History Main / TastesBetterThanItLooks

* Various types of edible insects like locusts and beetle grubs. They notably frequently taste like vegtables they're fed.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode "Food Fight", Timmy wishes his mother were a great chef so he wouldn't have to eat her nasty-looking food. She enters a cooking competition and loses this gift (due to fairy rules forbidding magic being used to win competitions) and cooks up one of her disgusting looking meals. Timmy volunteers to eat it to save his mother from humiliation... only to find that the meal is absolutely delicious, so much so that it wins the competition.

* On an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Timmy wishes his mother were a great chef so he wouldn't have to eat her nasty-looking food. She enters a cooking competition and loses this gift (due to fairy rules forbidding magic being used to win competitions) and cooks up one of her disgusting looking meals. Timmy volunteers to eat it to save his mother from humiliation... only to find that the meal is absolutely delicious, so much so that it wins the competition.

* The ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' episode “Bedfellows” has Heffer make his specialty, the “Heffer Deluxe”, for dinner. It looks terrible and has all manner of disgusting ingredients, but it actually tastes very good. Rocko loved it before Heffer [[IAteWhat told him what was in it]].

And sometimes, our senses will be lying to us. That bowl of bat wings will be the best thing the American has ever tasted, that gray mush will turn out to be a very rare and delicious type of soup, [[Literature/GreenEggsAndHam and someone will discover that they really ''do'' like green eggs and ham.]] Characters who decide to be open-minded will be rewarded with a delicious meal and may be pleasantly surprised that someone they thought was a LethalChef is actually a skilled chef whose presentation just needs some work. They may learn AnAesop about trying new things while they're at it.

* Gumbo. Many soups and stews get hit with this, but gumbo especially, with the broth an often grayish brown color and spotted by lumps of whatever (vegetables plus any number of different proteins). Doesn't stop it from being
delicious.

* Gumbo. Many soups and stews get hit with this, but gumbo especially, with the broth an often grayish brown color and spotted by lumps of whatever (vegetables plus any number of different proteins). Doesn't stop it from being delicious.

And sometimes, our senses will be lying to us. That bowl of bat wings will be the best thing the American has ever tasted, that gray mush will turn out to be a very rare and delicious type of soup, [[ Literature/GreenEggsAndHam and someone will discover that they really ''do'' like green eggs and ham.]] Characters who decide to be open-minded will be rewarded with a delicious meal and may be pleasantly surprised that someone they thought was a LethalChef is actually a skilled chef whose presentation just needs some work. They may learn AnAesop about trying new things while they're at it.

And sometimes, our senses will be lying to us. That bowl of bat wings will be the best thing the American has ever tasted, that gray mush will turn out to be a very rare and delicious type of soup, and someone will discover that they really ''do'' like green eggs and ham. Characters who decide to be open-minded will be rewarded with a delicious meal and may be pleasantly surprised that someone they thought was a LethalChef is actually a skilled chef whose presentation just needs some work. They may learn AnAesop about trying new things while they're at it.

* Orihime from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' is actually a very good cook, but her tendency to use bizarre ingredients that don't seem to go together at all makes her lookk like a CordonBleughChef.

* Especially around Halloween time, there are many children’s cookbooks and family/parenting websites featuring recipes where delicious food is purposely styled to resemble something revolting or grotesque — hot dogs styled to look like severed toes, a gelatin dessert molded in the shape of a brain, shortbread cookies made to look like dismembered fingers, a chocolate dessert made to resemble dirt with worms in it (the worms are gummy worm candies), a cake made to look like a pan of kitty litter, you get the idea.

* In a similar vein, many confectioners offer candies (usually chocolates or gummies) in the shape of spiders, worms, snakes, bugs, or body parts. Such sweets especially appeal to the grade-school crowd.

* Many children’s cookbooks and family/parenting websites have recipes where delicious food is purposely styled to resemble something revolting or grotesque — hot dogs styled to look like severed toes, a cake or a gelatin dessert molded in the shape of a brain, shortbread cookies made to look like dismembered fingers, a chocolate dessert made to resemble dirt with worms in it (the worms are gummy worm candies), a cake made to look like a pan of kitty litter, you get the idea. Such foodcrafting projects are typically featured around Halloween time.

* Bean dip, refried beans and hummus are none too aesthetically pleasing (earth-toned mushy stuff) but all three are tasty dishes packed with healthy protein and are considered by many people to be great go-to foods for quick snacks and meals.

** In the movie "Win, Lose and Kaboom", the characters compete on an alien game show. During an eating challenge, Carl tries the disgusting-looking alien dish and finds it quite tasty, while the alien contestant finds the banana cream pie so repulsive that it causes his head to explode.

* Celeriac, a root vegetable in the celery family, won’t win any beauty awards. These roots look like dull brownish lumps covered with a rough barklike inedible skin that must be removed. Yet many people find it to be quite tasty.

* ''Manga/TheQuintessentialQuintuplets'': Making an effort to sabotage Negi's attempts to tutor her sisters, Nino proposes a cooking competition between herself and Miku after Miku is the last sister still willing to study, stating that the study session will end if she wins. Nino makes a delectable dish that shows she clearly knows her way around a kitchen, while Miku makes a very haphazard and ugly dish made from cooked rice, ketchup, and some kind of sauce. However, when Negi tries both of them, he says that they're both equally good. Ultimately played with though, since Negi had been previously established as someone too poor to be picky about his tastes, so how good Miko's dish actually was is left in question. Still, Miku swoons when Negi compliments her cooking and later makes an effort to improve in order to win him over.

* ''Manga/MyGirlfriendIsAShobitch'': Subverted when Akiho is trying to complete a cooking assignment in class to impress Haruka (her boyfriend) and makes a horrific-looking mess. Her friend Misaki volunteers to test it and gushes that it's very good to Akiho's delight. However, as soon as Akiho walks away, a sickly Misaki begs Haruka to never let Akiho know about "her condition", whereupon she keels over and her spirit [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascends to the heavens]].