"Is that... food? Everyone smuggled food down here!? Unbelievable! You guys put our lives in danger because you couldn't go without a snack for a day!? You are all... awful![stomach growls] So hungry... is that...egg custard in that tart?" —Aang,Avatar: The Last Airbender, "The Great Divide"

"Mmmm....Donuts." —Homer Simpson,The Simpsons

Hunger is a very powerful force. A starving person may degrade themselves for a scrap of food; ahedonist will do so for a teaspoon of cous cous.Mmm... deliciouscous cous. Even a person with a full stomach may have a hard time resisting amarvelously mouthwatering meal or morsel.

Much like characters withAttention Deficit Ooh Shiny, these characters are distracted by something delicious, like a freshly baked, moist,sweet delectable apple pie cooling on a window sill...*drools* *cough*

Yeah.Like that.

This can be used as a "soft"Achilles' Heel against gluttonous characters (or anyone, provided thebait dessert is good enough) that can do anything from distract, bribe, or completely sidetrack a given character for up to an hour (or more, if the tempter is a cook with a fully stocked kitchen). In cartoons, this may be enough to stop apredator/enemy in their tracks, in other media, the sleeping dust/amnesia powder sprinkled over the glazing does the trick.

May happen just by looking at it, smelling it, and in powerful instances from merememory or having it be described... like that time I had thisdelicious just-baked and still warm pineappleempanada,with a gold crust that was still crisp yet unburnt,and the filling with small chunks of pineapple still discernible when you chewed,*drool*

Intimately related toFood Porn, which is about distracting the audience with the yummy. Also closely related toMeat-O-Vision andCold Turkeys Are Everywhere, diet edition. SeeDelicious Fruit Pies for a comic book ad variation.

Advertising

• All-State's "Mayhem" has one commercial where Mayhem plays a dog guarding a house being robbed. They've placated him with a bone, demonstrating how anAngry Guard Dog could be easily avoided.
• This commercial - Clara gets the Nutcracker and Mouse King to stop fighting by offering them Ritz Crackers and cheese.

Anime andManga

• InDragon Ball Z, Goku and Vegeta are fightingevil clones of Piccolo, Gohan, and Gotenks. Majin Buu, however, comes across a store full ofcakes at that exact moment... turning the clone fighters inside Buu into cake, letting Goku and Vegta pass.
• At theStinger skit of Episode 4 ofDaily Lives of High School Boys, the three girls (Distaff Counterpart of the three main boys) discuss why boys areboring to watch andwonder how they even got an anime. Then Yanagi and Ikushima got the idea of asking (read: screaming at) Karasawa, who lives next door to Habata's house (where the girls frequently meet). Then Karasawa throws them sweets, and the two girls stop screaming at him and gorged at the food like there's no tomorrow.
  • This was found to be aSubversion in the next episode, since the snacks Karasawa threw to the girls were all expired. Bullying continues.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS; in one episode, Prioria Sweetalina (one of theBig Bad'sPerky Female Minions, who claims to be of a race ofAncient Astronauts from 5,000 years ago) tries to pull this on Yuya's allies to keep them away from Maximum Mountain, building a replica of Stonehenge...out of cake. It works onLuke and Romin (though by the end of the episode, both remark this is the first time theyever feel like they ate too much), but Briscoe is clearly of theReal Men Hate Sugar camp, so she has to duel him - and it ends badly for her.

Comic Books

• This is a major plot point for Galacta, the daughter ofGalactus, who appeared in her own one shot comic. Much like her father, she can consume Life energy, meaning that if she wanted to she could devour any living creature, or even the Earth itself with just a thought. Fortunately, she has taken a liking for humans and their “ beautiful yet vulnerable planet” and usually uses her powers as a healer, consuming bacteria and viruses of extra planar origin, invasive parasitic species and occasionally creatures created via biological warfare. What's more, theRequired Secondary Powers that come with this ability are sort of… creepy. Simply by viewing living creatures, she knows their nutritional value and calorie count (as pertains to her, anyway) and worst of all, she has no control over this. Clearly, she has a lot ofHeroic Willpower in order to keep herHorror Hunger in control.

Fan Works

• Goku inDragonball Z Abridged has this crop up frequently while he's in the middle of a fight.

Goku: AH! MY RIBS! I THINK YOU BROKE MY- Mmmm… Ribs…

Film

• In the filmHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Hermione decides to try knocking outCrabbe and Goyle by leaving sedative-laced muffins floating in mid air in a hallway.It works perfectly.
  • In the original novel, they didn't have an excess special effects budget to be showing off, so they just set them on the banisters by the stairs, to exactly the same effect. At least that's only mildly stupid.
• InThe Rock, Sean Connery's character has the hotel room service deliver a full spread of snacks to distract the FBI agents that are supposed to be keeping an eye on him while he enacts his scheme to escapeand meet up with his daughter.
• The easiest way to getB.A to calm down and stay out of your hair is to give him a plate of Murdock's coconut curry tapenade. Just don't forget the toasties.
• During the extended version opening ofFellowship of the Ring (well, second opening; during theConcerning Hobbits scene), a hobbit-maid is about to kiss her hobbit-lover, who is distracted by a basket of muffins going around and eats it instead. At the exact same moment, Bilbo narrates that "a Hobbit's only true love is for food."
• InBeverly Hills Cop, Axel Foley successfully distracts a pair of cops on a long stakeout by sending over a lavish dinner, and uses the opportunity to sabotage their car so they can't follow him later. He does it again against the two protagonist cops, but this time only uses the distraction to introduce himself.

Live-Action TV

• Pushing Daisies has this happen to the aunts, when their niece custom bakes them a cheese coated pie. And of course, it had mood elevating drugs baked in.
• Jimmy fromReefer Madness:The MovieMusical starts ranting at his drug dealer about how he's done smoking pot, and nothing can change his mind, but gets sidetracked shortly after the dealer offers him a brownie. Admittedly, it was a pot brownie, but Jimmy didn't know that before he dropped his argument to eat it.
• Appears onTop Gear's Polar Special (the three presenters' attempt to reach the magnetic north pole). After a particularly stressful day, James May distracts Jeremy Clarkson with various gourmet foods and (awesomely) a bottle of Chablis, all of which he has somehow brought along without his friend noticing.
• Occurs inPsych when Gus keeps distracting Shawn with Snickers bars in "Ferry Tale".
• On those occasions onHogan's Heroes when Schultz does not know nothing, he can be bribed with food to know nothing.
• Tested and confirmed onMythBusters, in regards to distracting anAngry Guard Dog with meat. However, it was noted that it is possible (though not easy) to train a guard dog to ignore such distractions.
• Kaylee fromFirefly often finds herself distracted by delicious-looking fresh fruit. At one point she managed to make an entire generation of sci-fi fansjealous of a strawberry.
• In Friends when Joey's sister Dina told him she was pregnant, she (at Rachael's suggestion) got him a meatball sub to distract him in case he got angry.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • In the episode "Earshot", while searching for a student that they suspect is about to enact a school shooting at Sunnydale High, Xander is distracted by some Jello while passing through the cafeteria.Which leads him to the person who'sreally planning to murder a bunch of students: the lunch lady, whom he catches dumping rat poison into the mulligan stew.
  • In "The Zeppo" Giles gets miffed while preparing forThe End of the World as We Know It because Buffy had eaten all the jelly donuts.
  • In "Smashed", Olaf the Troll comes to Sunnydale, and happens to make his villainous rant right nearthe Bronze:

Olaf: Puny recepticlE You do well to flee, townspeople! I will pillage your lands and dwellings, I will burn your crops, and make merry sport with your more attractive daughters! Mark my words - ooh, I selldelicious ale!

• Ron, from Season 18 ofThe Amazing Race. Several times he lost his concentration, even mid-task, and tried to get his daughter to stop to get food.

Newspaper Comics

• In theHagar the Horrible Sunday stripseen here a king prevents Hagar and his men from raiding his castle by putting out a buffet in front of the door.

Literature

• In theLucky Starr series, David tries to distract some sentient alien form of life by throwing them something they consider a delicacy.The degree of success is one of the hints that they might not be that sentient after all...
• Redwall characters will reminisce rhapsodically about food whenever they aren't actually sitting down to a sumptuous feast, but the robin fromMossflower has to take the cake for this trope because he operated solely on food-based bribery.
  • The hares are also notoriousbig eaters,wot.
• InThe Thief of Always, theMaster of Illusion uses food to make the heroes forget about the real world and their goal of defeating him.
• InThief of Time, chocolate proves itself to be aDeadly Delicious Distraction, for Auditors that are new to having human bodies or taste buds. At one point, the mere scent of a single piece of high-end chocolate candy sets a mob of them to fighting one another, and the sole survivor's body disintegrates from sheer bliss upon eating it.
  • InUnseen Academicals, Glenda uses scrumptious pies to bribe her way past Lord Vetinari's security guards. Subverted in that Vetinari'd ordered the guards to accept any bribes regardless of their value or quality; played with in that he scolds his aide for having the pies disposed of, uneaten: he knew Glenda's grandmother from her time as a cook at the Assassin's Guild, and neither she nor her granddaughter would dream of fouling a recipe with poison.
• Ax fromAnimorphs. Oh, Ax fromAnimorphs.
  • Every Andalite who adopts a human morph. By the end of the series, Andalitetour groups visit Earth just to sample human cuisine.
• At one point inTake A Thief, Skif bypasses some guard dogs with a cross between this trope andSlipping a Mickey. He mixes chopped meat with bread crumbs soaked in poppy juice, stuffs the concoction into sausage casings, and tosses them over the wall.

Tabletop Games

• There is a spell inDungeons & Dragons called "Illusory Feast" that creates a feast that seems to have their favourite foods and is real as far as natural senses can tell. Causes foes that aren't actively involved in fighting to drop what they're doing and indulge. Foes that are fighting are slightly dazed.
• Chrononauts, the card game of time travel, includes an artifact from the 1939' Berlin World's Fair:a delicious slice of German Cake. You can use it during another player's turn to distract them and cancel whatever it is they were about to do.

Web Original

• In theNot Safe for Work web series-thingy(?)Felarya has many of the giants get distracted by prey, usually done for comedic affect, oddly enough.
• A couple of guys trying to distract the watchout inDoomsday Arcade successfully distracted him by using a 'Free Sandwiches' sign.

Video Games

• InTeam Fortress 2, Heavy Weapons Guy'sSandvich proves to be one in-game. Loudly chomping down OM NOM NOM, he cannot react if someone attacks him while eating his Sandvich. Woe betide Heavy if there is an enemy Spy around or a Sniper gets a fix on him.
• InDragon AgeOrigins, the templar charged with making sure no one visits theAbomination infested Circle Tower can be bribed with cookies provided by Sten. Cookies that Sten stole from a fat slovenly child—for his own good, of course.
• When fighting The Fear inMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, his stealth camo will drain his stamina extremely fast. When it gets low, he'll shoot down some convenient fruit, gobble it down, and continue the fight. He is very vulnerable during this time, but can't actually be stopped from eating the fruit (he'll keep moving no matter what you shoot him with). However, you can throw yourown food, some of which may bepoisoned, and he'll go for that instead, as it is more convenient.
• InAmnesia: The Dark Descent, you can buy time from the invisible monster in the water by tossing body parts for it to devour instead. Preferably as far away from where you need to be as possible.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • InThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, members of the evil Yiga Clan can be distracted by Mighty Bananas, theirTrademark Favorite Food.
  • Among the Item Echoes Zelda can learn inThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom are Meat, Grilled Fish, and Rock Roast. Creating these Echoes in front of certain monsters will cause those monsters to rush over to eat it. Unfortunately, your own summoned Monster Echoes might do the same.

Western Animation

• Appeared inThe Simpsons.
  • Subverted when Homer tries to distract anAngry Guard Dog chasing Bart with a steak. The dog eats the steak in one bite and doesn't slow down at all.

Homer: Faster, son! He's got a taste for meat now!

• Subverted in a Treehouse of Horror episode, when Homer is being chased by Ned Flanders' guard dogs. (It Makes Sense in Context) He pulls out a large string of sausages:

Homer: I know! [Pulls out string of sausages] These wieners will give me the quick energy I need to escape! [Homer eats them and suddenly speeds up, leaving the dogs in the dust]

• Played straight and parodied during The Cat's burglary spree. Santa's Little Helper growls at the intruder, who quiets him with a string of sausages. In comes a sleepwaling Homer, who also growls at The Cat... who also quiets him with another string of sausages.
• Similarly inFuturama when Bender comes across an angry guard dog he pulls out a huge steak... he then proceeds to knock the dog unconscious with it and eats the steak himself.

• X-Men; in an episode where the heroes are fighting the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants at a fairground, the Blob stops fighting when he sees he's knocked over an ice cream stand with tutti-frutti flavor. Nothing moves the Blob? He moved pretty fast to get the ice cream!
• Scooby Doo and Scooby Snacks. Though Shaggy and Scooby are afraid of their own shadow, all it takes is a little bribery with the snacks to get them to agree to do something scaryOnce Per Episode.
• Freakazoid! defeated Candle Jack by distracting him with pie.
• InChip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, cheese is a ridiculously effective distraction for Monty, even when the one with the cheese is only doing so unwittingly. In "Mind Your Cheese and Qs", Rat Capone has Gadgettied to a conveyor belt with a chopping thing somewhere along the way, and distracts Monty from rescuing her by holding up Brie '86, his favorite cheese. He does end up rescuing her, but he really has a struggle.
• TheAqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 episode "Lasagna" hasMaster Shake distract Carl (who is under house arrest after a hooker bit his tongue) with the eponymous pasta.
• InMy Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Pinkie Pie is inclined to let Discord take over the world and bathe it in chaos because that means it's going to rain chocolate.

"Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, you guys!Chocolate. Rain!"

• In an episode ofDungeons and Dragons, Presto tries to use his hat when the heroes are ambushed by a mob of bullywugs, but only manages to conjure up a swarm ofreally big flies. Fortunately, bullywugs - being frog-men - like toeat flies, so they break off their attack long enough to do so, and the heroes escape.
• In an episode ofGravity Falls,Gideon'sEvil Laugh is broken off when he hears the ice cream truck.
• In theStar Trek: Lower Decks episode "Strange Energies", Dr. T'Ana tries sedate the cosmic-powered-and-drunk-on-it Commander Ransom with a high-tech syringe, but he turns it into an ice cream cone. "Dammit!" she shouts, but then she eats it anyway.
• Kim Possible,
  • In one episode, Shego and Señor Senior Junior use the "raw meat to distract guard dogs" trick. Junior remarks, "You think they'd be wise to the steak trick."
  • In another episode, Dr. Drakken's evil plan involves brainwashing teenagers on spring break, but he gets the frequency wrong and instead brainwashes senior citizens, including Kim's grandmother.

Dr. Drakken: What am I supposed to do with an army of retired people??(Notices the cookies Kim's grandmother brought.) Oooh! Lemon squares!

• In theUnderdog story "Fearo the Ferocious", the hero "defeats" the eponymous monster (a giant ape andKing Kong Expy) by giving him a boatload of bananas, keeping him occupied long enough to fly him back to his jungle island home.
• In theSpongeBob SquarePants episode “Plankton!” (the eponymous villain’s first appearance, by the way), Plankton's evil plan to steal Mr. Krabs secret Krabby Patty formula involves breaking into SpongeBob's house while he's asleep, crawling inside SpongeBob's head, and using some diabolical device on SpongeBob's brain that lets him control SpongeBob like a puppet. (It Makes Sense in Context, honestly it does). He then directs SpongeBob to the Krusty Krab, has him steal a Krabby Patty, and then take it to his lab, where he intends to put it inside an analyzing device. He demonstrates how it works first by putting a piece of seaweed inside it, and the device analyzes it as "50% seed and 50% weed". However, SpongeBob starts lamenting about how he failed everyone, including Mr. Krabs, himself, and…

'SpongeBob: But most of all, I let you down, you delicate little Krabby Patty, with your tasty, juicy, scrumptious, warm, steamy goodness. I’ll never forget your 100% all-secret patty, secretly assembled with undersea cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, all secretly steaming between two fluffy seaweed seed buns…

• …and all thisFood Porn is too much for Plankton, who leaps out of SpongeBob's head in effort to grab the Krabby Patty, only to fall into his own analyzer device. Adding insult to injury, it analyzes him as "1% evil, 99% hot gas".

Real Life

• Truth in Television, in relation to predators. Since they're usually motivated by hunger, leaving an easier meal close by can distract them long enough to allow you to escape. Even a vicious guard dog can be tempted from duty by a nice steak (better hope you can run faster than it can eat, though). Of course a guard dog can be trainednot to be distracted this way....
  • So goes the old campfire warning - I don't need to outrun thebear; I just need to outrunyou.
• The FBI pulled a variation of this on a notorious Mafioso. He conducted all his business in a junkyard, which the FBI could never approach to bug because of the vicious guard dogs. Agents came by every night for weeks and fed the dogs over the fence with steaks. Finally, the dogs grew to like the Agents and allowed them onto the property, where the Agents were able to plant a microphone and get the evidence they needed. To make the story truly hilarious, the agents returned to confront the Mobster and get him to turn State's Evidence but he laughed them off, claiming there was no way they could have bugged his office. Until the dogs came over and licked the Agent's hand. He flipped immediately.

Ooh,chocolate chip cookies! *munch munch*This is DELICIOUS!!

• Trope
• Delicious Distraction
• Distraction Tropes
• Character Flaw Index
• Food Tropes
• Tropes Examined by the Mythbusters
• Alliterative Trope Titles