History Main / MundaneLuxury

* ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'':
** Downplayed in ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'': Hiroki Awano is a Yakuza boss, and has enough money and influence to get anything he wants. So what does he want? Expensive liquor? Gambling? Drugs? Fast cars? Women? The blood of his enemies? No. Awano's idea of the ultimate, most sublime pleasure is a free Sunday afternoon, when he can play 18 holes of golf, followed by a nice long sauna and a plate of good curry for dinner at the clubhouse, without being disturbed. Golf is a pretty pricey hobby, but his desires are ultimately quite modest for someone of his high position.
** In ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'', because the food Ichiban was served in prison tasted like crap, it made the simple bread rolls he was given every week taste that much better. Likewise, after so much time homeless, even a small, slightly dirty brothel room as a place to live feels like heaven for Nanba.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12962091/1/ If I Could Start Again]]'', when Steve Rogers first visits [=SHIELD's=] mess hall, he's confused at how SHIELD agents can be so disappointed in the food when it's both higher quality and greater variety than anything he's had in years. Even before joining the army, many things such as sugar were extremely scarce due to rationing.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E2TheDalekInvasionOfEarth The Dalek Invasion of Earth]]", an old member of LesCollaborateurs is given an orange as part of a reward. She tearfully observes it, admitting she hasn't seen an orange in ''years'' -- a relatable sentiment, given that the episode was filmed in 1963, less than 10 years after the United Kingdom ended WWII food rationing.

* ''Literature/TheLockedTomb'': Gideon grew up in the Ninth House, a bleak {{Necromanc|er}}y cult outpost on an otherwise barren planet, before traveling offworld. After a lifetime of [[OurShowersAreDifferent sonic showers]], she doesn't even recognize a bathtub at first, and her first proper bath feels like an impossible luxury to her.

-->'''Captain Crow''': You have ''no clue'' how dangerous your job will be. Do you really want to go through with this?\\
''Tress'': Do I get to sleep in that bed?\\
'''Crow''': Yes.\\
'''Tress''': Then I'm in.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E2TheDalekInvasionOfEarth The Dalek Invasion of Earth]]", an old member of LesCollaborateurs is given an orange as part of a reward. She tearfully observes it, admitting she hasn't seen an orange in ''years''.
** That was filmed in 1963. WWII wasn't that long ago, and rationing in Britain didn't end until some years after the end of the war. The bit with the orange may have been a reference to fairly recent times when many ordinary Britons might not have seen an orange for a long time.

Compare with HumbleGoal (where gaining a Mundane Luxury is a major motivation for a character), SimpleYetOpulent (when a simple-looking object or luxury is actually very expensive), BlackMarketProduce (when certain foodstuffs, common to the audience, like strawberries or coffee, are rare and valuable in the setting), OnlyElectricSheepAreCheap (when the natural equivalent is costlier).

* ''Film/Midway2019''. The teacher who translates for Jimmy Doolitte when he encounters the Chinese guerillas complains about the impossibility of finding matches to light his cigarettes. So when they part ways, Doolitte leaves him his Zippo lighter. Unfortunately this backfires when a Japanese soldier finds it in the teacher's house.

* Top Tenz listed [[https://www.toptenz.net/10-post-apocalyptic-currencies-more-valuable-than-gold.php items]] that would most likely become a luxury after an EndOfTheWorld event. Such items includes candles, books, and shoes.

* ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'': In Auschwitz, a friend of Vladek named Mandelbaum is literally brought to tears when Vladek brings him stuff like shoes that actually fit and a belt so he doesn't have to hold up his trousers with one arm all the time, simple things which the Nazis had denied them.

* At first, Hunter from ''Series/QueerAsFolk'' has a hard time accepting that Michael and Ben are being nice to him (giving him a warm jacket, feeding him, paying his hospital bills, letting him use their shower and sleep in their guest room when he wants to, and things like that) because they want to and not because they have some sort of ulterior motive. Understandable, considering that he's a teenage prostitute who's been living on the streets for quite some time.

'''Greg:''' Correction: We ''rented'' a boat. I may be filthy rich, but there is such things as [[IncrediblyLamePun going overboard.]]

* ''Series/TheBarrier'': In a year 2045 Madrid that has undergone the consequences of GlobalWarming, resource depletion and twenty years of dictatorship, there are several things that can only be easily found in the enclave for the elites. Those include running water (both hot and cold), properly watered urban vegetation and gardens, any sort of coffee product, meat, liquid soap, cell phones, tablets, individual home phones, toys that require electricity to work and cars. It also has 24/7 electricity, unlike the rest of the city where it's turned off around FascistsBedTime. A man interviewing for a job in the enclave is amazed merely by what he sees on the way to his future workplace.
* ''Series/StrangerThings'': After months in a Soviet prison camp, the taste of peanut butter is enough to bring Hopper to tears.
* ''Crash Landing on you'': one of the arguments Pyo Chi-su, a North Korean soldier, uses to accuse South Korean Yoon Se-ri of lying to them was her claim she are meat twice a day.

* ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneEthersea'': The series is set AfterTheEnd, where a massive storm wiped out the surface world and forced people to start a new society under the sea. As such, spices are ''highly'' coveted, as most of them were lost in the storm, and most of the available food is pretty bland on its own. Certain plants native to the ocean that have been found to be both edible and tasty can make for a very big payoff for anyone willing to risk life and limb to venture outside the city to go get them.

* The short play ''Clean Up on Aisle 7'' takes place in a crappy future where most organic food has been replaced by synthetic goo. The plot involves four people starting a gunfight over an orange.
* For "the plane people" in ''Theatre/ComeFromAway'' (thousands of airline passengers who were detoured to a tiny Canadian town after 9/11), many of whom had been on planes for over 28 hours, these include changes of clothes, places to sleep, showers, but especially phones so that they can get news to and about their loved ones.

* ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' takes it to [[TearJerker heart-wrenching]] lengths as Shiki slowly comes to realize that [[HumanoidAbomination Arcueid]] treasures the simple act of speaking with another living being, having been deprived of such (and naturally, every other mundane luxury) ''for over a millennium.''
-->'''Zelretch:''' For a life like yours, to open both your eyes and catch a single glimpse of light would already be ample satisfaction.

* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'', Soviet soldiers have this as a confirmation to being told to garrison a building. Conscripts are excited over the prospect of getting to watch TV, and [[BoxedCrook Flak Troopers]] want to raid the fridge.
* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals,'' the GLA Worker (a slave boy with a [[MagicTool magic sledgehammer]]) has no shoes, and will occasionally ask for a pair. In the sequel, shoes are a researchable upgrade, and the Workers react with a humble, excited "Thank you for the new shoes!"
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'', the player can observe a little kitchen garden in New Bodhum and strike up a small scene between [[FishOutOfTemporalWater Noel]] and Serah. He's amazed that people are growing their own vegetables. Justified, since he comes from hundreds of years in the future and the soil is completely barren there.

* Discussed in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', with [[spoiler: [[KidFromTheFuture Lucina's]] supports with her mother]]. She points out that she's never really had the chance to do something as simple as go out and have fun clothes shopping, which is part of the reason she keeps doing it.
* In ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'', eating a mackerel will have 2B describe the taste as exquisite. [[spoiler: Considering the fact that it leads to her death, and a NonStandardGameOver, her reaction can only be described as "WorthIt"]].
* ''VideoGame/SunlessSkies:'' One of the available systems your Locomotive can equip is "Sensible Plumbing", which improves conditions enough that ''six'' more crewmembers will be willing to come aboard without any other changes. Presumably, when you're riding a train engine across hostile expanses of lawless space, having a bathroom that works is a blessing.
-->''Regular hot and cold running water! Pipes that don't groan (much)! Oh heaven, Lavatories that flush!''
* ''VideoGame/GodEater3'' starts with the [=AGEs=] living in a squalid, run-down prison cell. Once aboard the Chrysanthemum, comfortable beds and private bathrooms seem luxurious. One girl ([[ChildSoldiers eight years old]]) thinks she's hallucinating when presented with ''warm water and soap''.
* Humorously used in ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice''. If you bring rice to the Divine Heir, he's surprised to realize Wolf has been eating it raw. Wolf is just as surprised to learn rice is supposed to be cooked.

* Since creation is forbidden by the resident ReligionOfEvil, everything the Builder introduces in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestBuilders2'' is met with applause. Bathrooms that are just a chamber pot and a towel, bedrooms with no roof and straw beds, cooked cabbages, even a tiny cabbage patch.
* In ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', Mash is a prototype artificial Servant who spent her whole life confined in Chaldea's laboratories. During a crossover event with ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners'' she is excited to see ''a modern apartment building'', to Shiki's confusion.
* Tokyo in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'' hasn't seen sunlight in decades, and the food is made from disgusting demon meat. Examining FlavorText for some food-based items shows that canned fruits and vegetables are saved for special occasions, and [[AllThereInTheManual In a tie-in piece]], Hallelujah was so excited to eat a can of fruit that he kept the can as one of his treasures.

* Bud of ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare'' is [[http://wapsisquare.com/comic/nicejustbecause/ quite excited]] when someone shows her kindness without fear or ulterior motives.
* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' Galatea is very slow to accept that anyone might be genuinely kind to her, and she reacts to ''pizza'' as an unimaginable luxury.
* PlayedWith in ''Webcomic/{{Bardsworth}}''--when Mike first takes a shower at Bardsworth he thinks it's incredibly cool, causing his roommate to wonder if he's from a tiny dirt farm or something. It's actually just because the shower works by magic, which Mike (who's from our world) isn't used to.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Irrelevator}}'' the blue stickman and green stickman give a breadcrumb and a paper to the red stickman on his birthday, this is of course something he's very happy about since they've been stuck in an elevator for so long.
* The world of ''Webcomic/{{Ice}}'' is in deep energy crisis. Plugs (essentially, [[CallARabbitASmeerp batteries]]) are coveted. Heat, a FantasticDrug that makes you ''feel'' warm, is a huge problem.
* In ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'', the protagonist spends so long exploring gross, contaminated, and outright infested environments -- including, thanks to space-time shenanigans, a world inside her own corpse -- that finding a washroom to [[http://www.bogleech.com/awfulhospital/655.html clean up in]] is practically a religious experience.

* In ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}'', the newly 3D'd Lee enjoys being 3D...by feeling up everyone he can get his hands on (including himself).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** In one of the [[WhatIf "Anthologies of Interest"]], Bender is turned human and [[SenseFreak becomes obsessed with such common pleasures as eating and drinking]], leading him to become incredibly obese [[spoiler:and eventually dying from it]].
** However, he smoked and drank heavily as a robot: the difference is that now it's bad for him.
** Zoidberg gets this pretty frequently. "A floor? We live like kings!" [[DumpsterDive "I found a cake with a footprint on it!"]]
* Apparently in ''WesternAnimation/TimeWarpTrio'', we will not have onion rings in the future as Samantha has to go into the past to get them. All fried foods in general are banned meaning pretty much all fast food would be this to Samantha. [[TrademarkFavoriteFood It's just the onion rings she likes best.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': Lumpy Space Princess has been living homeless in the woods for so long that in ''Be Sweet'', she treats Tree Trunks' refrigerator, fireplace and the chance to bathe (in a kitchen sink, no less) as if they were priceless luxuries.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'', Webby has been cooped up inside [=McDuck=] Manor for most of her life, and declares that one of her life goals is to eat a hamburger.
* Dhandi is a StreetUrchin who debuts in "Some Enchanted Genie" of ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'', at which time she becomes the master of the genie Eden. Eden talks about all the magnificent things Dhandi can now have and all the lone, hungry kid can think of is to ask for a sandwich. Eden has to give her step-by-step instructions to instead ask to never be hungry again.

* There is a classical humorous short story by Ludwig Thoma, ''Ein Münchener im Himmel'' (''A Munich Citizen In Heaven''), about a train station porter from UsefulNotes/{{Munich}} who dies, goes to heaven, but gets fed up with his celestial duties and runs off back to earth, preferring to spend an eternity living his meagre earthly existence in Munich, boozing beer with his regulars in the Hofbräuhaus.

** Likewise, in the story ''The Long Rain'', several soldiers are walking through the eternal rain of Venus desperately searching for a Sun Dome; eventually almost all of them go mad and the only one who finds the Sun Dome finds the luxuries of hot chocolate with marshmallows, freshly made sandwiches, hot coffee and fresh towels to dry himself off with.
* ''Literature/APoisonDarkAndDrowning'': [[TheProtagonist Henrietta]] is in awe when Rook gives her an apple. Apparently, they're more valuable than gold in the universe of the book.
* In ''Literature/TreasureIsland,'' when Ben Gunn is rescued, it turns out that the thing he misses most about civilization is ''cheese.'' He swears UndyingLoyalty to Squire Trelawney in exchange for a palm-sized piece of Parmesan.
* Solomon Shafto, an {{Expy}} of Ben Gunn, in ''Literature/ThePyrates'' is obsessed with bread and dripping.

* In ''Literature/AConnecticutYankeeInKingArthursCourt'', Hank Morgan is in England AD 528 and misses the conveniences of Connecticut AD 1879. From chapter VII "Merlin's Tower",
--> ''There was no soap, no matches, no looking-glass--except a metal one, about as powerful as a pail of water. And not a chromo [a color picture].... There was no gas, there were no candles.... There were no books, pens, paper or ink, and no glass in the openings they believed to be windows.... But perhaps the worst of all as, that there wasn't any sugar, coffee, tea or tobacco.''
* In the non-fiction ''How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed'', Slavenka Drakulić recalls the shortages of communism. Things like sanitary pads and tampons were rare luxuries, and people often made do without toilet paper. When Drakulić travelled with toilet rolls or tampons, friends asked her to leave those things in their homes.
* Regularly this happens in ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'', since much of the time there's a ChangelingFantasy aspect as someone who starts with a harsher life winds up in a more comfortable place. A major AuthorAppeal for Creator/MercedesLackey is hot baths, which feature prominently in the Herald's Collegium and, in hot spring form, in the Hawkbrother's Vales.
** The Vales and the Collegium are both luxurious retreats for Hawkbrothers and Heralds respectively, groups of people who often leave them to do hard and dangerous work often for long periods of time and who then appreciate them on return. After years on the border with Karse eating bread that was at best stale and hard, [[Literature/LastHeraldMageTrilogy Vanyel Ashkevron]] was astonished by fresh bread.
** For Talia food, clothes, bathing, and a general lack of abuse are certainly a big deal but she revels most in easy access to a library and the expectation that she's not at all barred from it.
** Mags starts off the ''Collegium Chronicles'' as a mine slave. Once rescued, he has this reaction to a bowl of vegetable soup, a hot bath, and warm clothing.
* Elli Friedmann's RealLife novelization of her experiences in "I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing up in the Holocaust" has the main character and her mother making it from Auschwitz to a labor camp where the operators were completely unaware of the death camps. The Jewish victims were reduced to tears when given their own soap and towels for taking showers, where they found it amazing that they could control the water.
* Poor [[Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory Charlie Bucket]] treasures his annual birthday present of a Wonka chocolate bar so much that once he starts actually eating it, he nibbles only a tiny bit each day.
** The iconic [[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory 1971 film version]] might not have had the nibbling part, but everything else applies.
* In ''Literature/HeartOfSteel'', Alistair is able to make everything he could ever want for survival and world conquest, but he is so starved for human company that his primary goal throughout the book is to find a way to make Julia smile. Also, when she finally gets up the courage to touch him in a way that is not in self-defense, the sensation is uttern heaven to him.
* ''Literature/{{Hatchet}}'': When Brian returns to civilization after months of struggling for survival in the Canadian wilderness with only the titular hatchet and his wits, he marvels over the incredible bounty at the local grocery store that everyone (including himself before his ordeal) takes for granted.
* Kvothe in ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle'' greatly appreciates simple comforts after spending three years as a [[OrphansOrdeal miserable, traumatized]] StreetUrchin. He lives happily in a small room over an inn and savours snacking on whole apples because he used to have to scrounge for the cores. When he comes into a respectable amount of money, things like treating his friends to dinner and buying extra sets of clothes feel like utter luxury to him.
* In ''Literature/TheLastChancers'', the sole luxury granted to the criminals assigned to the 13th Penal Legion when shipboard is a daily ration of fruit juice (the rest of their food is the cheapest ration paste the guards can find, served without utensils). This is granted to them mainly for the pragmatic reason that a cup of fruit juice per man per day is cheaper than treating scurvy or any of the other various vitamin deficiency-related health problems that a ration of fruit juice could easily prevent.
* Tina Chen from Courtney Milan's ''Cyclone'' series was previously poor enough that she lived almost entirely on rice and ramen noodles; what she really wanted and would find really luxurious under these circumstances was... a mango.
* In Alexander Beliaev's novel Professor Dowell's Head, Mari Loran, the caretaker of the titular BrainInAJar, spends her sleepless nights groping her arms and legs while whispering: "I'm so rich! I have so much!"
* ''Literature/TheEmigrants'': Karl Oskar is disappointed by the tiny amount of tools he could bring to America, but his neighbour explains that by frontier standards, Karl Oskar is rich. Karl Oskar has three axe-heads, a scythe-blade and several other tools, when many people came to the frontier with no other tools than a belt-knife and a half-share in an axe.
* ''Literature/TheLockedTomb'': Gideon grew up in the Ninth House, a bleak {{Necromanc|er}}y cult outpost on an otherwise barren planet, before traveling offworld. After a lifetime of [[OurShowersAreDifferent sonic showers]], she doesn't even recognize a bathtub at first, and her first proper bath feels like an impossible luxury to her.
* In ''[[Literature/DragonridersOfPern Dragonflight]]'', Lessa has spent the last ten years of her life as a drudge at Ruatha, eating poorly and putting up with [[ThePigPen filthy hygiene]] (the latter of which it's implied she cultivated to discourage [[RapeAsDrama unwanted attention]]), so when F'Lar brings her to Benden Weyr, she's a bit shocked when he casually offers her what she considers to be considerable luxuries. He orders her a simple meal and even derides its quality, but it's more than she's used to in a single day, and she's thrilled at the opportunity to bathe in a large pool. Even after she [[spoiler:Impresses Ramoth to become Weyrwoman]] and adjusts to life in the weyr, she still takes ''two baths a day'' just to luxuriate in the cleanliness. F'Lar notes that she's "going to scrub her skin off".
* In ''Literature/CookingWithWildGame'', the fantasy world the protagonist finds himself in is almost nothing like Earth, so even though he has enough food to survive (courtesy of a local GoodSamaritan) he longs for ''familiar'' food. When his benefactor shows him the most expensive thing in her pantry -- a tiny glass vial of salt -- he is overjoyed.
* In ''Literature/MakeRoomMakeRoom'' in an overcrowded future, a rich man's mistress is allowed to pour the juices from his steak on her oatmeal. Later, after he has been killed (by someone else) she and her detective boyfriend share the steak.
* In ''Literature/TheMoteInGodsEye'', Motie history, culture, and society is dominated by the fact that all Moties ''must'' get pregnant and give birth every so often, or they will die from hormonal imbalance. The Motie Mediator who explains this is almost furious at how much human women take access to contrareceptives (or even the option of simple ''celibacy'') for granted.
* Exploited by the traders of Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/CrosstimeTraffic'' series. They travel to parallel universes and trade items that are cheap to make in the home timeline, but just slightly better than anything the locals have (for instance, they trade Swiss army knives and modern mirrors to Romans who are at a ~1500s tech level, or new jeans to the survivors of a nuclear war).
* In ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'', Shasta is amazed by a Narnian breakfast of bacon and eggs, mushrooms, and toast with butter. It's not just that he grew up in poverty, it's that Calormene food is fundamentally ''different''.
* ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'': One of the great advantages of settling on Earth for the Race, LizardFolk from a dry, hot planet, is the massive quantities of water. They ''adore'' hot showers.

* ''Literature/MyStory'': In ''The Trenches: Billy Stevens, The Western Front'', when Billy is discharged from the medical building, he's not sent right back to the frontlines because his arms haven't fully recovered from the mustard gas. As a result, he's sent to the main office in a town. When he gets there, he's ecstatic at having to eat fresh, hot food, and to be able to sleep on an actual bed, having spent his time in the trenches subsisting on canned food and cookies hard enough to be, in his words, "dog biscuits", and sleeping in a small hole in the trench.

* Charlie Crews from ''Series/Life2007'' is [[FruitOfTheLoon obsessed with fresh fruit]], since he couldn't get any when he was in prison.
* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', after Odo is turned into a humanoid solid, he becomes fascinated with food and drink, things he ignored as a changeling. In one episode, Sisko finds him in Quark's, listening to the carbonation in his beer. He also finds a bed ''far'' superior to his usual bucket, and even attempts to keep using one after regaining his powers, but he slides off when he returns to his liquid state.
* Crossing over into [[StarshipLuxurious a related trope]], Neelix in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' is amazed and rather impressed that the Voyager crew has such efficient water recycling facilities that he can take a bath.
* At first, Hunter from ''Series/QueerAsFolk'' has a hard time accepting that Michael and Ben are being nice to him (giving him a warm jacket, feeding him, paying his hospital bills, letting him use their shower and sleep in their guest room when he wants to, and things like that) because they want to and not because they have some sort of ulterior motive. Understandable, considering that he's a teenage prostitute who's been living on the streets for quite some time.
* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''
** In "[[Recap/TorchwoodS1E10OutOfTime Out of Time]]", the time travellers from 1953 are amazed at the variety and amount of food available in an average supermarket; food rationing didn't end in the UK until 1954, and even then there was no comparison to what shoppers have available to them now.
** In ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'', Oswald Danes, a convicted kiddy rapist/murderer released from death row, is seen filling a trash bag with food from a buffet. When questioned, he makes a good point about how he'll be unable to find work, and must collect food whenever he can.
** In the ''Torchwood'' audio drama ''Asylum'', Freda, a girl from the future, is totally amazed that people have ''real'' tomatoes on pizza.
* Fresh fruit, or indeed fresh food in general, for the crew of ''Serenity'' in ''Series/{{Firefly}}''. Kaylee [[OrgasmicallyDelicious practically orgasms when eating a strawberry]] and fights River really hard for a certain apple, and when Jayne wants to atone for [[spoiler:selling out River and Simon]], he does so by buying a crate of fresh fruit that the rest of the crew raves over. [[DownplayedTrope It's not that fresh fruit and vegetables are especially hard to come by in The 'Verse, mind]]; it's just that CasualInterplanetaryTravel doesn't necessarily mean ''fast'' interplanetary travel and they don't have room for a lot of refrigerated storage, so the crew lives mostly on [[FutureFoodIsArtificial "protein bars"]] (some kind of futuristic [=MREs=]) and tinned food while in transit.
* In one of the [[Series/DoctorWho First Doctor]] serials, ''The Dalek Invasion of Earth'', an old member of LesCollaborateurs is given an orange as part of a reward. She tearfully observes it, admitting she hasn't seen an orange in ''years''.
** That was filmed in 1963. WWII wasn't that long ago, and rationing in Britain didn't end until some years after the end of the war. The bit with the orange may have been a reference to fairly recent times when many ordinary Britons might not have seen an orange for a long time.

* Seen on any given season of ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' with the challenge rewards. The players really start getting excited about simple comforts after the first week or so of roughing it (approximately the third or fourth episode).

* In ''Series/The100'', people who live on TheArk space station haven't set foot on Earth for nearly a hundred years. In their sterile, artificial environment, a single, small bonsai tree that they've kept alive in space is not simply a national treasure, it's the main idol of their religion.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' has several examples, most stemming from the fact that the titular station is too far away from anything to make regular imports possible.
** Sheridan, when arriving on the titular station, raves about his quarters having "...an ''actual'' shower, with ''actual'' water!" which was not the case on the ship he commanded previously.
*** Later in the series, he claims that the two things that make commanding a station rather than a ship worthwhile are the water shower, and that he occasionally can get his hands on enough oranges at once to make worthwhile quantities of orange juice.
** Michael Garibaldi spends a small fortune over the course of the series specially importing foodstuffs from Earth. Most of these are things people in the western world would consider staples, like olive oil, butter and garlic.
** Garibaldi also gets into a bet with the doctor, and goads the doctor into betting a steak. It seems the only way to get fresh beef onto the station before it spoils is to get the doctor to fudge some paperwork to have it designated as medical supplies.
** Susan Ivanova, at one point, receives a bacon-and-eggs breakfast as a thank-you from Marcus Cole. This drives Garibaldi, who has spent years trying to find a way to get fresh eggs onto the station before they spoil, green with envy.
* In the Season one finale of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', Niles has a moment of introspection.
--> '''Niles:''' I was watching PBS the other night in my study and they were showing this documentary on the Great Depression. Vintage Steinbeck - desperately poor people escaping the Dust Bowl, their meager possessions strapped to rickety old trucks heading to what they thought was their salvation. Then there was this scene with this scruffy boy being handed a brand-new pair of shoes by the Salvation Army. Frasier, if you saw the look on that boy's face. It was a look of pure and utter happiness. I have never experienced that kind of happiness, not in my whole life. Not even when I bought these four hundred dollar Bruno Maglies. [shows shoes off] Do you like them? \\
'''Frasier:''' Do ''you'' like them? \\
'''Niles:''' What about the tassels? \\
'''Frasier:''' Well, I'm not much of an tassel guy. \\
'''Niles:''' No, neither am I, nevertheless there they are.
* Both PlayedForDrama and PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/TheOrville'': To establish the BadFuture timeline, we see Ed and Gordon have a blaster fight with [[AIIsACrapshoot Kaylons]], racing to a shuttle and taking off with precious cargo. They unwrap it and it's a replicator. The first thing Gordon does is order a Twinkie. Ed is boggled that, after the trouble they went through just to get the replicator that he would order something so banal. Gordon just asks if Ed wants the other half.
* Used for a DeliberateValuesDissonance in ''[[Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand Spartacus Vengeance]]'' "A Place In This World". Shortly after taking over a villa, Spartacus and Mira take over the dominus' bedroom. Spartacus is thrilled to sleep in a bed once again, as it has been a very long time since he was able to. Mira reveals that she has never slept in one. They promptly try to have sex in it.

* One episode in ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'' involves Doña Florinda buying a strange appliance, then the other characters being in awe that it's a washing machine. For reference, until that point [[StatusQuoIsGod (and after it, as El Chavo breaks the machine)]] everyone had to wash their clothes in a sink that is outside of their households.
* In ''Series/TheCloser'', a family was murdered by someone in a fit of rage. The squad finds that the father was [[spoiler: a bigamist with two separate families, one of which was fairly affluent and the other had many fewer luxuries. The murderer was the son of the second family who found out about the first family, and was jealous of the things that the son in the first family took completely for granted. When he confronted his father, things did not go well.]]

* When ComicBook/BlackCanary took Sin away from her TrainingFromHell to be her generation's Lady Shiva, one of the first things they did when they got to the States was to go out for breakfast with the other ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey. Sin is ''driven to TearsOfJoy'' after trying a pancake. This just makes Dinah even more determined to adopt her.
* Having been brought to the present from the CrapsackWorld of 1907 New York City, [[GreenThumb Klara Prast]] of the ComicBook/{{Runaways}} is often delighted by such 21st-century things as videogames and television. But for real mundane luxury, she never looks so happy as she does on the few occasions when she's able to just lie on a patch of grass.

* The ''Fanfic/USSCrazyHorse'', in "The Seeds of the Many", enters an AlternateTimeline where Earth is different. Charlotte Marek tries to buy a Mundane Luxury on Earth, but there is none. Its absence is the PointOfDivergence.
* Fan stories for ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' may [[TrappedInAnotherWorld dump a modern girl into Middle-earth]], a medieval setting. Most fan authors ignore this problem, but in some {{Deconstruction Fic}}s, the girl misses modern things.
** In ''Fanfic/TheAwkwardAdventuresOfMeghanWhimblesby'', the one thing that Meghan mentions is chocolate. In chapter 2 "About That Silly Thing of Ultimate Doom", Meghan gripes,
---> "No chocolate? Not any? No chocolate cake or brownies or cookies or hot chocolate or Snickers bars or fudge or ''anything''? You poor, poor people!"
** In ''Fanfic/HomeWithTheFairies'', Maddie misses so many things. From chapter 3 "Where Many Paths and Errands Meet",
---> Could I live in a place like this? Without plumbing (the outhouse was ''filthy''), electricity, microwaveable food, the luxuries I was used to?
** Maddie becomes homesick for 'soda, hamburgers, french fries, ketchup' in chapter 4, and a longer list of foods in chapter 6. Maddie can find one luxury in Middle-earth. In chapter 19, Maddie is happy to have butter.
** In ''Fanfic/HowToSurviveInMiddleEarthWhenYoureATeenagedGirl'', Priscilla Henders wishes for potato chips and Twinkies in chapter 5, and popcorn in chapter 6. She also endures her period without Midol.
* In the ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3624149/1/Underdark Underdark]]'' Leonardo and Michelangelo are trapped in a huge underdark and have to make their way home in complete darkness getting hungrier, thirstier and dirtier along the way. All the way Mikey laments the lack of light and how he'll never take it for granted again, when they are finally make it home again Mikey is overjoyed being able to ''see'' his bedroom ceiling and thoroughly enjoys a meal of some plain toast and Gatorade.
* At one point in ''Fanfic/OriginStory'', Alex Harris is homeless and living in the re-purposed shell of a broken down school bus with her girlfriend, Louise. They're getting basic necessities like food and the occasional new piece of clothing from a convent, but otherwise are sleeping on a cardboard mat under scavenged blankets. Its so bad that a trip so the $6 Breakfast Buffet at the Sizzler is considered a treat.

* The [[Franchise/StargateVerse Tok'ra]] who visit Erius in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10917821/1/The-questionable-burdens-of-leadership-of-a-troll-Emperor The (Questionable) Burdens of Leadership of a Troll Emperor]]'' are noted as ''loving'' being able to bathe, shower, or even swim whenever they want as among their people, water is too scarce to use for such frivolous things.
* [[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Team Rocket]] in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7427427/1/Team_Zero Team Zero]]'' are perfectly happy to sleep on the floor of [[Literature/TheFamiliarOfZero Louise's]] room since most of the time they're forced to sleep outside on the rough ground. Meowth even notes it's the nicest place to sleep they've had in weeks.

* In the [[WholeEpisodeFlashback flashback]] to Princess Twilight [[spoiler: bringing the filly Starlight Glimmer to the future and retgoning the psychopathic original]] in ''[[Fanfic/AftermathOfTheGames Integration]]'', she gives the filly a bedroom in the castle and brings out the first Daring Do book to read as a bedtime story. [[spoiler: Starlight]] is completely amazed by both, because at the [[OrphanageOfFear horribly neglectful orphanage she spent the first nine years of her life in]], she had to share a room with many other foals and the staff never allowed them to have any personal possessions.
* Due to having lived the whole of her life underground, Undyne in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11948484/3/MagicTale MagicTale]]'' absolutely loves being outside, whether she's exercising, sleeping, or just hanging around.

* The ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' fanfic ''Fanfic/SecretPassages'' shows Elsa is excited by the prospect of actually getting to eat meals with Anna as opposed to being forced to eat in her room.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/12210813/chapters/27737259 To Her Heart's Content]]'', AscendedExtra OC Ingrid (a farmgirl turned Lady's Maid) is brought on a picnic by Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. Ingrid is overwhelmed at trying fresh fruit, and reluctant to try pineapple as being "too good" for her. As Ingrid said, "We're not poor! I had a piece of orange once, for Christmas." TruthInTelevision as fresh fruit was hard to come by in 19th century [[spoiler:Disney version of]] Norway.
* In ''Fanfic/HarrysNewHome,'' when living with the Dursleys, Harry was forced to live in a tiny cupboard, never had his own things, and was frequently beaten and DeniedFoodAsPunishment for not doing chores correctly or [[PowerIncontinence accidentally expressing magic.]] When he enters the wizarding world and Snape takes over Harry's guardianship, Harry is excited and amazed by things like getting his own room and toys, being allowed to eat complete meals, being allowed to eat at the table during dinner with the Weasleys, and Snape taking him to Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor in Diagon Alley. [[PapaWolf Snape]] frequently finds himself thinking of ways to torture and punish the Dursleys for denying Harry his basic needs while spoiling his cousin.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'''s ''Fanfic/WalkingInCircles'', being imprisoned from a young age has made Evelyn enjoys and fascinated by things most people won’t think much about like travelling, flowers, having your own, big private space, snow storms, etc.
* In the final chapter of ''Fanfic/TheSecondTry'', [[spoiler:Aki]] is excited when Rei takes her to a small ramen shop and finds out that they have meat, something she'd previously only eaten during special occasions.
* After being tortured by his patrons and kept prisoner by the Watchers Council in ''[[https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-28404-205/DianeCastle%2BXendra.htm Xendra]]'', Ethan Rayne is overjoyed at having an inflatable air mattress and real food[[note]]While a prisoner, he slept on a pile of straw and only got bread, water, and multivitamins to eat[[/note]]. Upon receiving a cup of coffee and a roast beef sandwich, he treats it like a religious experience. That his patrons are no longer torturing him since he's working on fulfilling their tasks only makes it better.
* By chance, Xander in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9904569/4/Stand-Ins-and-Stunt-Doubles Stand Ins and Stunt Doubles]]'' brings a box of tacos with him to Pylea while he and Angel Investigations go there to rescue Fred. Having been in hell for a few years, the girl notes that most of her wet dreams start this way.
* Ferris of ''Fanfic/LifeOreDeath'' originated as part of the slave caste in a medieval-era CrapsackWorld with mild industrialization (factories and clockwork). ''Fruit'' is a luxury to her when she arrives in 21st century Earth, as is meat, to say nothing of hot running water, modern transportation and other technology.

* Van Hohenheim in ''Fanfic/MyMasterEd'', until recently a slave, is blown away by the concept of having food that isn’t porridge, sleeping past dawn, having his own room, and being allowed to fight back when he’s being beaten up.
* A recruit in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12201158/9/Darwin Darwin]]'' notes that even boot camp feels like paradise compared to living in the ghettos. Since [[Anime/CodeGeass Britannia conquered Japan]], all Japanese were forced to live in the ghettos where even such things as disposable lighters had to be carefully rationed due to their scarcity. The aforementioned recruit thinks to himself that he didn't realize how much he missed clean clothes, real soap, hot showers, and decent beds until he got them while training to become a Black Knight.
* An unnamed slave in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12754112/2/The-World-My-Oyster The World, My Oyster]]'' is overwhelmed by her new master's kindness at being allowed a bath and a real bed, even if it's because she's bathing with him and acting as a teddy bear in his bed.
* After surviving for months in a [[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne demon-ridden desert]], the Demi-Fiend in ''[[Fanfic/NotTheIntendedUseZantetsukenReverse A Game of Cat and Cat]]'' doesn't crave treats like parfaits or steak, instead enjoying [[SatiatingSandwich sandwiches]].
* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/23469445/chapters/62715244 Privacy]]'', Yuna (who comes from [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX a semi-apocalyptic world where space was limited by sea demon attacks]]) is amazed by the concept of a large room built entirely for dancing. On Spira, all the rooms had to be functional in some way.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12962091/1/ If I Could Start Again]]'', when Steve Rogers first visits [=SHIELD's=] mess hall, he's confused at how SHIELD agents can be so disappointed in the food when it's both higher quality and greater variety than anything he's had in years. Even before joining the army, many things such as sugar were extremely scarce due to rationing.
* ''Fanfic/FateDxDAU'': Since Ritsuka Fujimaru had been fighting to save the world out of a base in Antarctica and then the Shadow Border for about five years, he is giddy just to be able to roam around a town and then go to school.

* ''Fanfic/SonOfTheSannin'': Karin spent her early childhood constantly moving with her mother out of fear of being captured by people who wanted to use them for being a part of the Uzumaki bloodline, so she considers "having a permanent home" to be exceptional enough to include in a list of things she likes.
* This becomes PlayedForDrama in ''Fanfic/HuntersOfJustice''. Brainiac's invasion and bottling of Vale were so bad, even the most basic goods are scarce. Even something as simple as a shower is a weekly luxury.
* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/28063821/chapters/74600682#workskin Remaking]]'': After Izuku unthinkingly heals All Might, the hero learns he's able eat real food again for the first time in years and breaks down crying. Once it's confirmed he can drink alcohol, he goes on a massive bender, drinking the most ludicrous cocktails he can find. He's also shown slowly savoring a cup of coffee, another food item he hadn't been able to partake in since his battle with All For One.
* Even though [[Literature/SmallGods Brutha]] is [[HighPriest Cenobiarch]] and a Prophet of Om, in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/5651269/chapters/13738705#workskin We Must Tend our Garden]]'', his quarters are on par with the head of staff's. Not because he's practicing self-denial, but because his idea of luxury is having a mattress and a table.
* ''Fanfic/LuckyNumberThirteen'': After being around [[ControlFreak Christian]] for several days, Ana is pleasantly surprised and happy when Sharon takes her to an inexpensive restaurant with good food, tells her to order whatever she wants and doesn’t pressure her to eat or drink any more or less than she wants to.
* ''Fanfic/BetterToReignInHeaven'': After spending most of his life in the dilapidated confines of Vault 101 and several months wandering the Capital Wasteland, [[VideoGame/Fallout3 the Lone Wanderer]] is utterly astonished at things that the inhabitants of [[{{Dreamville}} Tranquility Lane]] consider commonplace: a middle-class suburban home seems like a palace to him, a slice of Mabel Henderson's home-made meat pie is the best meal he's eaten in his entire life, and the fact that all the houses have working indoor toilets with ''soft toilet paper'' almost makes him consider playing along with [[PsychopathicManchild Braun]]'s games in the hope that he might be allowed to stay.

* ''Fanfic/AGameOfCatAndCat'':
** Julius, who lived as a hobo for 35 years, believes that the greatest luxury provided by a hotel is a safe place to sleep.
** Naoki, who spent a lot of time in the Vortex World where food was hard to find, finds great pleasure in a plain old sandwich.
** Leon has been a ghost for almost 1000 years, so he hasn't been able to taste anything. When he and Dr. Dude find a way for him to taste something - starting with cinnamon toast - he cries from happiness (and being overwhelmed by the sensation).

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'', the cursed pirates of the Black Pearl go on and on about what sensory experiences they've most missed during the curse, and therefore what they plan to glut on once they have their nerve endings back. Barbossa himself is almost ''obsessed'' with apples.
* In ''Film/HistoryOfTheWorldPartI'', Creator/SpikeMilligan's character is given a box of matches. "So rich!", whispers Spike.
* Audrey's song, "Somewhere That's Green" in ''Film/LittleShopOfHorrors'' is basically about this, with her dreaming of living in a tract-house away from Skid-Row with "a fence of real chain-link" and a disposal in the sink.

* ''Film/BasnOLudziachStad'', set on the WrongSideOfTheTracks, has the following exchange:
-->'''One philosopher''': If I had a house, a yacht, a car, a new woman ever week, would I be happy?\\
'''The other philosopher''': Leave it. You'd be happy if you had two bottles.\\
'''One philosopher''': With two, sure.

* ''Film/SoylentGreen'' has this PlayedForDrama. The fact that even the most basic goods are luxuries for the rich speaks volumes about [[GaiasLament how badly the environment has deteriorated]]. Creator/CharltonHeston's character is a detective investigating a wealthy crime, and steals a number of foodstuffs from the apartment, which he shares with his roommate played by Creator/EdwardGRobinson. At first the sight of apples and beef and wine make Robinson ecstatic, but after a few bites he breaks into tears as he realizes what they've been reduced to. In an earlier scene, Heston exhibits the same ecstatic reaction to air conditioning, a hot shower and soap.
* Near the beginning of ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'', Kyle Reese asks John Conner what the latter wants to do once they finally win the brutal RobotWar they've been fighting for decades. John says that a cold beer would be nice.
* ''Film/FearInc'': For some reason, Ben is inordinately impressed that Joe and Lindsey have a tetherball in their backyard.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Literature/RebuildWorld'': Having scraped by on the streets for as long as he can remember, Akira happily soaks in a bathtub once he's able to use his earnings to check into a hotel rather than sleeping in a back alley. Even when Alpha shows up naked to tease him, [[NotDistractedByTheSexy he's too busy enjoying the bath to be bothered by her]] and has to be reminded to go to bed lest he drown in the tub. When he wakes up the following morning, he's briefly confused by his surroundings because of how alien the thought of sleeping in a clean, comfortable bed is to him.
* In ''Anime/SailorMoon'', Green Esmeraude - your typical VainSorceress - strolls into a fancy shin-dig, causing heads to turn at her hot elegance - until she discovers the food table, in which she immediately matches [[BigEater Usagi]] dessert for dessert in stuffing her face. This causes her extreme embarrassment once she snaps out of it. This can actually be rather tragic, if you assume she is so wild about the food because there is nothing like it on the barren planet she comes from.
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'':
** Sasuke lives such a miserable life as the servant of the Kunou family that a full bowl of rice is cause for TearsOfJoy.
** For Konatsu the Kunoichi, sleeping in a futon is pure heaven, and, while trying to poison Ranma's rice, realized that it was so clean and tasty-looking (what with Konatsu being forced to forage for food in ''trash cans'' and fight off stray dogs for scraps) that he abandoned his mission to eat the rice himself. Heck, when Ukyou hired him, he considered his 10-yen salary ''a fortune'' and a dry fish with rice "a luxurious meal".

* ''Manga/{{Dorohedoro}}'': The extremely poor Cross-Eyes Gang has taken over the Big Bad's mansion, but they don't seem terribly impressed by the baddie's riches until they come to his well-stocked pantries and supply closets.
* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', after Wall Maria falls, food supplies become strained and commodities like meat and milk are only rationed to people once in a while and are seen as very scarce and luxurious (unless you live in the interior wall).
** In chapter 72, the Survey Corps hold a celebratory dinner [[spoiler: the night before the push to retake Shiganshina]]. To mark the occasion, the mess staff decided to use up 2 months of food rations to give the troops a rare treat: fresh, cooked meat. The entire hall goes nuts.
--> '''Hange''': Whose idea was it to give them meat?
* In ''Manga/BlackClover'', Asta grew up as an orphan raised in a church situated in one of the poorest regions of the kingdom. He's so used to squalid conditions that even the shabby quarters he receives when he joins the kingdom's lowest ranked magic knight order seem luxurious to him. He also considers his first small salary payment to be a bounty.

* The Wolkenritter in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'' have spent centuries killing and fighting for their lives pretty much non-stop, so the idea that they can wear casual clothes, eat home-made food, and go to sleep at the same place every night is both revolutionary and extremely intriguing to them. So much so that they are prepared to sacrifice pretty much anything for it to continue just a little bit longer.
* In the anime for ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'', Tohru and Kanna get excited by the idea of having their own room when they move to a new apartment since they were never able to stay in a single place for too long in the other world (for fear of being hunted down by human warriors). The same thing happens with Ilulu later on when she moves in and Kobayashi buys her a personal set of dishes.
* In ''Manga/IsekaiDeKojiinWoHiraitakedoNazekaDarehitoriSudatouToShiaiKen'', the first child Shinji meets in the orphanage he was forced to manage, Lucia, has had a life so rough, a simple pancake, as an afternoon snack, is the lap of luxury, and soap is a luxury item she's never heard of.
* In ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'', Broly basically subsisted, for decades, on food that would make the contents of a dumpster seem palatable in comparison. Thus, a canteen of plain water was absolutely delicious to him.

* ''Manga/TisTimeForTorturePrincess'' has the Hellhorde "torturing" the Princess with such things as tempura cake and a trip to an amusement park. No, not taking these ''away'' from her, ''offering'' them to her in exchange for secrets. The Princess had such a rough upbringing that merely being ''treated like a person'' is enough to sway her.
* Sayuri of ''Manga/SilverPlanToRedoFromJK'' enjoys even the most normal of things thanks to knowing what it's like to be homeless. When she reincarnates into her younger self, one of the first things she does is buy takoyaki and wolf it down, crying from being able to eat food that wasn't scavenged from a bin.
* In ''Manga/DrStone'', Gen is revived in a stone-age world, and asks Senku to make him the one thing he really misses: a cola. He's overjoyed when he gets it. Senku also uses his 21st-century knowledge to impress the stone-age villagers with a delicious new food: ramen.
* ''Manga/DesertPunk'':
** Having a pet dog in the manga is treated as a weird thing only rich people do. The anime changes the dog to a less mundane [[BigCreepyCrawlies dog-sized giant beetle]] (as a way to censor [[EatTheDog Kosuna eating it]]).
** The anime has people fantasizing about fancy glasses of ''[[FrothyMugsOfWater clean water]]''.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6947984/1/A-Familiar-Change-of-Fate A Familiar Change of Fate]]'', [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans Starfire]] is amazed by the wondrous feast laid out before her and asks if someone is getting married to warrant such a feast. [[LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero Louise Francoise]] tells her that it's simply breakfast. When shortly after, Starfire wonders at the exquisite meal she's given (a loaf of bread and some water), Louise has a JerkassRealization.

* [[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Team Rocket]] in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7427427/1/Team_Zero Team Zero]]'' are perfectly happy to sleep on the floor of [[LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero Louise's]] room since most of the time they're forced to sleep outside on the rough ground. Meowth even notes it's the nicest place to sleep they've had in weeks.

* Mags starts off the ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Collegium Chronicles]]'' as a mine slave. Once rescued, he has this reaction to a bowl of vegetable soup, a hot bath, and warm clothing.

* ''VideoGame/AGameOfCatAndCat'':

In fact, when [[ThrowTheDogABone presented with simple kindnesses and conveniences]], these characters will be completely overjoyed. The things that are [[MundaneObjectAmazement utterly mundane]] to most people will feel like the most extravagant of luxuries to them. Our potato chips are their caviar. They react to simple fare from the local BurgerFool as if it were a five-star restaurant. And a simple shower will feel like a day at a fancy spa to them.

The InvertedTrope occurs when someone loses a Mundane Luxury. This might happen when one enters poverty, gets stranded on a DesertedIsland, or becomes TrappedInThePast. One might miss toilet paper, or chocolate. BambooTechnology might avert this problem. Someone who DesiresPrisonLife may be motivated by this.

Compare with HumbleGoal (where gaining a Mundane Luxury is a major motivation for a character), SimpleYetOpulent (when a simple-looking object or luxury is actually very expensive), BlackMarketProduce (when certain foodstuffs, common to the audience, are rare and valuable in the setting), OnlyElectricSheepAreCheap (when the natural equivalent is costlier).

Contrast with the SpoiledBrat, who is so used to luxury that normal living standards are like poverty to them. When this happens to the player in a video game, it may be a case of CommonplaceRare. Can often inspire a DisproportionateCelebration. Often the motivation for a ComicallySmallDemand.

To someone who has had a [[MiseryPorn rough, impoverished life]], even the simple pleasures of everyday life are a big deal. TheWoobie, the ButtMonkey, TheChewToy, the refugee from TheDictatorship, and other downtrodden characters tend to [[AnAesop know better]] than to take them for granted.

To someone who has had a rough life, even the simple things are a big deal. TheWoobie, the ButtMonkey, TheChewToy, the refugee from TheDictatorship, and other downtrodden characters tend to [[AnAesop know better]] than to take them for granted.

* In ''Literature/TheLastChancers'', the sole luxury granted to the criminals assigned to the 13th Penal Legion when shipboard is a daily ration of fruit juice. This is granted to them mainly for the pragmatic reason that a cup of fruit juice per man per day is cheaper than treating scurvy or any of the other various vitamin deficiency-related health problems that a ration of fruit juice could easily prevent.