History Main / FoodChains

** ''Literature/TheOdyssey'': When Odysseus and his crew encountered Circe, the men who ate Circe's food, which they were magically compelled to eat, were transformed into beasts, notably pigs. Odysseus himself only escaped this curse because Mercury, the messenger of the gods, provided him with an antidote beforehand, and still, despite his rage, had to act in a perfectly civil and polite manner, as befits SacredHospitality, and because Circe could not harm him directly, [[YearOutsideHourInside she made one night, where he was outright commanded to sleep with her, in exchange for changing his crew back into men, into seven years for the outside world.]] Odysseus understandably put a knife to her throat and left her island quite bitter and angry.

** In "Death in Bloom" Jake wants to drink from a river in the Land of The Dead.
--> '''Talking Skull:''' Yesss... drink the water.\\

** Turns out it gives you Amnesia, a la the mythical Lethe.

Contrast SacredHospitality; many cultures throughout history have considered harming someone who has eaten food under your roof to be something akin to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parricide parricide.]] Myths such as these may therefore have been meant to emphasize how inhuman TheFairFolk are. Compare to its supertrope HorrorHatesARulebreaker.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'':

Contrast SacredHospitality; many cultures throughout history have considered harming someone who has eaten food under your roof to be something akin to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parricide parricide]]. Myths such as these may therefore have been meant to emphasize how inhuman TheFairFolk are. Compare to its supertrope HorrorHatesARulebreaker.

** In ''Literature/TheWeeFreeMen'', if you eat when a drome has trapped you in a dreamworld, you'll never get out.[[spoiler: Unless you're one of the title characters. They can get out of anything... though taverns, they will admit, are occasionally a problem]].
** Eating in Fairyland itself seems to be safe, though; [[spoiler: Wentworth and Roland are able to leave despite having both been stuffed with sweets by the Elf Queen]].

* ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' has both an example and an inversion: The trope is played straight when Chihiro's parents are turned into pigs by the food at the abandoned restaurant, but Chihiro herself has to eat some of the spirit realm's food or else she'll fade out of existence. The difference is that her parents ate food that did not belong to them, gorged themselves on it, and transformed into pigs. Chihiro, on the other hand, ate of food that was offered to her.

* ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' has both an example and an inversion: The trope is played straight when Chihiro's parents are turned into pigs by the food at the abandoned restaurant, but Chihiro herself has to eat some of the spirit realm's food or else she'll fade out of existence. The difference is that her parents ate food that did not belong to them, gorged themselves on it, and transformed into pigs. Chihiro, on the other hand, ate only a small bit of food that was offered to her.

* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/DreadCompanion'', the local food both acts as a BalefulPolymorph and gives a distaste for human food.

*** Variants of this history narrate that Ascalaphus, an inhabitant of the Underworld, saw her doing that and he tattled to Hades that. Persephone (or Demeter according to other versions) was obviously ''very'' angry and she [[BalefulPolymorph morphed]] him into an owl.

* At a Samhain revel in ''{{Fanfic/Spellbound}}'', Felix sees the effect of faerie fruit on humans, including types 1 (trapped), 2 (addiction, even though to Felix's eyes it's clear that the fruit is rotten), and 4 (involuntary shapeshifting into an animal such as a deer, typically followed by the fae releasing hounds and hunting them). And if a human refuses to eat it? That's easy to deal with; the fae are stronger and will just force-feed them. There may also be type 3 (control), although it's unclear whether it's direct control or merely "do as we say if you want any more fruit."

* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' has a sensory stone called "slowly dawning horror," featuring a [[ImpossiblyDeliciousFood wine so good that a man would effectively become a slave for more of it]].

* An interesting sci-fi example in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' occurs when Jacob discovers the full story of what happenned to his [[DisappearedDad father]]: his ship crash-landed on a remote planet faraway from any sort of civilization, and, while the native plantlife was perfectly edible, it had nasty side-effects such as amnesia, reduced mental capacity, and vulnerability to suggestion. Rather than avoid the food completely and try to survive off their ship's own rations, however, the command staff, Jacob's father included, instead elected to keep the rations for ''themselves'' and make the lower crew members survive off the native food, more or less ''intentionally'' turning them into simple-minded slaves. Jacob is...[[BrokenPedestal less than pleased]] with his father when he finds out.

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1323 ("A County Fair")]] appears to be a carnival run by TheFairFolk and anyone who eats food there has a 17% chance of becoming a permanent employee.

* The "meol" given out by Eulmore in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV: Shadowbringers'' rather obviously controls the populace by being the bread in a BreadAndCircuses scheme. Since most of Norvrandt is destroyed, its economy barely even exists anymore, making a relatively easy source of food ''incredibly'' appealing to anyone. [[spoiler:Less obviously, meol infects all who eat it with primordial Light due to being made of the flesh of [[AngelicAbomination sin eaters]], which are abundant and responsible for said destruction, slowly turning the people eating them into sin eaters themselves and making them susceptible to Vauthry's ability to mind control such creatures.]]

** In ''Literature/ColdDays'', Harry's working for the Winter Court. Since he's spending that time officially within Queen Mab's hierarchy, he can gain and perform favors and services without accruing a running debt, something that was hinted at throughout previous works. Another fae, [[CatsAreMean Cat Sith]], was appointed to be Harry's "butler", meaning he could request a perfectly mundane sandwich and can of Coca Cola without it counting.

* In ''Theatre/JasperInDeadland'', Lethe-brand water slowly erases the memories of anyone who drinks it.

* The "meol" given out by Eulmore in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV: Shadowbringers'' rather obviously controls the populace by being the bread in a BreadAndCircuses scheme. Since most of Norvrandt is destroyed, its economy barely even exists anymore, making a relatively easy source of food ''incredibly'' appealing to anyone. [[spoiler:Less obviously, meol infects all who eat it with primordial Light, slowly turning them into a sin eater and making them susceptible to Vauthry's ability to mind control such creatures.]]

* In Creator/AGnosis' comics on [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek myth]], Persephone is curious about {{invok|edTrope}}ing the trope with the food of TheUnderworld, as the metaphysical link to the realm of the dead could be a perfect FantasyContraception without any troubling side effects.

Contrast SacredHospitality; many cultures throughout history have considered harming someone who has eaten food under your roof to be something akin to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parricide parricide]]. Myths such as these may therefore have been meant to emphasize how inhuman TheFairFolk are.

* In ''Film/PansLabyrinth'', Ophelia is told not to eat any food while taking the second challenge. [[TooDumbToLive She eats a few bits of fruit]] off the table, and wakes the Pale Man.

* ''Bone Chillers'', a series of horror fiction novels [[FollowTheLeader very similar]] to the more well-known ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'', had one issue "Back to School" involving a school cook who serves extremely delicious and addictive food. It's eventually revealed that the cook is a giant insect who puts larvae in her food for the school children to eat, incubating in the hosts' bodies until they're ready to burst out once they've served their purpose. The cook is only stopped by the efforts of the protagonist (who was infected with the larvae) and a fellow schoolmate who was allergic to anything besides specially prepared lunches.

* In ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1323 ("A County Fair")]] appears to be a carnival run by TheFairFolk and anyone who eats food there has a 17% chance of becoming a permanent employee.
** Also, in the second category, SCP 294, when a "perfect drink" is requested from it.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'': One of the [[AllThereInTheManual DVD bonus features]] explain that monsters were an ancient tribe of hominids that were driven away from the mainland by the earliest humans and stumbled upon an enchanted island and started taking on strange shapes and sizes from the fruit and vegetables growing there. Upon realizing their newfound monstrous looks, they decided it was time to take revenge on humanity by scaring them.