History Main / UnconventionalFoodUsage

* Some people use real candy canes to decorate Christmas trees.

* As you may recall from your days making school art projects, papier mâché is typically made by dipping strips of paper (usually newspaper) into a mixture of flour and water.

* ''Series/UltramanTaro'': In episode 2 ("This Time It's Ultra Mother"), Kohtaro Higashi (Taro's human host) ends up getting SwallowedWhole by the kaiju Live King, and is unable to transform due to being trapped with a child and a puppy inside Live King's stomach. The ZAT managed to bail Higashi out by having their jets spray copious amounts of pepper (the episode itself said two tonnes?) on Live King's face, causing the monster to sneeze Higashi, the child, and puppy out. It works.

* A fix known since the dawn of aviation involves using chewing gum as a sealant to plug leaks in fuel tanks or lubricant systems on aircraft. The Royal Navy once used a wine cork on a string as a makeshift valve on the fuel tank of an aircraft with a design flaw. The aircraft then performed flawlessly in carrier service, while the techs on land worked out a less makeshift solution)

The inverse of IAteWhat, which is when strange, often inedible substances are eaten as food, to the surprise and disgust of the consumer. Contrast ExtremeOmnivore, when people deliberately and willingly eat inedible items. See also AnthropomorphicFood, where the food is people and thus would as a result would be doing all sorts of things food doesn't do. Can be used to invoke ABloodyMess. Sub-trope of NotTheIntendedUse. Compare CordonBleughChef and BizarreTasteInFood, for when the food is still meant to be eaten but is still used in a strange way. For unconventional ''drink'' usage, see BizarreBeverageUse.

!!Examples:

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'':
** In the episode "No Spoilers", Lana makes balloons out of chewed gum.
** In the episode "Community Disservice", Lola wears a crown made out of cheese.
** In "Room and Hoard", Lana plays with an expired burrito like a doll.
** In a flashback in "Read Aloud", Lola is seen playing with a piece of pizza like a doll.
** In "Heavy Meddle", Lincoln plans to use peanut butter to get gum out of his hair, but there is none left.
** Whenever [[ThePrankster Luan]] gives someone a PieInTheFace, she uses a real pie as opposed to the fake pies most real-life clowns use.
** In "Jeers for Fears", Bobby uses fruit salad as [[GrossoutFakeout fake intestines]].
** In "Lucha Fever with the Casagrandes", Ronnie Anne, who is PlayingSick, uses soup to pretend to throw up.
** In "A Pimple Plan", Luan uses cotton candy as a fake beard to hide her pimple.
** In "Schooled!", Liam rubs butter on his torso to keep warm because he plans to swim in a cold ocean.
** In "The Silence of the Luans", Luan is mentioned to have flooded the house with mustard as a prank before and [[spoiler:Lily]] dumps cream and jam on her family, also as a prank.
** In "Snow Bored", the Loud kids sprinkle salt on the ground to melt snow.
** In "Making the Case", Lincoln ties breath mints to his body and jumps into a pool of soda as a publicity stunt.
** In "One Flu Over the Loud House", Lisa uses water guns loaded with chicken soup (as a parody of the SoupIsMedicine trope) to fire at the sick Louds.
** "A Tale of Two Tables": In addition to the food fight, Lola once sticks two French fries into her mouth like fangs and says, "I [[VampireVords vant]] to suck your blood!".

The inverse of IAteWhat, which is when inedible substances are eaten as food, often to the surprise and disgust of the consumer. Contrast ExtremeOmnivore, when people deliberately and willingly eat inedible items. See also AnthropomorphicFood, where the food is people and thus would as a result would be doing all sorts of things food doesn't do. Can be used to invoke ABloodyMess. Sub-trope of NotTheIntendedUse. Compare CordonBleughChef and BizarreTasteInFood, for when the food is still meant to be eaten but is still used in a strange way. For unconventional ''drink'' usage, see BizarreBeverageUse.

* Speaking of cola, the drink can be used to clean toilets or other porcelain wares thanks to its acidity.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout4}}'': Once you've got several farming settlements up and running, you can make vegetable starch, which turns various food items and water into large quantities of adhesive.

* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona'':

* A season 8 episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' had a SeinfeldianConversation between two characters about using a raw egg in emergency car repair. By cracking the egg in it while running the car, the heat allegedly cooks it as it goes through a hole in the engine, forming a temporary plug that'll allow functionality until proper repairs can be made.

* As seen in the page image, dry [[UsefulNotes/RamenAsDehydratedNoodles instant ramen]] has been used as a DIY "hac

Inverse of IAteWhat, which is when inedible substances are eaten as food, often to the surprise and disgust of the consumer. Contrast ExtremeOmnivore, when people deliberately and willingly eat inedible items. See also AnthropomorphicFood, where the food is people and thus would as a result would be doing all sorts of things food doesn't do. Can be used to invoke ABloodyMess. Sub-trope of NotTheIntendedUse. Compare CordonBleughChef and BizarreTasteInFood, for when the food is still meant to be eaten but is still used in a strange way. For unconventional ''drink'' usage, see BizarreBeverageUse.

!!Examples