tedious and untender tasks entailed in preparing an animal for cooking in the real world. Killing, scalding or skinning, cutting and boning the carcass--when things run on cartoon logic, the entire job profile of the butcher just doesn't exist. Instead the whole, living being is treated like it was a ready-to-cook piece of meat as-is, clothes (if the victim wears them) included.

It's very rare for anything genuinely bad to ever actually happen to the "meal". Part of the reason for this trope's existence is that it gives the victim time to escape, to be saved by friends, or to trick their captor into releasing them. Most of the time the worst that will happen is for the victim to [[AmusingInjuries amusingly howl in pain at being singed by flames, but without suffering realistic injuries]]. Comically trying to blow out the fire is a standard gag. Alternatively the victim may be innocently unaware of the cook's true intentions, and may mistake the cooking pot for a hot tub and the baking-oven for a sauna. This trope makes sure that in cartoons the peril of being eaten is a source of fun, not horror.

* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' (deconstructed): A sketch from "Kramer vs. Showgirls" has Darkwing Duck selling his body to a Chinese restaurant to pay for Gosling's needed kidney transplant. The scene then cuts to him in the oven getting roasted alive, banging against the oven door from the inside and begging the chef to kill him; the latter however refuses because "the live ones cook better". Darkwing is then served up to Creator/MichaelMoore in front of Gosling.

* ''Film/AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent'': One of the numerous absurd transition scenes in which the announcer says the movie's title phrase features the announcer in a suit and tie being roasted on a spit by three middle-aged British ladies. Though the spit appears to be going through his chest, the announcer is alive and well and seems quite indifferent towards the situation.

[[caption-width-right:Predators find new ways to make their prey feel vulnerable.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tazroastsbugs.jpg]]

** In "WesternAnimation/OperationRabbit", Wile E. Coyote's first attempt to kill WesternAnimation/BugsBunny is to install a pressure cooker on the entrance of his burrow, intent on cooking him inside his own home. Fortunately, Bugs comes out by the backdoor, tricks Wile E. into looking inside, and closes the cooker on top of him.

** In "Holiday for Drumsticks", Daffy Duck's hillbilly owners decide to have Daffy for Thanksgiving. After the farmer has chased him some time trying to kill him with an axe and a gun, Daffy implores Thomas the Turkey for help; Thomas (who has no real interest in saving Daffy, as without Daffy he might become dinner himself) pretends that he has got him a passage to Rio and sends him off with a ship's ticket and a suitcase to board the boat to safety. The gangway however leads straight into the oven (which Daffy thinks is his cabin). The episode ends with the farmer's wife vainly trying to kindle the oven besides a big pile of used matches, with Daffy blowing out the match from inside the oven every time the wife lights a new one.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short "That's My Mommy!", Tom accidentally breaks a duck's egg, causing the duckling Quacker to emerge from the shells and accept Tom as his mother. Exploiting the duckling's naiveté, Tom attempts to cook him by successively tying him to a spit and roasting him on an open fire (which Quacker believes is meant to keep him warm), baking him as a pastry (by tucking him into a "bed" of dough), and by fattening him up and oven-roasting him as a "stuffed duckling" (which Quacker interprets as having dinner and then going to sleep in his bedroom). Each time Quacker is saved by Jerry, but runs back to his "mother", until finally Quacker learns the truth by reading Tom's cookbook while the latter is preparing to cook Quacker in a stew. When a heartbroken Quacker wants to jump into the bubbling pot to please his "mother", Tom has a change of heart and saves Quacker.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}}'': Lured into Hansel's and Gretel's gingerbread house, Elfo is fed with candy (implied to be laced with hypnotics) and unwisely lies down to sleep in a pan, and is predictably shoved into an oven to be roasted, with Hansel and Gretel being unmoved by both his cries of pain and his promises to show them to his pot of gold. Fortunately Bean and Luci arrive at the gingerbread house a little later and save him. Somewhat inconsistently, Hansel's and Gretel's cellar also houses a butcher shop with plenty of body parts of their victims lying around.

[[AC:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TalesFromTheDarkside'': In the episode "Anniversary Dinner", a young woman on the run from her abusive boyfriend takes shelter with an older couple. They invite her to relax in their hot tub with a glass of wine while they prepare dinner. After a while, the older woman enters the room and starts throwing vegetables into the hot tub. The young woman passes out from the drugged wine as the older couple throw more vegetables and wine into the tub and push her head under in order to cook her as soup.